Four boys ready to play the role of Billy Elliot in Sydney musical
Four young boys are set to take the stage to debut as Billy Elliot when the new musical hits Sydney next week. The performers — aged from 10 and 12 — will alternate playing the lead role based on the hit movie about a boy who chases his dancing dream.
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Talk about “seeing a sign” that changes your life. Wade Neilsen was driving along with his mum when they saw one by the roadside.
“It said, like, ‘apply now for dance’,” Wade said during a rehearsal break for Billy Elliot The Musical.
“So mum said, ‘you should try out’. So I did.”
Wade was five years old when he started dance lessons. Now 12, the Newcastle boy plays the lead role of Billy, the British miner’s son who fulfils his ambition to dance.
Wade will alternate in the role with 12 year olds Omar Abiad and Jamie Rogers and 10-year-old River Mardesic.
For all the boys, Friday’s opening night at the Sydney Lyric Theatre will be their professional debut and the culmination of months of hard work.
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The Billy Elliot story centres on the hurdles that often face boys or young men who don’t want to box or play footy.
The show’s associate choreographer Tom Hodgson knows all about this, having been bullied when he was young.
“It’s easy for school mates to say ‘dancing is for girls’ or ‘you’re a sissy’, but who cares? If I had let the bullying get to me, it would have been a disaster. You can’t listen to the bullies,” Hodgson said.
“I was 10 years old and went to a dance studio in Brighton, on the south coast of England. I was one boy in a class of 20 girls.”
His passion for dance got him through the tough times and earned him an internationally successful career as a dancer.
“Being bullied, there was a time when I felt vulnerable and thought to myself, is this really worth it? But my advice for any aspiring dancer is to go for it. Don’t listen to the bullies. If you feel passionate about dance, then follow it. It’s a rewarding experience,” Hodgson said.
For Kelley Abbey, the renowned dancer and choreographer who plays Billy’s dance teacher Mrs Wilkinson, seeing the “young Billys” blossom during rehearsal has been a treat.
“They’re doing things they never thought they could even do,” Abbey said.
“They all bring a unique quality to the role.”
Billy Elliot was about have the courage to be your “authentic self”, she said.