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Wantagh teen wins lead 'Billy Elliot' Broadway role

BY ROBERT KAHN | robert.kahn@newsday.com

3:39 PM EDT, April 22, 2008

Broadway's "Billy Elliot" is a Long Island teen who has excelled at ballet, tap and Irish step-dancing since he was 3-years-old.

Trent Kowalik, 13, of Wantagh, was introduced this afternoon as one of three boys who will lead the cast of "Billy Elliot: The Musical" when it begins previews in October at the Imperial Theatre.

Kowalik has been one of the rotating stars of the London production since December.

During a tightly choreographed preview today at the Professional Performing Arts High School in Manhattan, Kowalik sang and danced before a cadre of "Billy" bigwigs, including his fellow leads and composer Elton John -- who said the story of "Billy Elliot" closely mirrored his own upbringing.

"My father never approved of what I was going to do either," said the singer, who played a black Yamaha piano for the occasion.

"Billy Elliot," based on the 2000 film that garnered three Oscar nominations, is set against the British miners' strike of the 1980s. It follows Billy's journey as a boy, after he stumbles across a ballet class while on his way to a boxing lesson. Where Billy encountered friction from peers about his path, Kowalik says he's met fewer such obstacles. "My friends always told me to keep going with it," he says. "There are parts about Billy I can relate to. He's always had the urge to dance, and that's just like me."

Kowalik began lessons 10 years ago at Dorothy's School of Dance in Bellmore, where he learned tap and ballet and, later, jazz and hip-hop. The school allowed him to join tuition-free, because he was a boy.

When he was older -- that is, age 4 -- he was allowed to take step-dancing lessons at the Inishfree School of Irish Dance, based out of Ridge, where he built on the moves of his idol, Michael Flatley, the creator of "Riverdance." In April 2006, Kowalik became the youngest American to win the World Irish Dancing Championship in Belfast, Northern Ireland.

He left Wantagh Middle School last year, as a seventh-grader, after being cast in London's "Billy." He'll return to that cast this week, before coming home to New york for good this summer.

The other two "Billys" slated for Broadway are David Alvarez, 13, a Montreal native who lives in Manhattan, and Kiril Kulish, 14, of San Diego. The three were selected from among 1,500 hopefuls from around the country after a formal, year-long talent search.

In effect, though, casting agents for "Billy Elliot" have had their eye on Kowalik since 2005, when they first inquired with Inishfree about boys who might one day fill Billy's agile shoes.

The ballet and tap skills required for "Billy" are far different from the sweat-inducing stomping of Irish dance, Kowalik says.

"With each type you're using different muscles," Kowalik says. "My ballet teacher would always be telling me I was too stiff in class. In Irish, you have to keep a very stiff upper body. So I was always being told for ballet to loosen up."

"Billy Elliot" almost didn't happen for Kowalik because he was offered a role in another musical. Last summer, producers of "Gypsy" asked him to play a newsboy in the City Center production that eventually would come to Broadway with Patti LuPone.

But the "Gypsy" rehearsal schedule conflicted with the audition process for "Billy Elliot." Though "Billy" was no sure thing, Kowalik's mother, Lauretta, said she "would not be a stage mom" and pressure her son into taking the "Gypsy" job.

"I'm not Mama Rose," she said.

Kowalik has three older sisters, Daria, Siobhan and Carine -- step-dancers, all. Lauretta Kowalik is a liturgical musician, and father Mike is a civil engineer.

"I think it will feel good to be performing with my friends and family near me," Trent Kowalik says.

"Billy Elliot" has its official Broadway opening on Nov. 13.