Wantagh teen stunned by his "Billy Elliot" Tony
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2009 Tony Awards
The 14-year-old from Wantagh who shared a Tony on Sunday for his starring role in Broadway's "Billy Elliot: The Musical" was up until 3 a.m. celebrating at a post-awards bash at Manhattan's Bar Americain - with five Cokes, to be exact.
The whole night was "unbelievable," Trent Kowalik said in a telephone interview Monday.
The craziness began the moment he and the two other teens who alternate the role with him, David Alvarez and Kiril Kulish, were announced as sharing the "lead actor in a musical" citation.
"I couldn't exactly take in what was happening," Kowalik said. "It was so sudden."
The three boys were so stunned that they looked helplessly at one another on stage, not sure who should speak first or who to thank.
"I couldn't think of anything to say. It was just so shocking, so many things were going through my mind," Kowalik said.
He did eventually take his turn and thank his parents and three sisters, who were present, and Dorothy's School of Dance in Bellmore, where he got his training.
Kowalik said he plans to put his Tony statue in his bedroom as soon as it's engraved with his name.
"Probably on my dresser," he said.
Monday, the day after the Big Night, Kowalik slept until 1 in the afternoon at the Manhattan apartment he stays at while performing.
When he awoke, "it all of a sudden felt like a big dream," and Kowalik spent the rest of the time until dinner doing news interviews.
"I'm so tired," Kowalik said as he sat down to have a burger.
But going to bed early wasn't in the game plan Monday night, either - he followed through with the plans he'd made before the Tony Awards ceremony and saw Chandra Wilson's opening night in "Chicago" on Broadway.
