I am a big fan of the film Billy Elliot so I hoped that the stage version would do the story justice … and I have to say that they did just that. For our performance, we got Trent Kowalik as Billy (the show has 3 boys who trade off playing the lead role, Trent is the only one of the Broadway Billys to play the part in London) and he was absolutely phenomenal. I’m sure all of the lead Billys are superb but I have a hard time imagining that any of the other two (David Alvarez, Kiril Kulish) are more talented than Trent is. That kid can dance! And sing! He was a delight to watch on stage.

David Bologna played Billy’s friend Michael and he was a delight as well … just hammy enough to pull off the part perfectly. The role of Small Boy was played by the cutest little kid ever … Mitchell Michaliszyn (who looked a lot like David when he was a little boy, so you can imagine his cuteness). The stage version of the show is a great adaptation of the film … even tho none of the songs are really very memorable for me (ie. I wasn’t humming any of them as I left the theater). I loved the way they handled the reading of Billy’s mom’s letter to him. I ain’t gonna lie, there may have been tears in our section of the audience. Even tho there were some parts of the staging that didn’t really wow me, the show is really a great show to watch … the performances by the young actors is really top notch. I was wholly impressed and would recommend this show to anyone. If you love the movie, you’ll love the show.

After the show, we made our way back to the West Village to have dessert at Sweetie Pie on Greenwich Ave.

This afternoon, we’re meeting up with David’s sisters for brunch and plan to spend the day out and about in the city. As I mentioned before, this will prolly be my last trip to NYC for a while … I want to enjoy it as much as I can.