Montreal-born Billy takes tough acting, dancing role in stride

A Montreal-born teenager who beat the odds to land a plum role on Broadway is in contention for a Tony Award Sunday night.

David Alvarez, 15, shares the role of Billy Elliot with two other young talents Trent Kowalik and Kiril Kulish. They've already won an Outer Critics Circle Award for special achievement and a Fred Astaire Award for dance.

The role of Billy, a young British boy from a mining town who wants to be a ballet dancer, is one of the toughest ever created for an adolescent, according to Stephen Daldry, director of the Broadway version of Billy Elliot, the Musical.

The role of Billy is split among three actors so as not to burn outany one performer. Even so, Alvarez and the others are on stage for 2 hours, singing, dancing and acting.

Although it's his first acting role, Alvarez takes it in stride.

"All you're thinking about is enjoying yourself and giving the audience all you've got and hope they enjoy it, and that's what the song is playing," he said, referring to the lyrics of Electricity, one of his solos in which he sings that he's "flying like a bird."

Alvarez grew up in Montreal, speaking French and Spanish with his Cuban family. He had to learn English when his family moved to San Diego.

His father, David Alvarez-Carbonell, says he enrolled his son in ballet classes because he wanted an activity where he couldn't get hurt.

"We are not a ballet family, but we realized he had this grace and natural ability and we never discouraged him," he said in an interview with CBC's cultural affairs show Q.

In San Diego, young David auditioned for the prestigious American Ballet Theatre School in New York City.

After he was offered a full scholarship, the family decided to uproot and move across the country to give him a chance at living a dancer's dream.

David said his classmates in San Diego didn't think much of ballet, and he had a teacher who discouraged him from dancing.

"In New York that changed. Everyone is used to see other people do different things," he told Q.

Auditioned with 1,500 hopefuls

When the opportunity came to try out for the role of Billy Elliot, young Alvarez said he didn't think he had much of a chance.

"All I knew about was the movie. I didn't know about the musical or London or the West End," he said.

"When I went into the audition I did not expect to get it at all, as I did not know one part of what I was supposed to be doing there. All I knew is ballet, which is required for the role."

He won the role over 1,500 other boys who auditioned.

The part requiredadding acrobatics, acting, singing and learning to speak with a British accent to his dance talent. He had to work with a voice coach to lose his French-Cuban accent in English, as it is his third language.

Alvarez said he feels at home on stage, even in his first public performance.

"I don't know why, but I get more nervous doing things I'm comfortable with, than doing things I am not comfortable with. My first show I was not very nervous because it's a three-hour long show," he said.

"The first big moment is when you enter and as soon as you enter, you just get used to it and hear the audience just enjoying the show and that just helps a lot."

When he heard his name called as a Tony nominee one of 15 nominations for the hit show he was thinking about the performance he had to do in a few minutes, rather than the emotion of the moment. "The first thing I did was smile and look at everyone else crying," he said.

Among those in tears was his father, who has worked with Billy's mother to help himmaster his rigorous schedule andhandle the pressures of doing interviews and facing an audience.

"I'm always crying when I found out he was Billy, his first preview performance, when I found out he was nominated for the Tonys. And I'm afraid I'm going to cry on Sunday," Alvarez-Carbonell said.

Alvarez and his two co-stars are up for best actor in a musical in competition with Gavin Creel of Hair, Brian d'Arcy James of Shrek the Musical, Constantine Maroulis of Rock of Ages and J. Robert Spencer of Next to Normal.