Even with three rotating casts of the pairs of principal boys in Billy Elliot who play the title role and his best friend Michael, the show was caught short last week when two of the boys playing Michael fell ill simultaneously – and the third one was 300 miles away and even an attempt to get a helicopter to bring him back to London failed owing to high winds.
Step forward Liam Mower – one of the three Billy’s, and the one who was reviewed by the press – who was suddenly rushed into the role of Michael, in support of new Billy boy arrival Leone Cook who only arrived in the company last week (see earlier blog entry).
Mower, who admitted to being extremely nervous at the prospect of doing the show in a supporting role he only knew from the other side, said, “I was waiting to go on and I was really shaking.” With only an hour’s rehearsal beforehand, he found the finale particularly taxing: “I didn’t have a clue what to do. They were all pushing me where I needed to be”. But he rose to the challenge admirably: “It was the bestest thing I’ve ever done,” he said afterwards. “It was such an experience. After the show, everyone was saying, ‘Oh my God, I can’t believe you picked it up so well.’”
That’s showbiz! He went out a star and came back a supporting actor!
