General Chat - David Alvarez

[Michael]

I was hugely impressed with David's spins at the end of the 3rd birthday performance. It was also quite funny the way he cupped his hands around his mouth to shout out a huge "WHOOOOO" after the confetti blast that scared everyone in the theatre...

From the videos he seems like a genuinely modest, quiet, and polite kid - but get him on stage and WATCH OUT. He's suddenly a center of everyone's attention.

On to Broadway!

[Brad]

From the videos he seems like a genuinely modest, quiet, and polite kid - but get him on stage and WATCH OUT. He's suddenly a center of everyone's attention.

I have thought from the first time that I saw him in a video that this was going to be the one to stand out amongst the three of them. I suppose only time will tell.

[rtm2008]

A biography of David has been posted on the official US website here

Edit: 7/30/08
Pictures of David and the other Billys at rehearsal have been posted in an article at Broadway World

[Brad]

From the videos he seems like a genuinely modest, quiet, and polite kid - but get him on stage and WATCH OUT. He's suddenly a center of everyone's attention.

I have thought from the first time that I saw him in a video that this was going to be the one to stand out amongst the three of them. I suppose only time will tell.

2nd Preview - 2nd October.

Whoops!! Looks like someone got it right for a change

David was outstanding in his first show tonight. OK so he had to put up with a set stuff up in Angry Dance but this was part of the measure that shows what an outstanding performer he is - it didn't seem to worry him in the slightest.

Michael's quote above is so right - WATCH OUT indeed, this lad is going somewhere, not only as Billy Elliot but in the future.

Thanks for a great show David - and bloody well done

[RKBilly]

Great to hear David id doing a gr8 job, I really hear NY beckoning.........


RKBilly

[rtm2008]

There was an article in the Toronto Star about David:

INTERVIEW: DAVID ALVAREZ
14-year-old star of Billy Elliot is a super-talent who lives for ballet
Nov 11, 2008 04:30 AM
Richard Ouzounian
Theatre critic

NEW YORK–There's a moment in the second act of Billy Elliot, the hit London musical scheduled to open on Broadway this Thursday night, when the young dancer playing Billy leaps into a number called "Electricity" which sums up all the magic and excitement that dance has come to mean in his life.

And when David Alvarez finishes that song, he encapsulates it all so perfectly that it's no wonder audiences have been known to break into a spontaneous standing ovation.

Even though he's only 14 years old, it's obvious that the Montreal-born dancer of Cuban heritage is the real thing: a super-talent who's ready for every challenge that this three-hour panoply of emotions based on Steven Daldry's 2000 movie can fling at him.

Parental discord, civil strife, rioting crowds, creative pressure and family ghosts are all one to Alvarez and he takes them calmly in his stride.

"It's funny," he admits in his softly accented voice, "but as an actor, it just happens for me. I get deep into the character and once I'm there, I'm there."

It's the day after a preview performances and he sits calmly in the balcony of the Imperial Theatre, looking down on the now-empty stage he set on fire the night before.

"I had no idea," he says, "what it would be like to be the star of a Broadway musical."

The role is so demanding that two other young men share it with Alvarez, but all three are considered equal and there is no sense that any one is superior to his colleagues.

The Toronto Star's Susan Walker spoke to Alvarez shortly after he was cast last spring, but at the time he had no idea what was really ahead of him.

He now admits that "the biggest shock was seeing all the scenery and how everything moves around so fast. The flying during the dream ballet was pretty scary at first as well."

"In fact," Alvarez says in a rare moment of self-doubt, "I really wondered how I would get through the whole thing."

At the time, he hadn't counted on the theatre's secret weapon: the audience. "They cheered me a lot," he blushes, "and their adrenaline was incredible." He nods his head like a savvy showbiz veteran. "It's really a lot easier with an audience."

But before you start to think that Alvarez might be just a natural talent who slipped effortlessly into this complex role, it's worth hearing him discuss his thought processes.

"I saw the movie before I even knew there was a musical of Billy Elliot and I found it incredibly touching. Because I want to be a ballet dancer, too." He smiles. "The only difference is that my parents are very supportive."

And courageous. They defected to Canada in 1993, where David was born a year later, before moving to San Diego and finally relocating in New York when it became obvious their son was headed for a major career in dance.

He was spotted by a casting director who saw a picture of him in a magazine with his class from the American Ballet Theatre, and after a long and strenuous audition process, he got the role.

"They later told me they knew from my first audition I would be one of the Billys," he grins, "but they kept it secret from me until I had finished all my training."

And the devoted Alvarez looked on that training as intellectual and emotional as well as physical.

"When I first got the part, I went onto the Internet and discovered everything I could about the miners' strike," he admits, describing the bloody 1984 British labour dispute that forms the background of the show. "I wanted to know everything that was going on in this kid's life."

He even reaches into the world of childhood fables to describe the relationship Billy has with the ghost of his deceased mother.

"For me, Billy is a bit like the story of Bambi and his mother. She dies, but she gives him the knowledge and the inspiration to go on."

Inspiration is a big word for him right now, during the opening week of the show when the New York critics will be judging Alvarez and his companions. "You put everything you can into every performance and don't give up."

And even though he's different in many ways from the typical Broadway showbiz kids in the cast, he admits "we have one thing in common; we all know what we want to do with our lives and that's perform.

"I believe that if you have the will to play Billy Elliot, then you can do it.

"After all, the show's principal message is that if you have a dream and if you really want it, then you'll get it."

[rtm2008]

The following article about David Alvarez is from the New York Daily News:

David Álvarez, 14, goes Broadway in 'Billy Elliot'
By Lee Hernández
Wednesday, November 12th 2008, 4:00 AM

Teenage actor David Álvarez says he has a lot in common with Billy Elliot, the lead role in the musical of the same name opening tomorrow at the Imperial Theater on Broadway.

Like Billy, David, 14, fell in love with ballet at a young age, but others wanted him to play sports.

“David had muscles that were very well-defined, and he was very athletic,” says his dad, also named David, “so everyone wanted him to play a sport like football, hockey or soccer.”

But the family didn’t listen to anyone else and enrolled their son in ballet classes as he wished.

“My parents are very supportive, unlike Billy’s,” the younger David says. “His brother and dad aren’t supportive at all. That’s one lucky thing I have.”

In the musical, based on the 2000 Oscar-nominated film, Billy is forced to take boxing lessons he dreads.

“He finds his way into a ballet class, and when he sees how much strength you need for it — he starts loving it, and has to hide it from his father,” David explains.

The son of Cuban parents, David was born in Montreal, where his family lived for nine years and where he took his first ballet lessons.

“I started when I was 8, but it was more like just running around,” says the curly-haired dancer.

When his father, a university professor, found a job in California and the family moved there, David began taking dance more seriously.

Three years ago, he got a scholarship to attend the prestigious American Ballet Theater school, and the family relocated to New York.

David says when he auditioned for the role of Billy, he never dreamed he’d get it.

“All I knew was ballet, and the part was so demanding in every major way,” says David, who lives with his family on the upper East Side and takes private tutoring for ninth grade.

He spent from July 2007 through March preparing for the demands of the three-hour musical.

“I learned tap at Ripley’s, acrobatics at Chelsea Piers, acting on the West Side, and singing with [voice coach] Joan Lader — all at the same time,” he says.

His English also needed polishing and, on top of that, he needed to pull off a convincing British accent, since “Billy Elliot” is set in northern England.

“English is my third language, and I didn’t speak it very well,” says David, who speaks fluent Spanish and French.

He plays the role two to three days per week, alternating with teen actors Trent Kowalik, 13, and Kiril Kulish, 14.

“I’ve done about 12 preview shows so far,” says David. “Sometimes I get tired, but then I hear the audience cheering and they help a lot.”

[clue]

David is back and as good as ever!!!

David and the whole cast had a great show.

Welcome back!!!

[broadway_girl]

A good interview with David's parents and himself for CBC New Sunday that aired on April 26, 2009

Part 1
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sldJ1yXhJGw

Part 2
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h-W9cgA- ... re=related

[rashasha1]

Thank you for the great find Broadway-girl

[rashasha1]

http://www.thestar.com/entertainment/article/647611

David interviewed by Canadian hometown newspaper. Look to see how David REALLY wanted to celebrate tony night haha!

[theluji]

Thanks for a posting great interview of David rashasha1

"I didn't dance with anyone," he said shyly about his behaviour at the show's victory party.
"I figure I dance enough in the show."

There was no lucky girl who dance with David at that night ?

[Geridith]

David being amazing at piano: http://blog.92y.org/index.php/weblog/it ... d_alvarez/

[bobz]

Here's a really nice video of Jason Drew interviewing David Alvarez. For once, the interview questions are interesting, the interviewer seems to know something about his subject, and David is actually given the opportunity to answer fully. This interview pleases me.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UB1nIa5AFVE

[Aquila]

Great interview and well done to the interviewer.

[kat27]

Ditto to above. Great interview (funny as well). Good to have a non "we are billy" David interview. He seems to be the quietest of the three.

Thanks for sending the link!

[deebeeeff]

Great article about David:
http://www.nypost.com/p/lifestyle/tempo ... 5Hrc5chISP

[sgv123]

Great article. I am really surprised that he is thinking about the military for his future plans.

[Geridith]

As twittered, David was only able to do the first half of the show last night, Trent took over at intermission

[porschesrule]

The report was that David had his leg (s?) taped above and below the knee in the first half. Does anyone know if the reason why he couldn't continue last night was because of injury or was it illness?