Dayton Tavares--Billy: Oz & Broadway

[sgv123]

Yay! I am very happy that Dayton will be on Broadway! I am sure that he is thrilled as well, maybe thinking that his time as Billy was all finished this past summer. I cannot wait to see him

[ERinVA]

Had to post this link just for the first line!!!!

Poor Mrs. Elliot may be gone to heaven, but somehow, she keeps reproducing.

http://artsbeat.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/ ... -broadway/

[jillmichael]

Wow, this is such cool news!! I'm so excited!! I really hope I can make it up to NYC to see Dayton

[porschesrule]

Well that artsbeat article answers the question we were discussing earlier. Dayton will become the 6th Billy on Broadway and Liam will be the 7th. Again, they don't count Tanner I think because he was considered an understudy, temporarily taking Tommy's place in the rotation and was not a full rotation Billy.

[CJ-Rochester]

This is exciting news, but I'm a little confused about the math. They announce two new boys arriving but only Tommy is scheduled to leave the B'way show. We are not supposed to speculate on people leaving. I guess another explanation is that perhaps an injury will keep someone out of action for a while?

[ERinVA]

Well, for quite a while the show has been running with only two Billys, since both Alex and David have been out, and Alex will most likely still be out for a while, I think. David is now back, but I think they don't want to run with fewer than four Billys if they can possibly help it, especially going into the holiday season. London often runs with five.

[porschesrule]

Well, it seems very uncertain as to when Alex will be back, even though he says it will be soon. And while yes, we shouldn't speculate about cast leavers, David can't go on forever with his recent growth spurts and voice deepening. While his departure might not be for a few months (and I hope that's the case), I think it's wise of the creative team to have a plan in place to not only cover that eventuality, but have a cushion if there is another spate of injuries like that which recently occurred.

As several people have mentioned, when you have a situation like Tommy and Trent just went through, the stress and fatigue on their bodies just make them all the more vulnerable to injury so there's no question the load has to be spread more evenly.

The other thing about this move is that, from all accounts, the Oz show was very similar to the Broadway show, so the learning curve for Dayton will not be large. And by bringing in an experienced Billy, he can be on stage far more quickly than even someone else who may be in the pipeline.

[seuchick]

Congratulations Dayton!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I'm kind of in shock right now. I halfway expected one of the Aussie Billys to be announced as part of the Chicago cast since they were all still appropriate for the role at the time the show closed in Melbourne. But when the casting announcement came and there were no Aussies, I thought, 'Oh well, there goes that dream'. And now this! Wow.

Does anybody know if Dayton is a ballet Billy, or might he be broadway's first street Billy?

[ERinVA]

Ballet
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Billy_Elli ... y_Elliot_2

[andrewcraig]

Dayton was in this video of the ASTRA awards telecast in april 2008. This is one of several on youtube that shows him dancing as one of the 4 Billys and with the 3 Michaels. I will try and the find the better video and post that.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=63vWjDpM ... L&index=67