“Original” Billy Elliot in The Nutcracker
December 16, 2009
Back when the Billy Elliot tickets stampede was in its infancy, Kiril Kulish was one of the original stars to grace the stage in the Billy Elliot musical – in fact he starred as the first of the Billy Elliots on the Broadway stage. Kulish left the hugely popular production in early October, 2009. One the of the three Tony-winning stars who were honored recently, he is to take another leading role – this time with a holiday twist! The “first of the Broadway Billys” is heading down to Occidental Grand Aruba in Palm Beach where he will star in The Nutcracker for a select two-night-only run during the 2009 holiday season. The Billy Elliot schedule runs on without Kulish, but he carries many happy memories from his time with the show.
Kulish, 15, who immigrated with his family from the Ukraine to California as a small child, has a rich history in dance. He began training at the tender age of eight, and went on to become a prize-winning ballet and ballroom dancer. Kulish was part of the famed American Ballet Theatre stable. It was here that he was spotted by talent scouts and lifted to glory on the Broadway stage as the dancing English kid we all know and love. It could safely be said that the sale of Billy Elliot tickets was partly down to the skills of the agile Kulish. He was co-recipient of the 2009 Tony Award for Best Actor in a Musical. Trent Kowalik and David Alvarez, two of the other actors in Billy Elliot, were awarded the Tony alongside Kiril.
Occidental Grand Aruba in Palm Beach will stage helmer Leonid Kozlov’s version of the Christmas classic, The Nutcracker, featuring just two performances open to the public. There will be a free teaser date on December 27 followed by a proper performance on three days later. Nutcracker will be performed, along with other dance tidbits, when Kulish will give a special solo show in the New Year, 2010.
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