I saw Billy Elliot for the first time last night in Toronto (Sat. July 30, 2011). It was simply wonderful. The whole cast performed with the highest energy. I have been a passionate musical theatre-goer for over 40 years, and I have never been so impressed by the performance of a child in live theatre as I was with the performance of Dillon Stevens in the role of Michael. He truly was luminous on stage, his big 'cross-dressing number' was one of the great highlights of the show. This boy simply vibrates with talent, a musical theatre prodigy in every sense of the word. He's blond and cute (which doesn't hurt), he emotes with precocious skill, tap dances a storm, and sends out sparkles all over the stage.
I stood up and started the chorus of Bravos at the end of his big number with Billy.
(Btw, although a full-house, I thought it was a relatively subdued audience last night. Perhaps late-run audiences are less theatre-smart, I'm not sure. I know that at intermission I noticed that the house was an extremely multi-cultural mix. So I began to wonder how many may have been nonplussed by the Newcastle accents and expressions, and missed some of the dialogue, especially the gag lines.)
I have to add this: My praise for Dillon in no way takes away from the brilliance of Myles Erlick, who played Billy last night here. Myles played the title role wonderfully, acting sensitively, singing movingly, and dancing so skillfully. And btw, I thought Myles had the best Newcastle accent of any in the cast, including the adults. Amazing for a 12-year-old Canadian boy! In fact, performing the astoundingly difficult role of Billy Elliot is nothing less than an amazing feat for any boy.
It is clear that all the BETM boys are obviously very special talents. I have only seen this one live performance, but I've seen other Billys performing set pieces on YouTube, and all of them are absolutely prodigious.
(Yes, I'm sure they would. 
