Tanner, 14, was in the New York audience with his mother, while dad, Marty Pflueger, watched the television show at home in Norfolk as Billy Elliot dominated the awards night. Dad and Tanner’s big brother, Tyler, had seen him perform last week. (Only 14 months older, Tyler at 5-feet,11-inches and 200 pounds, is nearly a foot taller and much heavier than his dancing sibling.)

Tanner’s brief Broadway run ended with last Saturday’s matinee, and he’ll return to Nebraska for a week after Sunday’s post-show party. Then it’s back to London where he will continue his year-long contract in the same role through September.

Jbara, who won the featured actor Tony for his adult role in Billy Elliott, didn’t just win the hearts of the Pflueger family. In addition to listing Tanner and several others whose names would have gone unmentioned, he explained why he dragged his wife on stage: to thank her for being a single parent for the past year while he performed on Broadway.

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The three-hour program showcased not only the nominated original musicals and revivals, but squeezed in production numbers from such touring shows as Jersey Boys, the Frankie Valli musical that earlier put former Omahan John Young in the Tony spotlight.

For raw emotion, there was Karen Olivo, honored as Anita in the revival of West Side Story.

But the Pflueger family enjoyed the rather stunned response of the three original Billy Elliots when they accepted their joint award for leading actor in a musical. After a “wow” or two, David Alvarez, Kiri Kulish and Trent Kowalik managed the usual “thank yous” for their moms, dads and siblings, including, in ascending order, one, two and three sisters.

Kowalik got the chance on stage to show us the power of the title role with the Elton John score backing his high-energy performance. And it gave viewers an idea of why three teen-agers take turns.

Their Nebraska replacement only performed a half-dozen times over three weeks.
“They’ll have four Billies in London,” Marty Pflueger noted, to give each lad a full week off from time to time.”

He’ll take time off from his steel mill job to fly there with Tanner next week.

Warren Francke
Source:  TheReader