The show was absolutely fantastic, everyone involved were at 110%. I will post more pictures and reviews as they come in the next days.

Before the start of the show, Stephen Daldry took the stage and delivered this short but very emotional speech:

“Good evening ladies and gentlemen, my name is Stephen Daldry, I’m the director of Billy Elliot.

Tonight I wanted to welcome you here this evening personally because tonight is a very special and dare I say it, very emotional night for us because we are saying goodbye to one of our Billys.

His name is Tanner. Tanner’s been performing the title role of Billy Elliot for over a year here in London. I first met him over two years ago when I was auditioning for the Broadway production of Billy Elliot, in fact pinched him for London but he is one of the only two boys who ever played the show both here and on Broadway, because he went back earlier this year and played it on Broadway for some time and then came back to London.

He is from Norfolk, but that’s Norfolk from Nebraska, and I’d say that I’m sure you can imagine the extraordinary commitment his parents, and whole family have made to come to England and relocate them to New York and then come back to London and of course his whole family here tonight Jan, Marty and his wonderful grandmother and I thank you.

I know Tanner will be incredibly embarrassed because he’s probably listening to backstage, but Tanner is an extraordinary child, he’s incredibly gifted but he’s very, very much beloved, not just by this company but also by the company in New York. And I think everybody wanted to say a very special goodbye to him tonight, for this extraordinary child.

I’m getting emotional. We all wanted to thank his parents for their extraordinary commitment and love, not just to Tanner but their commitment to the show, to wish them great speed and safe flight home in the next couple of days.

Thank you for your son, he is an extraordinary boy, we wish him well, I’m sure we’ll be seeing a lot of him, he is wonderful and thank you very much for being here.

Have a great night.”

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I just want to thank Tanner and his dad for tonight, for taking the time to spend some minutes with the fans after the show. All the Billys were there and they had a farewell party inside, things got quite emotional. We understand what it meant for Tanner to leave that, if only for a couple of minutes, and spend it taking pictures or giving autographs.

I’ll keep the site updated.

It has been confirmed that Tanner’s final performance as Billy Elliot will be on Saturday 26th of September.

We, the fans of Tanner, wish him all the best in the future, we will miss you. This is only the beginning!

This site will stay up forever, and I take the oportunity to ask anyone who wishes to post materials about Tanner to contact me. I personally, will be there and I will take pictures.

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

There’s no clear path from obscurity to a spotlight in world-class theater.
Yet Tanner Pflueger of Norfolk, Neb., has arrived at age 13.

Tanner snagged the title role in a London musical, “Billy Elliot.” Based on a 2000 movie, with music by Elton John, it’s the story of a British boy from a coal-mining family who trades boxing gloves for ballet shoes.

Tanner opens Sept. 29 at the Victoria Palace Theatre in the West End, London’s equivalent to Broadway.

“It’s so hard to find boys capable of doing this role,” said Jessica Ronane, London casting director of “Billy Elliot.” “They’re like gold dust.”

The role requires difficult ballet and tap steps, gymnastics and a British dialect, “an awful lot to learn at that age,” said Nora Brennan, the New York casting director who found Tanner in a nationwide search.

Tanner was up for it, his teachers say. He has a strong work ethic, a perfectionist nature and the ability to pick things up quickly.

The story of how Tanner blossomed as a dancer, and how London found him, beats fantastic odds.

It starts with a shy kid who clung to his mother’s hand at his first dance lesson six years ago.

He’s the second son of Marty Pflueger, a steel machinist, and wife Jan, a nurse. Neither is particularly musical, but Tanner took to piano, singing and saxophone along with gymnastics.

“He had a tape recorder he would sing and dance to when he was a toddler,” his mother said.

At age 6, Tanner went to cousin Brandi Roeber’s dance recital. Soon after, he had a surprise for her.

“He’d made up his own dance to the song I had danced to,” said Roeber, a pediatric dentist in Omaha. “He watched the recital tape over and over to learn.”

Soon after, he started lessons in Wisner, Neb.

“At first I was scared, and I didn’t want to do it,” Tanner said recently from London. “But I finally started to enjoy it, and I let go of Mom’s hand.”

Soon he was under the wing of tap teacher Kathy Morrison. When a job opened at Nebraska Dance in Omaha, Morrison took it. Her star pupil followed her.

Thus began four years of commuting, three times a week, 100 miles one way.

“We were willing to make that sacrifice because he loved it,” Jan Pflueger said. “When he got into the car, he’d eat a packed lunch and start his homework. He and his dad would listen to ‘Jeopardy’ on the radio. We did a lot of talking, too, bonding time.”

At Nebraska Dance, Tricia Lovejoy, Sally Banghart and Sarah Koenig taught Tanner ballet, skills that turned out to be key in landing the role. From Lovejoy, Tanner said, he learned the importance of ballet as the basis of all dance.

“And she was the first person to get me to wear tights. Tights aren’t one of the first things I’d choose to put on.”

Tanner drew attention at the 2007 Youth American Grand Prix, an annual ballet competition known around the world. Soon after, Brennan called Nebraska Dance to ask if he’d like to audition for “Billy Elliot.”

After four rounds of auditions over 14 months, Tanner was offered the role in early May.

“That first audition, I remember very distinctly just being blown away by him,” Brennan said. “He was a phenomenal tapper, and he had a really high level of skill — a beautiful, lyrical, well-rounded dancer. He’s sort of a quiet boy, but he’s amazing.”

The London offer brought a dilemma: Should his parents let him go? Tanner had never been away from them for longer than a weekend with nearby grandparents.

Jan Pflueger, who admitted shedding more than a few tears of both pride and concern, said it was a tough decision.

“He told me, ‘Mom, you can’t keep me home just ’cause you’re gonna miss me. You have to give me a very good reason.’

“I didn’t have a good reason.”

Tanner’s parents prayed about it, checked out the supervised living arrangements and tutoring in London, and decided that it was the chance of a lifetime.

“This wasn’t something we went looking for or were pursuing for him,” his mother said. “God was telling us we needed to give him that chance.”

Since Tanner arrived in London on June 13, his parents have visited monthly. He calls his mom two or three times a day, starting at 3 a.m. — which is 9 a.m. in London.

“My wife said I’d have to take that first call,” Marty Pflueger said, laughing. “But I have yet to. She grabs the phone immediately.”

Tanner says he’s having the time of his life. He’ll perform at least through May — unless a dreaded growth spurt or homesickness arrives first.

He does miss his family members. “It’s hard not being with them, but I just really enjoy it,” he said of performing.

“I’ve always dreamed of being a pro dancer. I sorta am right now, and I just want to keep it going as I get older. They say I’m doing well, and I’ll be completely ready for my opening night.”

His parents and grandmother will be in the audience Monday to see it.

Once nervous that he’d be sick to his stomach before going on, Tanner now loves to perform.

“It’s just the music, and letting go, and forgetting about everything else. And just having fun.”

Source: Omaha World Herald

Newcomers Tom Holland and Tanner Pflueger are joining the cast of Billy Elliot as the hit show’s newest title stars. Holland will begin performances on September 8 at the Victoria Palace Theatre, with Pflueger following shortly thereafter on September 29.The young pair join Joshua Fedrick, Fox Jackson-Keen and Layton Williams, who alternate in the demanding role, as well as current featured players Jackie Clune (Mrs. Wilkinson), Phil Whitchurch (Dad), Chris Lennon (Tony), Ann Emery (Grandma), Trevor Fox (George), Alex Delamere (Mr. Braithwaite), Sara Poyzer (Mum) and Barnaby Meredith (Older Billy).

Holland, age 12, is a Kingston-upon-Thames native. He studied dance with Lynne Paige, who also trained original Billy Elliot film star Jamie Bell. Holland was asked to audition for the musical production after being spotted at a local showcase in 2006. After two years of intense ballet training, he was officially offered the role. American dancer Pluefer, age 13, is from Norfolk, Nebraska. He began dancing at age seven. An award-winning modern and lyrical dancer, he was crowned West Coast Dance Elite Junior Champion in 2007. Billy Elliot will mark the West End debut for both performers.

Billy Elliot recently celebrated its three-year anniversary and over 1400 performances at the West End’s Victoria Palace Theatre. The show has played to over 2.5 million patrons since its May 2005 debut. It is slated to make its Broadway debut at the Imperial Theatre with performances beginning on October 1.

Source: london.broadway.com