Note: Tylor’s final show as Billy in Billy Elliot the Musical (BETM) in Duryea, Pennsylvania, presented by Phoenix Performing Arts Centre, was on May 27, 2017.
Debut: May 12, 2017 (Duryea, PA)
Total Performances to Date: 7 (No partial shows)
Tylor Berrini was 11 years old (D.O.B. = 22-Jul-2005) upon his debut in the Phoenix Performing Arts Centre production of BETM. He resides with his family in Larksville, PA and is a 5th grade student at Wilkes-Barre Academy in Wilkes-Barre.
Tylor is the youngest of four children and he began his dance training at the age of five at the Joan Harris Center in Luzerne, PA where he takes classes in ballet, tap, jazz and hip hop. Like the other dance students there, Tylor participates in the four annual dance recitals presented by the Harris Center.
He has also appeared in the summer theater productions presented by The Joan Harris Center. Productions there have included:
- The Jungle Book
- Cinderella
- 101 Dalmatians
- Aladdin (played the Genie)
- Aristocats (played Scat Cat)
- Peter Pan (played the title role)
Tylor has also performed in shows at his school, Wilkes-Barre Academy:
- Snow White
- The Lion King
- Annie
- Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory (played Willy Wonka)
Besides dance and performing, Tylor’s other passion is drumming. At the age of seven, he began to take drum lessons. And it was his drumming that landed him his first role at The Phoenix Performing Arts Centre where he played Freddy in School of Rock in 2016.
Other productions at the Phoenix PAC have included:
- The Starlight Express (played the role of Rusty)
- Pippin (played the role of Theo)
- Bugsy Malone
And now, of course he’s landed the lead role of his young life — that of Billy Elliot.
Lee LaChette says that after Tylor auditioned for and got the role of Freddy in School of Rock, she “watched him in amazement of his talents as a singer, actor, drummer and am in awe of his dancing abilities.” She added, “I have always wanted to do Billy Elliot at Phoenix since licensing became available and knew I had found a Billy in Tylor. I would not have even considered doing the show until he came along, so I built the show around his talent.”
Auditions took place in December of 2016. Rehearsals began in January of this year (2017). In the four months leading up to the show’s opening, each week the cast had a music rehearsal with the music director, Jenn Johnson, one day a week for dance rehearsal with Lee LaChette and one day a week for blocking rehearsals.
As April arrived, Tylor also began more intense rehearsals in the studio for his solo dances.
And with his debut, audiences will get to see how all this hard work has paid off. He is the 195th young actor world-wide to bring the role of Billy alive on stage in a professional, regional or community theatre production of the show.
Here’s a video of Tylor rehearsing Electricity from BETM, a week before the show opened at Phoenix PAC:
Credit: Video by Lara Berrini
For more information about Tylor visit:
Billy Elliot the Forum, Youtube
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