Note: Diego Rey’s final show as Billy in the Spanish production of Billy Elliot the Musical (BETM) at the Nuevo Teatro Alcalá in Madrid was on July 13, 2019.
Debut: October 17, 2017 (Madrid, Spain)
Total Performances as Billy: 106 (Includes two partial shows credited at 0.5 each)
Diego Rey was 14 years old (D.O.B = 6-May-2003) when made his debut as Billy Elliot in the Spanish production of Billy Elliot the Musical in Madrid. He is from Jaén, which is a city in south-central Spain.
Before auditioning for BETM, Diego had not danced before. Though he was a talented gymnast and is a member of Baruca Acrobática, which is an acrobatic performing group. His first audition was in March 2016 and the audition panel must have spotted potential in Diego as he was invited to begin training at the Billy Elliot School, which had been newly created at the Scaena dance school in Madrid. He then began taking regular trips north from his hometown of Jaén to Madrid to train at the school, where he learned a variety of dance styles including ballet, tap and jazz.
A few months later a further cut was made to the number of boys at the Billy School, whittling them down to just 17 hopefuls. Diego’s hard work and determination paid off when he was chosen as one of these 17 boys who would continue to train at the school.
In early September 2017, after 18 months of training, it was announced that Diego would be one of the six original Billys in Spain.
With his debut performance as Billy on 17-Oct-2017 Diego becomes the 226th young actor to play the role in a professional, regional or community theatre production of the musical.
For more information about Diego visit:
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