Note: Peter was a member of the final cast of the NY production. Final Performance as Billy on Broadway was January 8, 2012
Debut: August 29, 2010 (Broadway)
Total Performances as Billy: 137.75 (includes 3 partial shows credited @.5 + 1 partial show credited @.25)
Peter Mazurowski, from Bow, New Hampshire, debuted on August 29, 2010. Supporting him from the audience as they have throughout his young dance career were his parents, Jay and Carolyn, and his older sister, Dana, along with many other family members and friends.
Peter began taking dance lessons at the age of six and has been a student at the New Hampshire School of Ballet (NHSB) where he’s studied ballet, lyrical, tap, jazz, modern and acrobatic techniques. Peter has also attended theater camps and has taken vocal lessons.
At NHSB, Peter danced on the school’s competitive team where he won several dance awards, cash prizes and scholarships as a result. Here he is seen after accepting the school’s 2009 Rosemarie Boyden Memorial Award for excellence in tap dancing, age 12 and under:
Credit: Photo by New Hampshire School of Ballet
In a report by the New Hampshire Union Leader newspaper, Peter’s long time dance teacher, who is also the owner/director of NHSB, Jennifer Beauvais-Rienert, said of Peter, “He’s very dedicated and has worked very hard. He’s here five days a week dancing. It’s a lot of hard work. It requires a lot of discipline.”
And all that hard work and discipline has paid off over the past couple of years, as Peter has impressed numerous dance judges in various competitions. In March of 2010, Peter competed and won the Teen Mr. StarQuest regional competition in Derry, New Hampshire, for his solo entitled “Home”.
As a result of his work in competitions over the past couple of years, Peter was noticed by Nora Brennan and her staff, whose job it is to constantly scour North America for young dancers who could potentially become Billy. They contacted the NHSB and asked to see Peter. After several auditions, Peter was selected to participate in the intensive Billy Camp in New York. Then, after months of hard work, In June, 2010 Peter was announced, along with five other boys, as having made the cut to play Billy in one of the North American productions of the show. Also in June, the NHSB issued a press release indicating that Peter will be in the Broadway production of the show.
In June, 2010, Peter moved with his mother, Carolyn, to New York City to begin two and half months of rehearsals leading up to a planned debut in August. In a video made by the New York Times to complement a recent article entitled “Flight Training: Building an Army of Billy Elliots”, Peter and two of his fellow Billys-to-be are seen working with ballet instructor, Finis Jhung. The three boys in the video are Joseph Harrington (with blond hair who is interviewed in the video), Kylend Hetherington (wearing shorts) and Peter (the first boy who appears in the Finis Jhung class segment of the video and is the boy on the left when the three boys are practicing in a line):
http://https://youtu.be/Sn_Gw5QxTcA
Credit: Video by TheNewYorkTimes
During the summer of 2010, a typical week for Peter, as he prepares to become Billy, is filled with acting rehearsals specific to BETM almost daily — both one-on-one with an associate director for his role as Billy, but also with other actors as he gets used to interacting with other cast members. Some days he also has vocal training, dialect coaching, acro sessions, cardio/pilates (to build stamina) and, of course, ballet. Once he starts performing, the schedule won’t be dramatically different, as even experienced Billys have to keep up their skills and stamina with constant training. In the Fall, add academic tutoring to that mix as well.
In that article about him in the New Hampshire Union Leader, Peter said he was somewhat nervous about performing on the Great White Way but that, “I just want to know what it feels like to be on Broadway.”
At the matinee performance on August 29, 2010 he got his chance to do just that.
On January 6, 2012, popular cast member Thommie Retter who played Mr. Braithwaite in the show, put together a Fan Appreciation night at which various members of the BETMNY cast, past and present, performed. Here’s Peter performing on that occasion:
http://https://youtu.be/tqtJlUBSuKM
Credit: Video by ernstonbroadway
On January 8, 2013, Peter joined the other final four Broadways Billys to take turns performing the various scenes and musical numbers/dances of the closing show. It would be his 137.75th and last time on stage as Billy.
Credit: Photo by Genevieve Rafter Keddy
For More Information on Peter Mazurowski, visit:
Billy Elliot the Forum, Wikipedia, Peter Mazurowski Facebook Fan Page
_______________________________________
