Leap of faith: Iowa City native finding his bliss in coveted Broadway role as Billy Elliot

By Diana Nollen

Finding Billy Elliots is hard. Casting Iowa City native Alex Ko was easy.

“Boys that dance and have strong ballet are very rare, very hard to find,” says Nora Brennan, children's casting director for “Billy Elliot,” the hit Broadway musical which swept the 2009 Tony Awards and calls for a young singer-dancer-actor in the demanding lead role. “We really have to search out to find them.” 

Alex, now 14, had everything Brennan was looking for - including back flips.

“He's a very beautiful boy,” Brennan says by phone from Chicago, where she has been working with the national touring company now onstage at the Ford Center for the Performing Arts. “He has very strong ballet technique and also has a very beautiful spirit about him.

“He is also very well-rounded in dance,” she says. “He can do tap and knew gymnastics, as well. Those are the things needed in the show. Alex came to us with a lot of those skills.”

So with a giant leap of faith and talent, Alex, the son of Tammie Cumming and the late Sam Ko, landed his first stage role. He's one of four boys who rotate performances as the lad from a hardscrabble British mining town who found his bliss in ballet, rather than boxing. They typically perform twice and are on standby two other shows per week, in case of injury or illness.

Alex debuted at the Imperial Theatre on Oct. 6, with family and friends from Iowa, California, Hong Kong and Pittsburgh in the audience. About two weeks later, he tore part of a tendon in his knee during warm-ups. He didn't need surgery, but it did take the entire winter to heal and rehabilitate the knee. He maintained his singing stamina by pedaling an arm bike and kept busy representing the show at numerous charity events.

When he returned to the stage March 14, more than 50 Hancher donors were cheering for him. They were on a long-weekend theater trip organized by Hancher to attend “Billy Elliot,” “The Addams Family” and “South Pacific.”

Naturally, seeing their hometown boy was the highlight.

“The people were just blown away,” says Chuck Swanson, Hancher's executive director. “They didn't realize what a star he was. There was not a dry eye in the house at the end.

“I've seen a lot of Broadway shows and I have never been so drawn into a show as I was with ‘Billy Elliot' on Broadway,” Swanson says, “because we met this wonderful boy, this little gentleman who grew up in Iowa City. … You would be so proud of this little guy. First of all, it's a huge, demanding role, but he is it. He's the star.”

The Hancher group met with Alex at two receptions, including one following his matinee performance.

“I have never seen anybody at that age be so poised, so unassuming,” Swanson says. “The first thing out of his mouth was ‘I want to help raise money for the new Hancher.' … I look to him to have a great future. He'll probably dance on the new stage of Hancher. That would really, really be awesome.”

Alex started taking gymnastics at age 4 and dance at age 5 in Iowa City, eventually winning championship titles in competitions around the state and nation. He graduated to advanced ballet classes at the University of Iowa and has studied on scholarships with the Joffrey, the Pacific Northwest Ballet and Steps on Broadway, where among his teachers was Peter O'Brien, the dancer whose life story inspired the “Billy Elliot” movie and musical. (See related story.)

Alex's odyssey to the Broadway stage began in New York in June 2008, after O'Brien pointed him out to one of the show's choreographers, also on the faculty at the prestigious Steps on Broadway.

“He was invited to meet (the casting director) and was fast-tracked to meet the creative team in November (2008),” Cumming says.

His callback came when the team held a final audition with about 20 other boys that month. Alex was the only child invited to stay an extra day.

“We knew they were very, very interested,” Cumming says, “but they still made him come back in February - they called it training - and said you're done auditioning, but we did not have a contract yet, so it felt like he was auditioning.” He quickly found out he'd landed the role.

“A huge amount of training goes on,” Brennan says “We have to train them up in whatever area they're weak. (Alex) is fantastic. There was very little that we had to do, actually, other than the regular training and rehearsal. He didn't have to learn acting and singing.”

Brennan says most boys stay with the show for about a year and a half or until their voices change.

“They come into the show knowing it's a temporary moment in time,” she says. “Most are looking forward to going back to ballet school.”

Alex's contract was renewed in March. He has been bitten by the theater bug and wants to do more.

He and his family moved to New York last May and are enjoying their new life. Cumming, 44, who worked at ACT in Iowa City, is now the director of assessment and institutional research at the New York College of Technology. Older brother Jack, 19, is studying dance and accounting at the University of Iowa; Alex, an A student, is tutored; and younger brother Matthew, 12, attends public school in the city.

Even though Sam Ko died of cancer in 2007, before seeing this new chapter in his son's life, Alex says his dad was always supportive of his endeavors and he feels his presence all around him. It also means he feels a special connection to the character of Billy Elliot, whose mother has died.

“We both have guardians looking from above,” he says.

And when Alex is dancing, he says he feels like Billy does.

“It just all comes out. It's like you're energized, happy and just free.”

ARTS EXTRAwww.billyelliottour.com or call 1-(800) 775-2000.

What: “Billy Elliot” on Broadway

Where: Imperial Theatre, 249 W. 45th St., New York, N.Y.

When: 7 p.m. Tuesdays; 2 p.m. Wednesdays; 8 p.m. Thursdays and Fridays; 2 and 8 p.m. Saturdays; 2 and 7:30 p.m. Sundays

Tickets: $41.50 to $141.50; higher during holidays and for premium seats; through www.telecharge.com/behindTheCurtain.aspx or (212) 239-6200

Information: www.billyelliotbroadway.com and www.alex-ko.com

IN CHICAGO

The first national tour of “Billy Elliot” is in Chicago through Oct. 24 at the Ford Center for the Performing Arts, 24 W. Randolph St. Tickets generally range from $27.50 to $87.50 weekdays and $37.50 to $97.50 on weekends. Iowa City native Alex Ko is not in this production; he is performing in New York. For tickets and information on the Chicago show, go to