Why was the Billy Elliot lead in the first act substituted in yesterday matinee performance? And not on end?

The lead actor was changed after the intermission at the August 7th matinee performance by another actor. At the end the actor in the first half did not even appear to take a bow. Is this common for this play? What happened?Why was the Billy Elliot lead in the first act substituted in yesterday matinee performance? And not on end?
It's common for professional stage shows to have understudies for the major roles -- standby actors who go on when the regular actor can't perform for some reason. Usually, the understudy goes on for the entire show, and there's an announcement before the play begins. If an understudy takes over a role part way through a show, it usually means that the regular actor has been injured or has become ill.Why was the Billy Elliot lead in the first act substituted in yesterday matinee performance? And not on end?
Which production are you talking about???? (btw: if i do know what production, ill probably know what your talking about)



If you mean from the NY production, Michael Dameski started as the Billy for the 1st act , and then Joel Hatch announced that for the second half, Alex Ko would play Billy.



If so, Michael was not injured or sick, just very exhausted, and thus Alex went on for the 2nd half because he was the standby Billy.



For those who are not very familiar with BETM, the standby Billy is another one of the 4 boys that perform as Billy that stays in the theater in case the performing Billy gets hurt. Standbys are sometimes used, but not very often. The show is very demanding for the boys that play Billy, and sometimes it can get very very tiring.



So don't worry, Michael did not get hurt, he was really really tired and just could not find the strength to the whole show. kudos to him for putting up with his fatigue for a whole 1st half :)



Hope this helps. :)