The hills are alive with a young actor's dream

By Nancy Kriz
LOS ANGELES — A Monroe-Woodbury seventh-grader has joined the ranks of professional actors appearing in the national tour of "The Sound of Music," which premieres this Sunday in Los Angeles.

Family and friends of Chester resident Jeremy Lanuti said "So long, farewell" to him over the recent Labor Day weekend when he departed for his acting and singing journey which will last six months at a minimum and possibility a full year.

Two rolesJeremy's roles will include playing the part of Kurt or Friedrich, the two Von Trapp brothers.

"I am the child male 'swing,' which means I am the understudy for all child male roles," said Jeremy, who gets paid for his role as a “swing” and also when he actually appears on stage. He's now member of the Actors Equity Association.

"I have to learn twice as much as everyone else."

There are eight performances a week over the first six months, which means Jeremy will have a great deal of on stage time.

"Anytime either boy needs a break of gets sick or needs to rest, Jeremy would be the one performing for them," said his mother Teresa Lanuti.

This year marks the 50th anniversary of the Academy-Award winning movie, which tells the musical story of Maria and the Von Trapp Family. The original Tony-awarding winning Broadway production opened in 1959, with additional productions and revivals following.

The 2015 national Broadway tour will be directed by three time Tony Award-winner Jack O’Brien.

“We plan to look more closely at this remarkable work - to tear off the varnish of the past and reveal one of the greatest, fresh glories of musical theater,” O’Brien said in a website statement.

The auditionJeremy auditioned for his role last April.

"It was a long audition period," he recalled. “I was nervous. My callback was in front of the creative team, the director, producer, the casting people. The process took four days."

As part of his initial audition, he sang "Oh What a Beautiful Morning" from Oklahoma and then harmonies of the "Sound of Music" reprise with the casting director.

At the callback, he read lines and sang more "Sound of Music" melodies with other kids vying for roles.

"They said, 'We'll get back in touch with you in two weeks,' and in four days we were unofficially told they wanted me," said Jeremy. "On a scale of one to 10 of how great this was to me, this was actually a one million."

Before the start of this North American tour, Jeremy had never traveled farther than Michigan. Now, he'll be staying and appearing in places like Dallas, Miami and Orlando and Los Angeles - where he'll perform for the next six weeks.

Interestingly, for now, New York is not part of the tour, but it could eventually make its way to “The Great White Way.”

Other roles to date This role is Jeremy’s biggest thus far, but he's not new to the stage. He’s appeared in Westchester Broadway Theater productions of "Camelot," "Oliver!," "Ragtime the Musical" and "Another Night Before Christmas."

As part of the Just Off Broadway (JOB) cast, he’s appeared in "Les Miserables," "Amahal and the Night Visitors" and "Suessical the Musical." Jeremy’s also had roles in Forestburgh Playhouse productions of "Mame" and "Beauty and the Beast Jr."and its production of "Oliver!"

Hyperlocally, he was cast as "Willy Wonka" in the North Main Elementary Drama Club’s production of "Willy Wonka Jr."

On Location EducationIt’s a serious business and Jeremy’s prepared to do whatever is necessary to make it work. That includes continuing to excel in school. On Location Education is the company responsible for providing for Jeremy’s seventh-grade education.

“Their teacher will responsible for teaching the seventh-grade curriculum,” he explained. “There’s eight kids, from grades two to nine with one teacher. It’ll be like Little House on the Prairie. Three hours a day for all the core subjects plus French. And rehearsals and performances count as gym, art and music.”

The tour company pays for a chaperone to go with actors under age 16, and Jeremy’s parents have arranged it so he always has a family member or adult friend with him.

“The Broadway contracts for kids are for six months due to the fact that kids grow or voices change,” said Teresa Lanuti. “Already they have a full year of cities booked, but the tour might end his contract if he grows too tall or his voice is deepens too much. Right now, for his height, he’s in between the height of both boys. But it's very common for contacts to be extended."

The Lanuti family is gushing with pride over Jeremy’s opportunity.

“This is his thing,” said his mother. “This is his sport is and we feel we need to keep backing him. He's made some strong ,brave choices with what he wants to do and who he is. If he really wants to do this as an adult, he needs to learn this now, including how to learn about rejection, as it's a hard life. When he got this (role), we felt this could be life changing for him and we have to support that. Both his brother and sister know how hard he works. We know it wouldn't have happened if we couldn't do this as a family. We feel like this was an opportunity we couldn't have him say no to.”

Will Julie Andrews come to the opening?

If Jeremy could rewrite the lyrics to "My Favorite Things," it's clear live theater and all that goes with it would be on the list.

And, it’s an understatement to say how thrilled he is to have this theatrical opportunity.

“I would like to say thank you to my mom and dad for putting in all this effort all the time, signing contacts and everything,” said Jeremy. “It's very exciting even though I'm going to be missing my brother and sister and family and friends. I definitely couldn't have done this without them. Ten to 15 years from now I hope I'll be on Broadway and performing every night. There's so many great roles but any role on Broadway would be my dream.”

There’s also one short-term dream, too.

“I'm really hoping,” he added, “that Julie Andrews will be able to come to the premiere in Los Angeles.”