Peters Twp. native Dan DeLuca stars in Disney’s ‘Newsies’
Dan DeLuca (center) stars as Jack Kelly in the original North American Tour company of Disney’s “Newsies.”
The original company, North American Tour of Disney’s “Newsies.”
McMurray native Dan DeLuca as Jack Kelly in the original North American Tour company of Disney’s “Newsies.”
The original company, North American Tour of Disney’s “Newsies.”
Stephanie Styles as Katherine and Dan DeLuca as Jack Kelly in the original North American Tour company of Disney’s “Newsies.”
Dan DeLuca (center) stars as Jack Kelly in the original North American Tour company of Disney’s “Newsies.”
Original company, North American Tour of Disney’s “Newsies.”
As a teenager, Dan DeLuca delivered newspapers for The Almanac. He never dreamed that experience would land him the lead in Disney’s “Newsies,” presented by the Pittsburgh Cultural Trust.
The Peters Twp. native comes back to his hometown to make his Broadway tour debut as the lead in the Tony Award-winning production based on the true story of the newsboy strike of 1899. “Newsies” runs Nov. 25-30 at the Benedum Center.
DeLuca said the show is “the ultimate Disney musical without the magic and fairies.”
“‘Newsies’ was actually based on a 1992 movie starring Christian Bale that was a huge flop,” said DeLuca, “but it got this humongous cult following and people were dying for it to become a Broadway musical.”
The plan was for a limited Broadway run of just 101 performances, but its followers, referred to as “Fansies,” helped propel that number to 1,005. The show closed on Broadway this past August, and the national tour kicked off just a month later in Philadelphia.
DeLuca found his love of theater at a young age when his parents took him to see “Peter Pan” at the Benedum Center. “I still remember that night vividly,” remarked DeLuca.
The Disney-obsessed middle child of Dave and Kathy DeLuca would watch the movies with his sisters, Alexa, a med student at George Washington University, and Cassi, a photography/business major at Kent State. DeLuca’s parents continued to expose him to the arts, taking him to all of the Broadway shows that came to Pittsburgh. They even bought him a video camera when he was in the second grade.
“I was always putting on plays with my cousins and making movies,” said DeLuca. “I didn’t even know then that I was prepping for my career.”
Kathy DeLuca said her son was a creative child. “He always wanted to direct, take videos … he was always drawing, writing. My husband always joked that he was going to write a book and call it ‘Being Dan DeLuca’s Dad’ because Dan was always so different, but in a good way.”
While a middle and high school student in the Peters Township School District, DeLuca participated in theater and loved it. But, it wasn’t enough. He auditioned for Little Lake Theatre Company, but was turned down. “I knew if I wanted to make this my career, I really needed to focus and get the training I needed to become as good as I could be. As much as I loved high school theater, I didn’t have the resources that I needed.”
DeLuca decided to look elsewhere and found the perfect fit at the Richard E. Rauh Conservatory and Pittsburgh Musical Theater. He enrolled in a pre-college program at the Conservatory his junior and senior years. In the evening, he performed in PMT shows, including “Godspell” at the Byham Theater, the first major musical in which he had a prominent role.
“I would go from core classes at Peters Township in the morning to the Conservatory in the afternoon, then perform in shows downtown at the Byham at night then do my homework at midnight and be back at school at 7 a.m.,” DeLuca said. “It was the coolest thing in the entire world to be working in Downtown Pittsburgh, working with all of these professional actors and being one of them.”
However, sacrificing the life of a normal teenager had its drawbacks.
“I had a big life change by not going to high school full time and not being with my high school friends. A lot of them ended up resenting me for it, thinking I had traded them because I wanted to enhance my education, and that was not the case at all. I loved them so much and it was a terrible choice for me. I was so torn up about it but I was like, ‘if this is where I want my life to go and this is what I really want then this is what I have to do.’ It was a strange moment in my life but I don’t regret it at all.”
DeLuca said he learned a lot during that time. “Trying to balance my school work with my theater work and then my personal life and family life … but it’s just one of those things that you learn by doing, so I was thrilled to have the opportunity, and I’m happy that I seized that opportunity. I learned so much about relationships and careers and balancing time.”
DeLuca said both the Conservatory and PMT set him up for success and New York, where he moved in 2010 just a few months after his high school graduation. The transition, he said, came easy.
“It was quite the adventure, but I had no problem adjusting. I fit right in with the beat of the city and I loved it so much. I still love it.”
DeLuca said his parents have been supportive since day one. “Even when I said I didn’t want to go to college, they were like, ‘That’s fine. If that’s what you want to do.’ They were always 100 percent gung ho. They knew I wasn’t wasting anybody’s time. They could see that this is what I needed to be doing. They’ve been amazing. My whole family has been so supportive.”
“Some people probably thought we were nuts … taking Dan to New York when he was barely 18 and dropping him off … but we just knew he would do it,” remarked Kathy DeLuca, who described her son as ‘determined.’ “He knew what he wanted and he went for it. But he’s always been that way. We knew he wouldn’t waste our money or his time.”
In the Big Apple, DeLuca dove in head first. He enrolled in the Collaborative Arts Project, a conservatory of NYU.
“Determined, intelligent, passionate and deeply focused” – that’s how CAP21 Professional Program Director Aimee Francis described DeLuca. She had him in class and also directed DeLuca as the lead in a Mainstage Production of “Children of Eden.” She added, “He had a fiery drive, beautiful humanity and powerful presence that made him irresistible to watch. His artistry is extremely relatable and profoundly brave.” Francis said it was a thrill to work with DeLuca.
While participating in the intense, two and a half-year training program at CAP21, DeLuca auditioned for shows and obtained his Actor’s Equity Card, which allowed him to work with some of his heroes. “I was in the right place, in New York where all the opportunity was,” he said. “It was crazy. I’d still be doing my homework but be working on developing new musicals with ’90s pop star Duncan Sheik and all these really cool people.”
The training and hard work paid off. At just 22, DeLuca got the call that changed his life.
“Jack Kelly, who I play in “Newsies,” has been my dream role. It’s so cool to have this opportunity now.”
DeLuca saw “Newsies” when it first opened on Broadway. He had been auditioning for two-and-a-half years for the understudy of the role of Jack Kelly, which, he said, meant being in the ensemble. “To be in the ensemble, you have to be an incredible dancer,” explained DeLuca. “They told me, ‘you can either be Jack Kelly, the lead role, or not be in the show.'”
For DeLuca, it was an easy choice. But, he said, “Playing the role of Jack Kelly is the hardest thing I’ve ever done. I do it eight times a week, which is kind of crazy to me. It’s just extremely intense training, and the vocal workout that I have to do every night is insane.”
So, DeLuca, who is only the third person to ever play the role of Jack Kelly, enlisted the help of Broadway voice guru Liz Caplan, voice coach to Neil Patrick Harris. “She has taught me so many amazing tricks of how to keep my voice in shape. When I’m not singing, I’m yelling and getting these boys riled up. I’m off stage in the first act for maybe five minutes, so I’m constantly running around. It’s a marathon for me. Physically, I’m running all over the place and climbing up ladders, jumping off things, fighting, dancing on newspapers … it’s quite the workout. But I wouldn’t have it any other way. It’s incredible.”
“Seeing ‘Peter Pan’ and growing up in the Disney renaissance … those movies had a huge influence on me because that’s practically musical theater, just in a movie,” said DeLuca. “And the fact that Alan Menken, the man who wrote all those movies … “Beauty and the Beast,” “Aladin,” “The Little Mermaid,” “Pocahontas,” “The Hunchback of Notre Dame,” “Newsies” … is my boss is just unreal to me.”
DeLuca said “Newsies” is a “sweeping, high-energy, thrilling show” filled with Tony Award-winning choreography that will “blow people’s minds.”
“These boys are defying gravity, flying through the air and flipping around. It’s so thrilling to watch. People are going to leave in awe … not only realizing that they just had a history lesson, but they also laughed and cried at the same time.”
Dave and Kathy DeLuca have already seen the show four times, traveling to Philadelphia and Cleveland. Tickets to the Pittsburgh performances were purchased months ago. “I called the box office as soon as I found out and said ‘I want 10 for every show.'”
For the next year, DeLuca will be living out of his suitcase as the tour encompasses 25 cities, including Baltimore, Chicago, Miami, Atlanta, Las Vegas, San Francisco, Dallas, Boston, Washington, D.C., Los Angeles and Toronto. When not on stage or preparing for shows, DeLuca enjoys working out (he’s a Beach Body coach for the Beach Body Corporation), meditating, listening to music and staying in touch with his loved ones. That includes girlfriend Danielle Hope, who lives ‘across the pond.’
“She won a reality TV show in the U.K. back in 2010 when I was a senior in high school and was cast as Dorothy in Andrew Lloyd Webber’s version of “The Wizard of Oz,” which I would literally watch every day when I was younger,” said DeLuca. “A friend of mine sent me a clip on YouTube back when I was in high school and said, ‘Hey, I found your dream girl.'”
A mutual friend set the two up when the West End star (London’s version of Broadway) was visiting New York earlier this year. DeLuca said they hit it off immediately. “It’s funny how we kind of send those vibes out into the universe.”
When the tour comes to an end, DeLuca plans to enroll in TV and film classes and hopefully one day make the transition to LA. “There are so many opportunities in New York, but there are a lot of opportunities in LA. I’d love to be bi-coastal,” he said. “It’s funny … I never thought my life would be so all over the place.”
For now, however, DeLuca is just excited for the opportunity to perform in his hometown. “It’s the theater where I went to see all the shows when I was younger. I’m just so thrilled that I can make my big Broadway tour debut in Pittsburgh and over Thanksgiving. I’m proud of where I come from, so I’m just so happy that I can be coming back. It feels awesome.
“I’ve been so lucky and so blessed to have so many wonderful, supportive people around me. I feel like the luckiest guy in the world.
“I’m doing my dream role in my dream show, working for my dream company.”
Who could ask for anything more?
Tickets to the Pittsburgh performances of “Newsies” are almost completely sold out. However, a limited number of tickets are still available for Thursday night’s performance. To purchase tickets or for more information, visit www.trustarts.org.