Piro Begins NSMT 'Hello, Dolly!' Run Next Week

Last month, the would be filling in for injured performer Lorna Luft in its upcoming run of Hello, Dolly! (June 12-24) while also returning in July to play Miss Hannigan in Annie (July 17-29).

Before going on to Broadway success in productions like Les Miserables, Sunset Boulevard and Miss Saigon though, Piro was a student at Lynnfield High School who participated in the former Spotlighters of Lynnfield community theater group. To this day, she reports that she has some dear friends in Lynnfield and keeps in touch some of her former high school classmates and others. Much of her family now lives on the South Shore, while her parents are on Cape Cod. Piro currently lives in New Jersey, outside of New York City, with her husband Peter.

In a recent phone conversation with Lynnfield Patch, Piro said that she spent her junior high school and high school years living in Lynnfield. In fact, Jacquelyn's mother and her sister Janet Piro were even in her very first production with her, with the Spotlighters. From there, her mother became more interested in theater costumes, and established Costumes By Illusions in Melrose.

Jacquelyn's interest in theater didn't just begin in high school though. "I pretty much came out of the womb knowing I wanted to be an actor," she said. And while many young aspiring actors dream of becoming movie stars, for Piro, her goal was Broadway from day one. "I didn't ever really veer away from it. I knew it was what I wanted to do," she added. As a child, Piro says that her mother even used to call her "Little Sarah Bernhardt," referring to the legendary 19th Century French stage actress.

As a young child, Jacquelyn studied ballet and her sister was also a dancer. She also studied piano for about six years. Like many youngsters who grew up in the area, she attended occasional shows at the North Shore Music Theatre and dreamed of performing there. In fact, one of her first-ever auditions was at the theater, she recalled.

After high school, she went on to earn a BFA in acting from Boston University and from there moved to New York City almost immediately. One important early step in her career came during her time at BU, when she earned her union, or equity card, as an understudy for Caralee Carmelo in "Nightclub Confidential." With the equity card secured, Piro acquired an agent and started working quickly from there.

At the age of 25, she made her Broadway debut as Cosette in Les Miserables. Later in her career, she would portray Cosette's mother, Fantine, in another production, apparently becoming the first-ever actress to do so.

With many young people in Lynnfield to this day involved in music and the theatre arts, Piro has plenty of advice to offer them. In fact, during a previous run of Les Miserables at NSMT, she visited with some of the theater students at Lynnfield Middle School and sang for them.

In general, theatre and other performing arts are notoriously competitive. "A lot of it has to do with perserverance," said Piro. "I was extremely hungry and aggressive."

She also reminds aspiring performers that it's extremely important to have thick skin when it comes to taking criticism - and that the criticism doesn't go away even if one finds success on stage."It's extremely competitive and it's extremely difficult because everybody has an opinion," said Piro.

Piro recalls how one prominent casting director once called a song of hers "a little flat" and said she was too pretty to play the character Lizzie in "110 In The Shade." Later on, she ended up playing that role anyhow and reports that it turned out to be one the most critically acclaimed of her career.

"You need to believe in yourself and you need to be trained," added Piro, emphasizing the importance of having "lots of training, then take what you can use to develop yourself."

"I still at my age try to learn from what is told to me because I feel I am trying to consistently be a living, growing thing," she said. "You have to keep growing with your age and learn and grow constantly."

For tickets and more information about this summer's productions at North Shore Music Theatre, click here.