I was a pretty scrappy, tough kid; I got in all sorts of fights at school. I defended myself - boys didn't mess with me. But as one of seven children, you have to fight for everything anyway.
I was the dork in high school who sang musical numbers up and down the hallways.
I didn't necessarily fit in in high school. I felt very awkward. I still feel completely awkward and weird in my body sometimes. I'm hoping that's going to go away, but I've just embraced it as reality.
I saw some musicals at dinner theaters where I grew up. But I didn’t go to a big theater to see one until probably after I graduated from high school when I took myself to see Tommy when it was on tour. I absolutely loved it.
I graduated high school and I didn't have a skill set and I didn't want to go to college. I needed a job.
In high school, I was so painfully self-aware that how I thought of myself was probably very different from what other people thought of me. I thought of myself as just painfully awkward and dorky. I had a lot of hair and was kind of weird. I sang a lot in the hallways.
