Lucas Grabeel’s Path to Stardom Started in SLT Youth Programs

The story is familiar to millions of fans today: a young athlete involved in school sports feels the pull of theater and discovers a talent just waiting to break through. Before Disney’s High School Musical made Lucas Grabeel a star, he lived it on the Landers stage.

“I showed up to my first [Y.E.S. Troupe] rehearsal in my football pads because I was playing football at the time too,” Grabeel laughed. “We did a dance. We were starting off right off the bat. Like, ‘Okay, we’re going to do this big dance medley number.’ It was like jumping and doing all this crazy stuff. I had never danced before, so I was terrified. But then we got to play improv games, and I loved that. Then singing. I had been doing music since I was little. I was 7th grade, 8th grade maybe when that happened.”

Grabeel had been recruited to Springfield Little Theatre weeks earlier when Beth Domann visited his middle school. He had been curious about performing but was lost on how to explore his interest. When Domann addressed his class about life in the arts, Grabeel suddenly recognized the way forward.

“She was just so funny and witty and clever and nice and weird, and I saw so much of myself in her and what I wanted to be,” he reflected. “I talked to her afterwards and she was like, ‘Yeah, come and sign up for these acting classes.’”

After just one class, Domann spotted Grabeel’s talent and urged him to join Y.E.S. Troupe for a more rounded education. With Domann in charge, Troupe was acting and improv heavy leaning into her strengths. She urged participants to be self-reliant, producing their own projects and learning all facets of theatre.

“She would just be like, ‘Okay, this is what you need to do. Do it and figure it out.’ So many times over my adult years I think back on that with such gratitude,” Grabeel acknowledged. “That’s the thing that we needed to push ourselves. But also, after we figured it out, to have that confidence of, ‘Wow, we figured this out ourselves.’”

“We learned how to work together,” Grabeel explained. “So many interdisciplinary facets from taking tickets to office hours to hanging lights, changing gels, building sets, and even sweeping and cleaning and interacting with our own show and other shows and other people from the top to the bottom. It just solidified the sense of community that SLT is. You really felt like you were a part of something, which for me was extremely important.”

As Grabeel’s focus sharpened on the performing arts, all other activities began to fade away. He eventually left sports behind and performed as a toy soldier in his first SLT production, THE VELVETEEN RABBIT. Then came the opportunity that began to reveal his potential star power. Then SLT executive director, Mick Denniston, was directing OLIVER and Grabeel nervously prepared for the audition.

“I was terrified because I was meeting Mick Denniston for the first time,” he recalled. “[Mick] was the executive director of SLT at the time. Loved by many but feared by most as well. I was so intimidated and so scared. I went and sang a song that usually a girl sings – ‘Castle on a Cloud’ from LES MIS [LES MISERABLES]. I didn’t even know what LES MIS was. I was not in a theatre headspace at all. I was like ‘Mr. Sports Boy’ – even though, let’s be honest, I was not ‘Mr. Sports Boy.’ But anyway, I was cast, and that was really the first big thing I had really gotten on my own. I was just floored.”

Grabeel landed the role of the Artful Dodger and was an instant standout. Fellow castmates, audiences, and Denniston himself recognized the special talent Grabeel possessed. Recognizing the power of Denniston’s mentorship and the impact of the role in his life brought tears to his eyes.

Despite being so many years, auditions, and roles ago, he still appreciates the experience of that show as a turning point. After OLIVER, Grabeel was all in.

“From then on, it was like what can I do to fit in as much experience, work, and knowledge as possible?” he explained. “Landers became my college while I was still in high school. Became my church while I was kind of stepping away from being religious. It was my family when so many rough times were going on at home. I would escape and find people who acted like me, thought like me, who were weird. There was so much support and so much challenge.”

Grabeel continued performing at Logan-Rogersville, Kickapoo, and SLT through his high school years. With every show, he picked up skills and experiences that would prepare him to pursue acting as a profession.

“I remember [fellow Y.E.S. Troupers] Derek Macumber teaching me how to do my makeup. Jessica [Bower] just totally took me under her wing and taught me how to dance. ”

One pivotal conversation pushed Grabeel toward his future. “Before I graduated high school, Beth and I were having dinner and she was like, ‘I don’t ever tell anybody this, but you should go into movies. You should go to LA.’ And I had that feeling. I knew that was where I was gonna go, but my gut was telling me that and I needed some validation. That was another huge pivotal point in my life to know that here’s my mentor telling me what my gut is already telling me and giving me that validation. Immediately I was like, ‘Okay, I need to go check it out.’”

Before making the leap, Grabeel visited Los Angeles and lived the actors’ dream. He was approached by a stranger while waiting in line for a smoothie. The man asked if Grabeel had acting aspirations and confirmed that he had the right look for the screen. After some conversation, he became Grabeel’s manager for a decade.

Grabeel moved to LA with a friend straight out of high school. He worked at Blockbuster between auditions until his manager sent him to an audition for an untitled Disney project.

“I was at a party with some friends, and I was like, ‘Dude, I just got a callback for this Disney musical thing.’ They were like, ‘Oh, yeah. I heard about that. Dude! You are so gonna get that. That is so you. You are such the musical guy.’”

Grabeel admitted that he couldn’t see the potential right away with the material he’d been provided. With the competitive nature of auditions, he also knew he couldn’t count on anything before getting the call.

“At this point, there was no music that we had heard. It was being written at that time. It was just this empty script. Lots of holes in it for music, so you couldn’t really see it. I hadn’t met Kenny [Ortega] yet to see his artistic, weirdo, genius. I reluctantly went to the callback. I knew I did really well, but it was down between me and two other guys. That’s happened many times before and I didn’t get it after that. That’s just par for the course.”

Things changed when Grabeel met the creative team. Whether or not the movie became a success, he was excited about working with the Disney legends.

“When I was at the callback, I met Kenny and [choreographers] Chucky Klapow and Bonnie Storey. The three of them had this energy that I knew I wanted to be around, regardless of what I thought about the project. Which was just a huge lesson that you as an actor don’t get to choose how the final product comes out. Don’t think about that. Do your job and just wait and see what happens because it could be a total flop, or it could be a worldwide phenomenon that changes your life and takes you all around the world and you’re still talking about it almost 20 years later.”

Habits he acquired at SLT carried through into Grabeel’s professional life in the arts. When transitioning into the film and television industry, he used skills of observation and understanding the craft that he practiced in Y.E.S Troupe to make a smooth transition onto set.

“One of the most important aspects that I think about all the time that I learned at SLT was the importance of knowing everything about the art,” Grabeel noted. “What their job title was, what their responsibility was, what it’s like to present yourself in such a way when you’re an usher leading someone to their seat. How important the scenery is, the set decoration, the props. How important it is to hang up your costume at the end of every performance and take care of it. At the end of my day, I go to my trailer, I hang up my costume, and I cannot tell you how many times wardrobe department has come to me and been like, ‘Dude, this is insane. You’re the only person that ever does this and we appreciate it so much. It means a lot that you respect our job.’ I think that’s what it is. SLT really pushed us to respect every aspect.”

Over the years, Grabeel has appeared in high profile features like MILK with Sean Penn, starred in the beloved series SWITCHED AT BIRTH, and made the leap into voicework with starring roles in Netflix’s PINKY MALINKY, Disney’s SHERIFF CALLIE’S WILD WEST, and more. He has also been putting out music including fan favorite YOU WERE MY CHILDHOOD – an homage to HIGH SCHOOL MUSICAL fans.

“I’ve been doing a lot of voiceover [work], which I always love,” he said. “It’s the best job in the world. I cannot say enough about how much I love animation. Being silly and zany and creating things just with your voice is so much fun. I have been really focusing on music. I’ve been writing a lot. YOU WERE MY CHILDHOOD was something that had just kind of been brewing for a while, then one day it just kind of popped out. I’m really proud of it. I just released it because I knew I needed to put it out there as soon as possible, so I just did an acoustic version of it, and I might do a fully produced version at some point. It’s been so lovely. People have just really connected to it and listened to it.”

Despite living out his Hollywood dreams, Grabeel still credits SLT with guiding his passions into practice. With his multifaceted talents, he’s able to pursue all areas of entertainment.

“SLT was such a great escape to find another home where I knew I was valued and pushed and taught so many different things. As Beth used to say, ‘Here’s the kicker, kids. This is not just about theater. It’s about life.’”