Parents Prepare to Welcome Hannah Home

When Hannah Rose DeFlumeri was in second grade, she was notorious for bursting into song while in class, earning a warning from her teacher, according to DeFlumeri’s mother, Jackie.

Look at her now.

Since graduating from Newtown High School last year, Hannah DeFlumeri earned a spot on the cast of the nationally touring “Legally Blonde” show. On Friday, May 13, the show will wrap up its national tour in New Haven at the Shubert Theater.

“She’s always loved to sing and dance,” Jackie DeFlumeri said of her daughter. “It’s finally paid off.”

Hannah DeFlumeri’s rise to the national ranks of theater performers, an extremely competitive field, has been legendary in Newtown. It started with her enrollment at Sabrina’s Encore Productions and later in the Newtown High School performance of "Gypsy," a rendition that found its way on YouTube, garnering more than 25,000 views.

DeFlumeri then won an audition and eventually landed the coveted role of Vivienne Kensington, the rival of the star character, Elle, in "Legally Blonde." The role has put her on the road touring with the company for the past year.

“It’s been such a positive experience because when she first got this, (husband) Jack and I didn’t know anything about touring and the company,” Jackie DeFlumeri said. “These people have been so nice. They have taken just good care of her because she is the youngest one on the tour. They have watched her like a hawk and taught her how to take care of herself.”

DeFlumeri said she is glad that her daughter has found something that she loves doing. When Hannah was young and her parents would sign her up for sports just like many other Newtown families.

But she found the experience to be frustrating, her mother said. Hannah DeFlumeri did not take to sports, but then through her friends, she discovered theater programs in town and flourished, her mother said.

“I was happy she found something that she was happy with,” Jackie DeFlumeri said. “Instead of sports, it would be theater.”

While Hannah DeFlumeri exhibited uncommonly good talent, her parents didn’t think it would go past a teenage interest.

“I just thought it would be a hobby,” Jackie DeFlumeri said.

But with a theater career now a better possibility, DeFlumeri said she will support her daughter’s next move, whether it will be at another theater show or going off to college, which she delayed in order to tour with "Legally Blonde."

“She’s going to keep auditioning until she has to make a decision,” DeFlumeri said of her daughter.

Meanwhile, with the Legally Blonde set to open for its final set of shows at the Schubert Friday, DeFlumeri said she promised her daughter she would go see every night performance. The family also will host a cast party over the weekend.

Show times for Legally Blonde, 8 p.m., Fri.; 2 and 8 p.m., Sat.; 1 and 6 p.m., Sun. at Shubert Theater, 247 College St., New Haven.