Someday, someone could turn the story of these two lives into a musical.
Lara Hayhurst and Trey Compton have been an item since the seventh grade, when they met at the Act One Theatre School in Glenshaw. This month, the 27-year-olds are back in Pittsburgh to perform in Pittsburgh Musical Theater's production of "Legally Blonde." Hayhurst will play the lead role of law student Elle Woods; Compton will portray Emmett Forrest, Elle's love interest later in the show.
For Hayhurst, it's a dream come true, as she has landed one of her dream roles.
"I've been wishing for this part, but I got it here," she said.
"I was meant to do it here in my hometown."
That means that family, North Allegheny School District alumni and teachers can catch up with the couple's theater careers.
Having grown up in the same Bradford Woods neighborhood, Hayhurst and Compton put their acting lessons to good use during spring musicals at their high school.
"We did plays and musicals, but we didn't plan on going to college together, but Pace University (in lower Manhattan) gave us the best scholarships," said Hayhurst, daughter of Maggie Hayhurst of Wexford and Jim Hayhurst of Bradford Woods.
"It was like having your best friend with you," she said about the couple's move from suburbia to the Big Apple.
"It's really daunting moving to New York, but we could learn together and make mistakes."
Both pursued fine arts degrees in musical theater and graduated summa cum laude. While she focused on performance arts, he concentrated on directing and choreography. A year after commencement, they married in Pittsburgh - never having dated anyone else - and stepped into the rhythm of performers everywhere: auditions and rehearsals - with hopes of not a lot of time in between.
"It's a real balancing act," Hayhurst said.
"You go away to do regional theater, while most auditions are in New York."
During their first three years as professionals, they spent only nine months together, she said. These days, they keep a promise of not letting more than two weeks go by without seeing each other when they're working on separate shows.
Hayhurst started performing at age 10. She credits Bobbie Hall, her fourth-grade vocal teacher at McKnight Elementary School in McCandless with fostering her passions for the stage.
"She put me in my very first show," she said.
"She saw the glint in my eye and encouraged it."
Her mother also nurtured that interest by taking her to shows and plays. At age 10, Hayhurst started performing.
Compton's love of theater came out of a disability. His severe stuttering was cured through classes at Act One. Karen Cordaro, owner of the theatre school, and her program not only cured his stutter but also introduced him to his wife and gave him a career direction.
"I know it sounds dramatic, but theater, sort of, saved my life. I was deemed ‘legally mute,'" Compton, son of Jody Compton of Bradford Woods and Tom Compton of England, explained.
"The least I owe it is devoting my life's work to it. And if you can't be dramatic talking about theater, when can you be?"
He attributes his confidence to his mother's ongoing support.
Compton is looking forward to working with Colleen Petrucci, general manager and conservatory director of Pittsburgh Musical Theater, who is directing "Legally Blonde."
The two worked together at NA when she directed "How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying," a musical that earned him a Civic Light Opera Gene Kelly Award for Best Actor for his role as J. Pierrepont Finch.
"What an awesome homecoming to have her direct me once again 10 years later," he said.
Ken Gargaro, founding director of the Pittsburgh Musical Theater, remembers the young actors.
"They were a team, childhood sweethearts," he said, "and so talented."
Gargaro, who now counts 42 years in the profession, had directed seven musicals in the "hotbed of talent at North Allegheny" due to his cousin, Ernie Pontiere, NA's choir director. Many actors from the school, Gargaro said, have since gone on to more prestigious stages.
At that time, Hayhurst was in Compton's shadow, he said, because fewer chose boys drama as an activity.
"She was a great performer then, but she's matured into an artist," said Gargaro, 63, of Fox Chapel.
He saw Hayhurst in Florida when she performed the role of Amber in "Hairspray," and "she blew me away."
Gargaro is eager to watch her on stage again - "most likely every night" - when she returns to Pittsburgh
"I identified so closely with Elle," Hayhurst said.
"She's like who I am - really smart, taking extra measures to get what she wants, a little silly, but driven."
Hayhurst also likes the color pink.
A few years ago, she and a few of her friends went to see the show on Broadway with Laura Bell Bundy in the lead role. She and Bundy looked so much alike that people were stopping her on the sidewalks to ask for her autograph.
"‘Sure,' I said," as she signed Bundy's name. ‘Go see the show.'
"Laura didn't know that there was a doppelgänger running around."
Hayhurst considers the show physically demanding. Of the 17 songs, she sings 14.
"The audience will see a lot of Lara in the role," she said.
"But if the audience doesn't like the show, they may not like me."
For the couple, Broadway is the ultimate goal.
"We always knew it was not going to be easy; we were warned, and we had great teachers," said Compton.
"We didn't get into it for the money or the fame. We are doing it because we love it. And to be honest, how many people can honestly tell you they are doing what they love to do? We are financially poor but artistically rich."
If you go
Performances of "Legally Blonde" at the Byham Theater, 101 Sixth St., Pittsburgh, are scheduled for May 3, at 7:30 p.m., May 4 at 7:30 p.m., May 5 at 7:30 p.m., May 6 at 2 p.m., May 11 at 7:30 p.m., May 12 at 7:30 p.m. and May 13 at 2 p.m.
Tickets - at $44.75, $39.75, $24.75 and $12.25 - can be ordered at http://trustarts.culturaldistrict. org or by calling 412-456-6666. Students can get half-price tickets for this show.
