As you may or may not know, yesterday, July 7 (I'm not sure about this, I've heard from other sources that it was July 1), was the third anniversary of Dominic Lucero's death. He played Bumlets in "Newsies" and was also in the cast of the Nickelodeon TV show "Roundhouse," a sketch comedy with lots of song and dance.
I conducted a search to find out all I could about Dominic and his death, and here's what I came up with...
HOW HE GOT STARTED IN SHOW BUSINESS : California born and bred, Dominic got interested in performing while still in high school. "I was always singing with the radio when I was younger," he recalls. "I was always dancing around. I thought I was going to be a lawyer--don't ask me why. as I got to high school, after I finished all of my sports and everything, I thought maybe I want to get into theater. I got the bug and kept on doing it." He started doing commercials and was picked for his incredible dancing. His major break was joining up with Michael Jackson for his "Bad" tour. Dominic also worked with Paula Abdul for a year and a half--he was her assistant choreographer. He worked with her on the American Music Awards and even won an Emmy for it! Dominic has also appeared in the movies Stand and Deliver and Newsies. Dominic was working with Michael Jackson again, preparing for the "Dangerous" tour, when he was offered Roundhouse....and the rest, as they say, is history!
PERSONAL INFO :
Favorite Theme Park Ride: Rollercoasters
Favorite Music Groups: TLC, Michael Jackson, Whitney Houston
Hobbies: Going to movies, playing board games with friends, shopping
Best Advice: Take one day at a time.
ROUNDHOUSE AND THE END : When Roundhouse first premiered in 1992, we fell in love with the entire cast. When the second season started the following year, something was wrong. There were still 12 people in the credits, but there were only 11 performers in the episode. Throughout the season the paradox continued. Where was the 12th person? Where was Dominic Lucero? We wondered halfway through the third season as well, because we still saw him in the credits, but not on the show. Finally he came back for a few episodes but it was apparant that something was wrong. He'd lost colour, weight and wasn't dancing. Rumor leaked out that he had been seriously sick. Some said cancer, others thought it was AIDS. It finally came out in the open during the final season of Roundhouse when, at the end of one episode, Ivan Dudynsky said to the camera, "Get Well, Dominic." Sadly in July of 1994, Dominic Lucero passed away. His body may be gone, but his soul will live on forever. Fellow Roundhouse cast member Crystal Lewis, sang at his funeral by his request.
Why is this world so cruel?
Friends are taken from us too soon.
Never to achieve their full potential,
Gunned down by disease at high noon.
We take for granted, the friends we have.
Never do we take a moment to think,
Of what life would be like without them.
Here one minute, gone at an eye's blink.
One such person touched our lives so greatly,
But was taken in his prime.
His talents were many, and shown to us.
However, the Man Upstairs said it was his time.
We cried when we heard the news,
That he had died in July of '94.
How could it happen? This wasn't fair!
But up to Heaven, his soul did soar.
His physical body may be gone from us,
But his spirit lives on in us anew.
Dominic, if you can hear us,
We miss you, and we'll never forget you.
Let us all take a moment to remember and mourn for our newsie, our fave Roundhouse guy, our Dominic. His spirit still lives with us, I know it does. We can never forget him.
CREDITS :
I would like to say thank you to Chickadee and her friend Deb for calling this day of rememberance to my attention. =)
The sections "How He Got Started In Show Business" and "Personal Info" were taken from Splitz's Ultimate Roundhouse Page
"Roundhouse and the End" and the poem "Too Young" appeared on The Dominic Lucero Page