GREEN BAY (NBC 26) — From a local stage to Broadway spotlight.
A Green Bay Southwest High School graduate is now performing on Broadway.
The musical revival of Sweeney Todd: The Deamon Barber of Fleet Street just took home two Tony Awards on Sunday, with a Green Bay native among the star-studded cast.
We got the chance to talk to Felix Torrez-Ponce ahead of the Tony Awards to hear about his humble beginnings in Green Bay theater to how he seemed to do the impossible and make his way to the bright lights of Broadway.
"Never did I think that this was going to be how it worked out or how that I was going to be working with these incredible people at this time in my life," says Torrez-Ponce about his newfound Broadway career that landed him as a member of the ensemble cast and understudy of two lead roles in the musical revival of Sweeney Todd.
But long before show biz came calling, Felix's theater roots started the Green Bay boy's choir.
"The Green Bay Boy's Choir was kind of my first pass at just performing...I remember the fourth grade I did my first musical, it was The Wizard of Oz," Torrez-Ponce explained. "Going into middle school, I really got into the musical scene there and I really liked it, so I asked my parents if there was anything else that I can get involved in. They found Evergreen Productions which was a little youth theater group out of De Pere Wisconsin," said Torrez-Ponce. "Then I got involved in high school, and for me kept growing as a passion."
"My parents always supported me and told me to keep trying and keep having fun with it. As I did things in the community and high school, you know you hear people tell you, 'you're really good at this' and it makes you feel good."
Felix says one of the most influential people in his career has been Brandon Rockstroh, the Musical Director at Green Bay Southwest High School.
Rockstroh says Felix's talent was always off the charts.
"He was actually a five-time lead in our musicals. There was one year we did two musicals his senior year, he was a lead in all of our shows, that almost never happens," said Rockstroh.
Winning a Center Stage Award for outstanding performance by a lead actor was a turning point for Felix. It was there he was nominated for a national high school musical theater award, becoming the first person from Green Bay Southwest to go to The Jimmy Awards in New York.
After graduating in 2018, Felix went on to study theater at U.W. Stevens Point. It was there in his senior showcase when he was invited to join a talent agency that landed him a Broadway audition for Sweeney Todd.
"Felix is somebody I always believed if anyone is going to make it, it's going to be him," said Rockstroh. "I'm so proud that he made it because of his humility and attitude and drive and just what a genuine person he was."
Since moving to New York City, Felix has worked with Pulitzer Prize and Tony Award winner, Liz-Manuel Miranda and the star-studded cast of Sweeney Todd.
"It was incredible, it was, it was one of those moments now that we're a few months into this where I have to pinch myself again because it was just so surreal."
Rockstroh told us eventually Green Bay Southwest will hang pictures in the hall of their high-accomplishing students, of which Felix will be included, so that students can say "if they came from here and made it, I can too."
While the display is still in the works, Felix offered advice to those looking to follow in his footsteps.
"Stay passionate and stay hungry to learn, really put yourself out there. Sometimes you're exactly what people are looking for or exactly what is needed for that part or company," said Torrez-Ponce. "So put yourself out there. Find a way to keep doing that passion because it's not the easiest thing to be an actor and pursue that as a career. But if you love it, you'll find a way."
