Making A Splash

At Highland, there is a hero. One who has led to revolutions against evil overlords and saved communities from dystopian ruin.
And we all have Larry the Lobster to thank.
Leo Munoz played Bobby Strong in Highland’s production of Urinetown, but his performing career started long before this year. Munoz began acting in middle school with Hillside Middle School’s production of Aladdin.
He hasn’t stepped off the stage since.
Even before Munoz came to Highland, he saw his brother Julian play Larry the Lobster in Highland’s 2022 production of SpongeBob. As a younger brother used to copying everything the older brother did, Munoz said it felt natural that he join theater once he was in high school. The two performed in Big Fish together in Munoz’s freshman year and he kept up with stage life even after his brother graduated.
Since then, Munoz wowed the audience as the gold-suited Hermes in last year’s Hadestown and was a crowd favorite as Bobby Strong in Urinetown. But he doesn’t just perform with a microphone and showcase outstanding acting skills, Munoz is also heavily involved in Highland’s band program. He’s been a member of highland music council for two years and plays saxophone and bass clarinet in jazz and wind ensemble.
Munoz says that this energy to perform comes from his family. His grandfather is a drummer from a rock band and his father harbored dreams of being a comedian.
“I’ve grown up around people with identities focused around entertaining,” Munoz said. “And I think that ingrained itself into the core of my personality,”
Munoz’s family has always been supportive of his choices and interest in performing, even tolerating his impromptu rehearsals during car rides to the school.
“My mom doesn’t really like it all that much, but it’s really fun,” Munoz said about his car ride serenades.
Coming from a supportive and inspiring family has helped Munoz find his passions for performing, but Munoz says his favorite thing about being on a stage is the audience.
“It’s like you can feel the impact as you’re on the stage,” Munoz said. “Going through that collective emotion with the cast on the stage exerts that emotion onto the audience, and you can feel it.”
Munoz truly shows his power over an audience in Urinetown, bringing laughter and tears throughout the show. His vocal performance and use of emotional appeal has audiences rapt, just as they were during his performance in Hadestown. Munoz played this role so well he was nominated for best actor at the Utah High School Musical Theater Awards at the Eccles. Munoz says this experience opened his eyes to the scope of options that performing allows and the amount of talent there is in the world.
“It was really beautiful to connect with all the performers around the state,” Munoz said. “It felt like I was connecting with all the performers around the world who had come to Eccles’ stage.”
This experience also showed Munoz that he would need to work on his singing to continue to match up with the levels of performance that were being given at higher levels.
“When I got there, it felt like I had no experience singing whatsoever,” Munoz said.
So, when Munoz was cast in the role of Bobby Strong, a role with a very difficult singing range, he knew it was time to get assistance. Munoz began taking voice lessons, something he says has helped him tremendously.
“Ever since I started it’s been so mind opening,” Munoz said. “It’s crazy how much those lessons can help you out in such simple ways.”
Munoz shows his vocal range and talent in many ways throughout his performance in this year’s show. One of the best songs for this comes in the beginning of the second act with Run, Freedom, Run! Munoz’s portrayal of this song was so powerful it had audiences clapping for minutes. The song allows the actor to truly reveal his talent for song through its wide range and movement.
One of the things that has helped Munoz find his character is finding himself in Bobby Strong. Munoz says he relates to Bobby and see a lot of other people in the character as well. Bobby, to him, is someone who wants to help; he’s an aspiring activist without the proper resources and intelligence to carry out his plans.
“He resorts to making these emotional appeals that don’t actually do anything other than implement a system of chaos,” Munoz said.
Munoz was thrilled to bring this character and all his nuances to life on stage with his improved singing and acting techniques. He says he’s excited to show the community how this show and last years share themes and messages while sharing them in different ways. But as with all performances there is that little bit of nervousness that comes before a show, something that Munoz has learned to appreciate.
“You have to transform that fear into excitement,” Munoz said.
He likes to think about performing as a roller coaster, that the fear is what makes it fun. He lets the fear guide his performance and embraces it as something useful, not something to shy away from. And that’s his advice to aspiring performers.
“Be as fearless as you can,” Munoz said.