Courtesy of Juliana Hannett

Norm Lewis is King Triton with mer-sisters (from left) Cathryn Basile, Kay Trinidad, Michelle Lookadoo, Chelsea Morgan Stock, Cicily Daniels and Zakiya Young Mizen in Disney's "The Little Mermaid." Lookadoo is a Radford native.

Courtesy of Michelle Lookadoo

Michelle Lookadoo played Babette in "Beauty and the Beast" on Broadway.

Michelle Lookadoo, a Radford native, auditioned for a musical theater show because her best friend offered to buy her the most expensive steak in New York City if she did.

She went into the audition the next day having borrowed music and ended up getting the part in a 2002 production of "My Fair Lady" at the Paper Mill Playhouse in New Jersey.

"I was totally unprepared, but I got the job," Lookadoo said. "I fell in love with it."

She has since made the move to Broadway, performing in "Beauty and the Beast," "Mary Poppins" and currently "The Little Mermaid."

Lookadoo spent most of her life training to be a ballet dancer and vocal performer, with credits in the Richmond Ballet and others, but made the jump from ballet to dance after her first performance in "My Fair Lady."

Childhood friend and another Radford native Kim Vellozzi said she knew Lookadoo would go on to perform professionally since they were in ballet lessons together in elementary school.

"We kind of always knew she would do something really great but has so many talents so we didn't know what," Vellozzi said. "Broadway is a neat use of all her talents."

The "My Fair Lady" performance came while the ballet company was on summer break, but when Lookadoo was offered a part in another upcoming musical, "Kiss Me Kate," she had to decide between musicals and going back to the ballet company.

"It's a ridiculously hard life for the payoff you get," Lookadoo said of ballet. "I wanted to take on a new challenge."

She is performing in "The Little Mermaid" on Broadway as Adela, one of Ariel's mer-sisters.

"It's so much fun," Lookadoo said of musicals. "I get to sing and dance, so I can use both of the things I've studied."

It doesn't matter whether it's a daytime, nighttime or performance of just the mer-sisters, Lookadoo always puts her entire heart into it, said fellow mer-sister Cicily Daniels.

"Literally every show, it does not matter, she gives a full-out performance in terms of dancing, singing, everything," Daniels said. "In terms of acting, she's a really great actress, too."

The mer-sisters are becoming an act in their own right, Daniels said, doing performances around New York City independent of the musical.

Vellozzi, who now lives in Richmond, went to visit family in New York and watched Lookadoo in her second Broadway show, "Beauty and the Beast."

"It's almost unreal," Vellozzi said. "It's just amazing how far she's gone, and how much success she's had."

Lookadoo has recently added movies to her resume, with an appearance in 2007's "Across the Universe" as one of the high school friends of the main character, played by Evan Rachel Wood. She also teaches workshops and lessons to school groups about theater and dance.

"It's one of my favorite things to do, because it's great being onstage, but you don't see the audience," Lookadoo said. "This way I get to meet them and hear what they think and maybe inspire a child that wants to be in musicals."

In terms of her own career, Lookadoo said her dream part would be to play Glinda the Good Witch in the musical "Wicked."

"I'm working toward leads," Lookadoo said. "Right now they're smaller leads, but that's OK when you're starting. I've never auditioned [for Glinda] because I want to wait until I'm completely ready."