TORONTO - Many "Canadian Idol" fans will remember her as the Season 4 contestant with the trademark hair ribbon and the unpronounceable surname.
Judge Jake Gold thought her moniker was such a mouthful that he ultimately convinced Steffi Didomenicantonio to take on the truncated stage name of Steffi D.
Now, almost three years after her fifth place "Idol" finish, that's how she's listed on the playbill for "Spring Awakening," the Tony Award-winning musical that opened in Toronto this week.
"Sixteen letters, eight syllables - a mouthful, a tongue-twister, really," she says of her real name. "Steffi D (is) short and sweet."
After criss-crossing the U.S. with the touring production of "Spring Awakening," 19-year-old Steffi D is clearly delighted to be back in Canada.
It's an auspicious homecoming.
"Spring Awakening," an edgy rock musical about the sexual anxiety of 19th-century German teenagers, took Broadway by storm when it opened in 2006. Written by Steven Sater, with music by Duncan Sheik - whose previous claim to fame was the 1996 pop single "Barely Breathing" - it won eight Tony Awards, including best musical. The show closed in New York earlier this year.
Steffi D saw the show a few years back during a trip to New York to audition for the Juilliard School of performing arts. She didn't get into Juilliard, but "Spring Awakening" made a huge impression.
"I fell in love with it so hard and was just obsessed with the show and listened to the soundtrack pretty much every day of my life," she said.
After "Idol," she went back to Orleans, Ont., to finish high school and then enrolled in theatre school at Toronto's George Brown College. One day she received some exciting news from a fellow student.
"A friend of mine came into class, he knew how obsessed I was with the show, and said: 'You'll never guess, they're having open calls in Toronto - what are the odds? - for 'Spring Awakening."'
She attended the auditions, received a callback the next day and found out she was cast in the leading role of Ilse shortly after that. Touring with the show, she said, has taught her a great deal.
"Life on the road is really exciting - you never know what you're going to get."
Steffi D is not the first "Idol" contestant to land a theatre gig in Toronto. Season 3 winner Melissa O'Neil scored a part in "Dirty Dancing." Members of the "Idol" community, including show host Ben Mulroney, were in the audience on opening night to support Steffi D.
"This is the first Canadian stop and I'm so excited," she says.
The Broadway incarnation of "Spring Awakening" featured another Canuck - Saskatoon-born musician Kyle Riabko. He was also supposed to take the stage in Toronto but dropped out of the production to shoot a TV pilot for ABC.
"Spring Awakening" runs until April 19 at the Canon Theatre.
