Finding Love: Local couple Nick Fradiani and Lauren Celantano are lighting up stages

(WFSB) - All week-long Eyewitness News is focusing on finding love.

On this Valentine’s Day, love is in the air.

Our own married couple Roger Susanin and Stephanie Simoni are introducing another noteworthy local couple who found love.

Our finding love series continues with a couple of who are lighting up stages right now, and they’re doing it on Broadway.

Meet Guilford’s Nick Fradiani and Cheshire’s Lauren Celantano.

“Well first of all, Happy Valentine’s Day. You know, Stephanie and I actually met at work and you guys did too?”

“We both yeah, I was doing my first ever musical which was a Bronx Tale and Lauren was also on the show,” Nick said.

“Well I knew he had won American Idol. I’ll be honest, I didn’t watch his season, but I don’t know I got busy,” said Lauren. “Us, actors we were kinda like, who’s this guy?  How’s he going to walk in? Is he going to respect the theater etiquette? He was so humble and asking so many questions I was quickly, like I like this guy.”

“And yeah, we got to promote the show together. We were two Italians from Connecticut,” said Nick and Lauren.

“She has an incredible stage presence and right away I was like this girl’s incredible. She really is a ridiculous dancer,” Nick said. “We traveled the country up until Covid hit. We got shut down in March and we were starting to become more than friends and we were on an airplane. We thought we were going to have a couple weeks off and we were going back to Connecticut. So, we started dating and next month will be 3 years and then we never went back on tour, but we also never separated from that moment.”

“When you started to become more than friends, uh who made the first move?” Eyewitness News asked.

“That was you. Probably me. It was definitely you. It was definitely me,” Nick and Lauren said. “He asked very politely I said sure.”

“We would audition together. We were helping each other set up little mini studios in our house. He would read my lines for me and we would do scenes together,” said Nick and Lauren.

“I actually booked the Neil Diamond musical before she booked Moulin Rouge and I knew it was going to go to Broadway and I kept saying to her, it’s not supposed to go this way. You’re going to get something. You’re going to be on Broadway,” Nick and Lauren said. “A couple of months later, she got asked to and she did beat me. She ended up debuting, I think a month before I did.”

“What’s it like that you’re both on Broadway at the same time?” Eyewitness News asked.

“It’s very cool. We get to do our commute to work together. I’m on 45th. He’s on 44th. We’re right down the street from each other.,” Lauren said.

“It’s nice to have somebody who really gets it and is open to and when you have to do your art or your music. That’s what you need to do,” said Nick.

“We have our Sunday matinee and then we immediately come home to Connecticut. We spend Monday here. We get away from the city. It’s nice and quiet here,” Lauren said.

You can catch Lauren in Moulin Rouge at the Al Hirschfeld Theatre and Nick is in A Beautiful Noise at the Broadhurst Theatre.

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