Not that Travolta

By Dan Moran , STAFF WRITER

originally published by Waukegan News Sun, April 26, 2003

He'd much rather talk about his role as Professional Delegate for National Dance Week, which starts this weekend and will run through May 4.

Or maybe you'd like to chat about his book, My Fractured Life, the proceeds of which benefit the American Hero Foundation in Round Lake Beach.

But, just as none of us chooses to be born, no one chooses to be born with someone else's famous name. For Libertyville native Rikki Lee Travolta, his surname has been something he's alternately embraced and wrestled with as he carved his own life in the performing arts.

"I always wanted to be known as Rikki Lee Travolta and not 'a Travolta,'" he said, on the phone on a recent weekday from his Chicago home base. "It's difficult sometimes. There was a point in my life where I kind of dropped out for a while and used fake names — like Clark Kent and Bruce Wayne."

For the record, this Travolta was born Richard Leroy Travolta in Libertyville in 1975, and is the son of Australian native Michael Salvatore Travolta. The name, according to family lore, came out of Italy and might have been altered in transit through Ellis Island.

Needless to say, the first thing most people ask Rikki Lee Travolta is a variation on the "are you related" question. He said he's learned over the years to take it in stride.

"It's hard to have your own identity, and I really struggled with it," he said, adding good-naturedly that "I decided that when people start asking John if he's related to me, then I'll start answering that question."

This particular Travolta's life in the spotlight began in his kindergarten years, when — as he puts it — he "sort of wrote and directed" his own take on Rumpelstiltskin by the Brothers Grimm. Heady stuff for a child of 6.

"I performed it for my class, and when the principal saw it they scheduled it for an all-school assembly," he said. When the mini-production was subsequently invited to local school groups, Travolta laughed as he recalled that "suddenly, at the age of 6, I was the writer/director/performer of a traveling show. There was no turning back after that."

Eventually, Travolta was living a life on the road, performing in national touring productions of West Side Story here or Bye Bye Birdie there. He can recall moments like "getting lost one night in the middle of nowhere between Texas and Louisiana — and that's a very dark place."

He resettled in Chicagoland two years ago during a production of Camelot, and subsequently was named Artist-in-Residence at the North Shore Dance and Drama Center in Skokie. Then, in the aftermath of the 9/11 terrorist attacks, Travolta joined friend Drake Miezel in founding the American Hero Foundation, a non-profit organization that raises funds for various charitable causes.

It was during a recent fund-raising opportunity that Rikki Lee Travolta found himself staring down the barrel of another Travolta quandary — whether or not to finally play Danny Zuko in Grease, which are a role and film forever associated with John Travolta.

"I thought I would never do that production," he said, describing a time in his younger days when he flew to New York to consider the Zuko role for a Broadway revival. "I wanted a clause that I would never be advertised as anything but 'Rikki Lee Travolta.' I wanted my full name up there, (but) I was never comfortable with (the producers') response."

But Travolta — who ended up picking Tony and Tina's Wedding over the Grease revival — said he realized the Round Lake Beach performance would be for a good cause, and he also had an epiphany of sorts at one point while preparing for the role.

Nervous

So his name went up on publicity material for the late February and early March shows at the Round Lake Area High School Auditorium, with no mention one way or the other if this Travolta as Danny Zuko was related to that Travolta as Danny Zuko. Prior to the show, director Christi Nicholson praised her star for bringing both professionalism and a team attitude to the effort.

"Rikki Lee Travolta has an incredible voice that is perfectly suited for this music," she said in a statement. "(He's been) a role model to the rest of the cast. He makes everyone around him better. He has an incredible work ethic and a magnetic charisma."

And so one more career hurdle was overcome, and Travolta could move on to consider more national touring work and promoting National Dance Week.

"They gave us a commendation from the White House that (describes) dance as 'a reflection of the richness and diversity of the human experience,'" Travolta said, adding that he hopes to bring attention to dance by utilizing "any minor celebrity that I have."

The American Hero Foundation in Round Lake Beach is supported by sales of Rikki Lee Travolta's book "My Fractured Life" (paperback, $15.95, Infinity Publishing.com). Travolta is donating 50 percent of the proceeds to the foundation.