This Entertainer Overcame More than Stage Fright

I found this article this afternoon.  It’s a great human interest piece on fragile X syndrome. 

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This entertainer overcame more than stage fright

By Crystal Bozek , Staff Writer
Eagle-Tribune

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ANDOVER – David Freccero wanted to be a showman, just like Liberace.

That surprised his doctors, his teachers and even his mother, because Freccero is anxious around people, susceptible to outbursts and often barely able to carry on a conversation.

But the 22-year-old Andover man defied his diagnoses and took the stage at the Merrimack Repertory Theater in Lowell last weekend, entertaining a crowd of 150.

“This should have been impossible; he couldn’t even speak until he was 11,” his mother, Maria Freccero, said, “but when he wants something, he really goes for it. He overcomes.”

He had much to overcome: mental retardation, Tourette’s syndrome, fragile X syndrome, obsessive-compulsive disorder, autism and seizure disorder

However, Freccero never lost focus when he strode on stage wearing a purple cape adorned with sequins and feathers, and holding a candelabrum in tribute to his whimsical piano-playing hero.

In a show lasting more than an hour, he went through several costume changes, transforming himself from Liberace to Engelbert Humperdinck to one of Blues Brothers, and even sang in flawless Italian for one number.

“You couldn’t tell there was anything wrong with him,” teacher Judy Boyle said. “He was really working the crowd. He won everyone over.”

Freccero badgered managers at the Merrimack Repertory Theater, where he volunteers as an usher twice a month, for weeks to let him perform.

“They kept saying no, and one day they said yes,” Freccero said.

“There was too much of an opportunity to let someone live their dream for us to pass it up,” house manager John Dyson said. “When he first started, we weren’t sure what we were walking into with David’s condition. But he’s great with the people.”

Freccero hadn’t performed since he was a teenager taking a jazz dance class with little girls. His mother pulled him out when he got too big for the class.

But after last weekend, Freccero’s feeling ready for a bigger stage.

“It was a good show. Next it’s Vegas,” he said.

Maria Freccero laughed at that.

“I’ve created a monster,” she said. “He never stops. He’s excited. Hopefully, it will die down soon.”

People at the Salisbury vocational program he attends call Freccero “Mr. Showmanship.” He’ll go on for hours about his plan to perform at the White House for President Bush – another of his heroes – and at children’s hospitals.

“The children are bored,” Freccero said.

Maria Freccero, happy for her son, is starting a foundation in his name that will help others like him achieve at least a piece of their dream.

“Like David wanted to perform at Symphony Hall, but he still got to perform,” she said.

Freccero also volunteers at the Andover YMCA and attends the Vocational Ventures program in Salisbury to help him find a job.

“He gives so many people so much hope,” Maria Freccero said. “And who knows? Maybe one day, Vegas.”

For more information on the “David Freccero Follow Your Dream Foundation,” call 978-685-1925 or e-mail followyourdreamfoundation@comcast.net.

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