The lights are too blinding for her to see the 1,500 people looking at her. The Imperial Theater on Broadway is waiting for the nine-year-old to sing her first note. Sitting in the middle of the stage, Lisa Musser, playing Young Cosette in “Les Miserables,” starts to sing “There is a Castle on a Cloud.” This was in 1998.

Fast-forward to 2009 and 21-year-old Lisa Musser can be found walking on the Quad, in class or at her sorority house on the University campus.

From a suburban home in Oak Lawn, Ill. to an apartment in Manhattan, to a college apartment in Champaign-Urbana, Musser has seen it all.

Growing up, Musser was actively involved in community theater with her older brother. When she was nine, her mom took her to an open call audition in Chicago for the Broadway Musical Les Miserables in New York City.

At the audition Musser sang “Somewhere Out There” from the film “An American Tail,” and was put down on a list for future opportunities.

“You have to have something that they are looking for . . . I can’t tell you what it is, but they know it when they see it,” said Lisa’s father, Robert Musser.

After not hearing from Broadway personnel for three months, Musser finally got a call asking her to move to New York in two weeks and accept the role as Young Cosette on Broadway.

“I didn’t want to go, that would mean I would be leaving my parents and I didn’t want to have it,” Musser said. “I was nine so I had no idea what this all meant.”

In the end, Musser’s parents decided for her that this was an opportunity that she couldn’t pass up, and Lisa and her father moved to Manhattan for the next two years.

“It was one of the hardest decisions to make, but at the same time making the decision not to go would have been extremely hard to make as well,” Robert said. “It was a once in a lifetime opportunity.”

Musser went to school full time and worked eight shows a week. She would try out for other roles on the side, such as voiceovers, public service announcements and commercials, but her main role was her solo in Les Miserables sung to the huge Broadway audience.

“It’s kind of like performing to a big dark hole that coughs at you every once and a while,” Musser said.

In order to be available to take her to school, auditions, rehearsals and shows, Robert Musser essentially acted like her bodyguard, devoting his life and time to her, Lisa said.

“My responsibility was to give her as much of a home life as possible,” Robert said. “I was to take care of Lisa and make sure that I provided the best environment for her to be successful in.”

While the experience was extremely rewarding, it wasn’t always easygoing. Musser recalls feeling nervous for being fired for things out of her control. For instance, she wasn’t allowed to gain more than 10 pounds or grow more than five inches.

“It’s hard because they are allowed to judge you by how you look,” Musser said. “Unfortunately it’s not just about talents.”

Needing a break, Musser left Les Miserables and, for a brief time, went back to Oak Lawn. However, only six months later she auditioned and went on tour for the cast of “Sound of Music.” After that, she again was home for a couple months, only to audition and receive the role as Young Jane in the original cast of “Jane Eyre.”

“When you see your kids doing what they have worked so hard to do it’s incredibly rewarding, and breathtaking,” Robert said.

While Musser was living out what she called the best experience of her life, she does acknowledge the strain it put on her family. To cover the expenses of living in New York, Musser’s mom had to work three jobs, including being a blackjack dealer, for the extra income.

“I am in my parents’ debt forever,” Musser said. “They have sacrificed so much. They would do that for any of their kids. They would go to the ends of the earth for us.”

Jane Eyre wasn’t generating enough money, however, and shut down after less than a year on Broadway. By this time Musser was 13, and decided it was time to go home and have a normal life.

After completing high school, Musser ended up at the University as a media studies major. Instead of studying theater, Musser heeded a colleague’s advice and decided to learn about other topics, so she could apply that to her acting.

“I had done acting so much in my life and I never had a chance to find out what I could be good at,” Musser said.

After graduating this December, Musser hopes to continue her acting career in New York City, as she already has contacts there.

“I am terrified that I reached my peak at the age of 12, that I did my best work before I could drive,” Musser said.

Her goal is to have steady acting work after college, without having to work in-between jobs such as waitressing. The key to this, Musser said, is always having passion for what she is doing.

“It’s about having faith in yourself,” Musser said. “I feel that I was born to do one thing and that is to perform.”