Already a household name to fans of Canadian theatre, Michael Burgess is rapidly becoming just that on the popular music scene.
Probably best known for his role as Jean Valjean in Les Miserables, Burgess has performed a variety of roles on stage from Shakespeare to O’Neill and Cole Porter to Stephen Sondheim. He has been dubbed 'a national treasure' by the Toronto Star and a 'Canadian musical icon' by the Calgary Herald, and last year, recorded his first solo album, A Place In The Sun.
While many had become familiar with his Broadway-style repetoire, A Place In The Sun featured pop music, with renditions of songs by Freddie Mercury, Roch Voisine and others. "I suppose people were slightly surprised at first, but they’ve reacted very well to the record," says Burgess. "The record is doing extremely well; everybody has said they really like it, so I guess I can’t complain."
The album is doing so well, in fact, that Burgess is in the midst of completing his second solo effort, this time a collection of Christmas songs. "They’re very traditional - Christmas carols, things that people have heard since they were kids," he says. "It isn’t a rock and roll type Christmas record."
In addition to his music, the Regina, Saskatchewan-born Burgess has began to carve a niche for himself on the small screen. Guest appearances on television programs such as E.N.G., Street Legal, Friday the 13th, Psi Factor and Earth: Final Conflict have helped to make him quite the in-demand actor these days; he also started working on a feature film in New York last month.
"I love the balance of doing a live situation and then doing television and film," he says. "Both are very demanding, but the mechanics are different. The end results are often quite similar, but the way the operate is very different."
That said, does Burgess have any plans in the near future to return to the theatre? "Not that I’m aware of, although there’s lots of people who have projects that I’ve spoken to," he says, adding "Not that I wouldn’t want to (return to theatre), but that just seems to be the way that it goes."
Among the perks a Canadian musical icon receives is to open sports events with his rendition of O Canada. Burgess has done this at the world championships for figure skating, tennis, basketball, Canadian football, the Molson Indy, NHL hockey and most importantly, he holds the distinction of being the first person to sing our national anthem at a World Series Game (1992, Toronto Blue Jays at Atlanta Braves).
"For me, it was just a tremendous thrill," he recalls of the performance."I love sports, and I guess I had the fantasies of most people - we all have these fantasies of being a professional athlete at times - so for me, it fulfilled that.
"I got to be there (the World Series) in a very unique way, and also to represent the country. And then I got to do it twice in a row - in ‘92 and in ‘93!"
Burgess got his start in the performing arts as a singer in a private Catholic school choir, and his career taken several unique turns since then.
"One of the most fascinating things about this business is that you don’t know what’s around the corner," he says. "I guess the most important the thing is to be open to it; you just become very open to what might be around the corner."
Michael Burgess will be appearing at the upcoming Extravangza North show.
