Name Chris Scalzo | ||
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Christopher Scalzo (born March 13, 1988) is an Australian-born actor, singer and musical theater performer. He regularly sings at industry events including Hats Off!, Broadway Unplugged and Showqueen.
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He performed at The Hayes Theatre in Sydney in the role of Man 1 in Jason Robert Brown's Songs For A New World. The production was directed by Luke Joslin, and also starred Cameron Macdonald, Sophie Carter and Teagan Wouters.
Personal life
Born in Melbourne, Australia, Scalzo attended Wesley College and went on to study at The University of Melbourne. He left his studies at the university to study at NIDA (National Institute of Dramatic Art) in Sydney, where he graduated in 2009. He is a regular column writer on the Australian theatre website Aussie Theatre.
Theatre
In 2015, Scalzo was cast in the role of Angel Dumott Schunard in RENT. The production was directed by Shaun Rennie and co-produced by The Hayes Theatre Company and Highway Run Productions. The critically acclaimed production played an extended season. RENT also starred Casey Donovan, Laura Bunting, Loren Hunter as Mimi and Linden Furnell and Roger. In 2016, RENT played a return season, again selling out. Scalzo reprised the role of Angel, with new cast members included Angelique Cassimatis as Mimi and Chloe Zuel as Joanne.
Scalzo also appeared in the international touring cast of the Tony Award-winning musical WICKED, The Untold Story of the Witches of Oz. Scalzo was heavily featured in the ensemble, as well as having understudied and performed the role of Boq. The tour completed two seasons in New Zealand (Auckland) and The Philippines (Manila) as well as a return season in Australia with a second national tour (Melbourne, Sydney, Brisbane and Perth). The Auckland and Manila seasons featured stars Suzie Mathers, Jemma Rix, Maggie Kirkpatrick and Jay Laga'aia as The Wonderful Wizard of Oz. The Australian tour featured stars Lucy Durack, Jemma Rix, Maggie Kirkpatrick and Reg Livermore as The Wonderful Wizard of Oz. For the Brisbane and Perth seasons, Glinda was played again by Suzie Mathers and The Wonderful Wizard of Oz by Simon Gallaher.
Scalzo was also in the World premiere and Australian tour of the Des McAnuff-directed stage adaptation of Boris Pasternak's novel Doctor Zhivago, with a score by Lucy Simon.
In 2015, Scalzo was cast and set to appear in the Opera Australia/Gordon Frost Organization co-production of Jekyll and Hyde - The Musical starring Teddy Tahu Rhodes, Lucy Maunder and Jemma Rix. The production was postponed and its future remains uncertain.
His other stage credits include the international tour of Jekyll & Hyde which starred Brad Little in the title role, Opera Australia's The Pirates of Penzance starring Anthony Warlow as The Pirate King at the Sydney Opera House and Adam Guettel's Floyd Collins. He was the inspiration for a show based on a young boy triumphing over adversity and finding his voice through the power of his imagination in a play workshopped and staged at Monkey Baa Theatre in 2013 directed by Australian comedic actor Darren Gilshenan.
Other performances
Scalzo has also worked in television on Australian shows Neighbours and Blue Heelers. He can be heard on numerous CDs and cast albums, including The Silver Donkey (Original Studio Cast Recording) and The Chaos Fairy (Original Cast Recording).