Michael Rupert

Early life

Born in Denver, Colorado, Rupert was adopted as an infant, and his family moved to California when he was young. Rupert wanted to be an actor and started working at age 12 at the Pasadena Playhouse in King of Hearts. Rupert made his Broadway debut in 1968 in Kander and Ebb's The Happy Time as the young Bibi Bonnard, which earned him his first Tony Award nomination, for Featured Actor in a Musical. He returned to California after The Happy Time, and appeared in local theater while in high school.

Career

Rupert returned to New York and played the role of "Pippin" as a replacement in the Broadway production of Pippin in November 1974 He also appeared on Broadway in Shakespeare's Cabaret in 1981. He then created the role of "Marvin" in both of William Finn's musicals, March of the Falsettos in 1981, at the Off-Broadway Playwrights Horizons and Falsettoland (1991, initially at Playwrights Horizons). In 1986 he appeared on Broadway in the revival of Sweet Charity as Oscar, for which he won the 1986 Tony Award for Best Performance by a Featured Actor in a Musical. He composed the music with book and lyrics by Jerry Colker for the musical Mail, which ran on Broadway from March 1988 to May 1988. Rupert also appeared in the musical as Alex. He was a replacement in the role of Stine in City of Angels in 1991, and played "Marvin" again in Falsettos in 1992, and was in Ragtime as a replacement Tatah. He originated the role of Professor Callahan in Legally Blonde (2007) on Broadway and on the National tour, starting in February 2010. He performed with Betty Buckley, Christian Borle, Carolee Carmello and Keith Bryon Kirk in the Lincoln Center staging of William Finn's Elegies: A Song Cycle in 2003. Rupert appears in the play 7th Monarch Off-Broadway at the Acorn Theater, opening June 2012. In regional theatre, he starred in a workshop production of The Happy Elf, composed by Harry Connick, Jr. at Montgomery College's Robert E. Parilla Performing Arts Center, Rockville, Maryland in a co-production with Adventure Theatre, Washington, DC in November 2010.

Rupert's television credits include small roles on My Three Sons, The Waltons, Emergency! and The Partridge Family. He was in the Legally Blonde video which was broadcast on MTV in 2007.

In addition to acting, Rupert has directed several plays and musicals. In 1997 he directed The Lunch Anxieties by Larry Kunofsky Off-Broadway and a musical, The Stars In Your Eyes by J. Arlington Meyrelles III in 1998 in an Equity workshop production. Rupert is also a composer. He wrote the score to Strange Vacation and Mail. He composed the music for the musical Streets of America and also co-wrote the book and lyrics with Matthew Riopelle. The musical was presented at the Pittsburgh Playhouse in 2007. He wrote the music, with book and lyrics by Jerry Colker to the musical 3 Guys Naked from the Waist Down, which ran Off-Broadway in February through June 1985. The musical won the Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Book. His debut single, "Racing to the Moon" was released on August 18, 2008 on the Footlight label.

Rupert lives in New York City with his life partner, Will Chafin.