Michael Faulkner

2017 News

Gustav Holst’s “The Planets” at the LA Phil’s Symphonies for Schools, Walt Disney Concert Hall. Paul Cressy Photography.  

Click here to see the latest video of work. It’s the first time I’ve been able to use my (native) British accent on film. And the rest of 2017 is off to a great start! Look closely and you’ll see me as one of three fathers of a very famous identity in a commercial during a very large sporting event that airs in early February. And that’s about all the NDA will allow me to say.

The picture is from THE PLANETS at Walt Disney Concert Hall. It is an absolute thrill to be acting on stage with the Los Angeles Philharmonic. No one, and I mean no one, gives better underscoring. 

Lastly, in early Spring, I will be directing the AEA Theater for Young Audiences production of Stiles and Drewe’s Goldilocks and the Three Bears at the MainStreet Theatre Company in Rancho Cucamonga. MainStreet has been professionally producing high quality theater for children for 11 years, and I am pleased as, well, honey, to be stepping up to the role of Director. 

A Princely Pauper

Next up? I’ll be appearing as the Lord Chamberlain (and at least two others) in The Prince and the Pauper at the MainStreet Theatre Company at the Lewis Family Playhouse in Rancho Cucamonga for February / March.

Jack Benny would be proud.

Reston Reduced.

So the company I’ve been touring with for the last 13 years, the Reduced Shakespeare Company, has played every single year since 1987 at the Reston Community Center in Reston, VA. How many touring groups can boast such a long, fruitful relationship with a presenter? So in honor of the 50th anniversary of Reston, many of the reducers went (along with managing directors / authors Reed Martin and Austin Tichenor) to Reston to perform SEVEN of the NINE abridged works over two weekends. It wasn’t a Shakespeare Festival. It was a Reduced Shakespeare Festival. The schedule was pretty hectic… luckily I was only in two of the shows, but one night I had to perform with someone I’d never performed with before (he was new) and another night with someone who practically retired years ago. Still it was an incredible time, where I got to make new friends (three generations of abridged Hamlets – Austin Tichenor (Current Head Co-Reducer), Jess Winfield (Founder and Originator of the role),  and Me. 

And in my copious down-time (not), I managed to record a little song, a little tribute to Austin and Reed, who have been authors and co-authors of every abridged show since the original Shakespeare show: “Complete History of America (abridged),” “The Bible, The Complete Word of God (abridged),” “All The Great Books (abridged)” “The Millenium A Musical (abridged),” “Completely Hollywood (abridged),” “The Complete World of Sports (abridged),” “The Ultimate Christmas Show (abridged),” and “The Complete History of Comedy (abridged).” The song was featured on one of the RSC podcast episodes dedicated to the extravaganza, but I present it here in full for your listening pleasure.

And here’s a fairly un-abridged selfie (Ellen style) featuring many generations of RSC members from founders to current fools, onstage and off, with some Restonites thrown in as well. Can you pick them out?

The Complete History of Comedy (abridged)

There’s a new Reduced Shakespeare Company Show. And the Ultimate Christmas Show (abridged) (touring this winter – just two performances!) hasn’t even been published yet. I love that my friends and authors at the Reduced have been churning out the shows the past few years… and this one is incredible. They finally tackled a subject close to all of our hearts.

I am blessed to be a part of this company, and was blessed to perform this show for 5 weeks in Massachusetts in May. New England Theater Geek said:

Dominic Conti, Michael Faulkner, and Jerry Kernion form a high-energy three-man team that works seamlessly together to bring the correct amount of yuckle to your chuckle. These extremely talented gentlemen deliver the material with comic dexterity. Zigging and zagging as an unstoppable force, they know exactly when to punch it and exactly when to let it ride on home. They are adept at handling an audience (even when literally handling them).

Seriously. Catch it on tour, whether I’m in that particular performance or not.

Flat Stanley. Sings. In Tune Though. Not Flat.

It isn’t often I get hired to act alongside my wife, Amanda. Sure, we act out all the time at home. But at the beginning of the year we got hired together to play Mr. and Mrs. Lambchop in “The Musical Adventures of Flat Stanley.” The first I heard of Flat Stanley was a few years ago when one of my touring partners asked if his daughter could send me her Flat Stanley. If you’ve never gotten one, do it. When Flat Stanley visited me, he went to the moon at Griffith Observatory.

But guess what — Flat Stanley sings. Neither sharp nor flat. There’s a company that has been quite successful churning out musicals based on popular childrens’ books. Good ones, too. Even the adults loved this one. Fun.