Michael Falzon

Michael Falzon (16 May 1972 – 23 June 2020) was an Australian musical theatre/rock tenor actor, and producer, who ran his own production company, Good Egg Creative.

Primarily known for his roles in We Will Rock You, Rock of Ages, and Hedwig and The Angry Inch, his career encompassed intimate cabaret performances including Michael Falzon and Trio, and Michael Falzon – Plugged In! through to arena performances in Jeff Wayne's Musical Version of The War of the Worlds, both in Australia and in Europe.

He credited the Harry M. Miller arena production of Jesus Christ Superstar, starring John Farnham and Jon Stevens in 1992, as inspiring him to a career in musical theatre.

It was through his work with VocalPoint that he was invited to audition for The Pirates of Penzance in 1994, in which he was cast.

Falzon's appearance in the QPAC and EssGee Entertainment production marked the start of his professional career and he toured with the company to New Zealand.

He returned to EssGee as a sailor in HMS Pinafore, understudying the role of Ralph, after performing in Hello Dolly in 1995 for The Gordon/Frost Organisation.

Falzon also toured internationally with the Really Useful Company production of Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat.

Both HMS Pinafore and Pirates of Penzance were recorded for DVD.

In 2000 he starred in the short film Computer Boy, a parody of the successful film The Matrix for Abe Forsythe.

Falzon played the role of Neo, and won a Melbourne Underground Film Festival for Best Actor.

He styled the character after The Matrix's actor, Keanu Reeves's portrayal of Ted from Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventure.

During this period, Falzon began a production company (SMA Productions) with entertainer colleagues providing event entertainment packages all over the world.

He split his time between performing and managing his production company Good Egg Creative.

The show had opened in the West End in 2002, and was followed by Melbourne in August, 2003 (the first production outside the UK) before touring the rest of Australia in 2004/2005.

Featuring the music of Queen and book by Ben Elton, the production allowed Falzon to combine his love of rock music with his career as a stage actor.

He starred alongside Kate Maree Hoolihan as Scaramouche, Amanda Harrison as Oz, Jason Chong as Brit, Robert Grubb as Pop, Annie Crummer as Killer Queen and Ross Givern as Khashoggi.

He performed in the Queen/Ben Elton musical We Will Rock You throughout Australia, Asia and Europe, and was the first 'Galileo' outside the UK (Melbourne, 2003) as well as the first in an arena production (Dublin O2 Arena in 2010).

Falzon was also known for TV and film roles including the cult short film Computer Boy.

In 2003, Falzon was cast in the lead role (Galileo Figaro) for the Australian production of We Will Rock You.

We Will Rock You toured in Melbourne (7 August 2003 – 4 March 2004 Regent Theatre), Perth (27 April – June 2004 Burswood Theatre) and Brisbane (27 July – 25 September 2004 QPAC), before finishing in Sydney (9 October 2004 – 13 March 2005 Star City Lyric Theatre).

Falzon left the touring production at the end of its Australian run only to return to the role of Galileo in Japan after Peter Murphy (who had since taken over the role) badly injured his knee.

In 2007 Falzon was cast as the Artilleryman in the Australian and New Zealand tour of Jeff Wayne's Musical Version of The War of The Worlds- Alive on Stage.

The only touring company outside Europe included album alumni Chris Thompson, and Justin Hayward in their original roles, and was supplemented by the addition of Falzon (Artilleryman), Rachael Beck (Beth) and Shannon Noll (Parson).

The cast performed against a towering 30-foot Machine Fighting Machine and the holographic head of narrator Richard Burton, as well as musical talents of the 48-piece ULLAdubULLA Strings and 10-piece Black Smoke Band, conducted by composer Jeff Wayne.

He performed with symphony orchestras around Australia, and in 2013 joined the Tasmanian Symphony Orchestra to record I Dreamed A Dream: The Hit Songs of Broadway for ABC Classics and in 2016, featured on the cast recording of Atomic (The New Rock Musical) singing the role of physicist Leo Szilard.

He appeared in the Australian leg of The Music of Queen: Rock and Symphonic Spectacular in Sydney and Perth.

Falzon was producer (through his company Good Egg Creative) and a founding member of Swing on This.

Falzon was third of six children born to a Maltese father and an Australian mother.

His family moved to Brisbane from Sydney in his early teens.

He attended Kelvin Grove High School in Brisbane, known for its drama department, where he was an active member of the school choir and musical productions.

Upon graduation, he intended studying English and Psychology at University of Queensland, but deferred to focus more on performance.

Of the experience, Falzon said "'To work with these guys and have them have faith in you to be able to tell the story and channel Freddy (sic) Mercury for people that love his voice and his music, its very humbling and tremendously exciting.' – The Sunday Times, 8 December 2013"

Falzon had the opportunity to perform in Jesus Christ Superstar, playing the role of Judas at AIS Arena in Canberra in June 2015.

Falzon listed his first leather jacket as one of his favourite possessions.

He wore the jacket to his successful audition for We Will Rock You.

He took the role of Galileo in the Edinburgh Playhouse production of We Will Rock You in part because he had not been to Edinburgh before and wished to see the city.

In 2019, Falzon was diagnosed and began treatment for a rare and aggressive form of germ cell cancer, causing him to cancel all appearances for the remainder of the year.

Falzon died from cancer on 23 June 2020, aged 48.

He is survived by his wife, violinist Jane Cho.

Falzon started singing professionally in Brisbane with VocalPoint, an 8-part group specializing in close harmony, and performing both nationally and internationally.