Brian Charles Rooney

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Brian Charles Rooney
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Brian Charles Rooney is an American actor and singer. He is technically a Sopranista^[1]^[2]^[3] (Sopranist or Male Soprano), yet he has also sung high Tenor roles in many theatrical productions across the United States, Canada, and parts of Europe. His vocal range reportedly spans almost 4 octaves, and he is known to be adept at vocally adapting to various styles of music.^[4]

Rooney made his Broadway debut in The Roundabout Theatre Company's 2006 revival of Kurt Weill & Bertolt Brecht'sThe Threepenny Opera in the fabled role of Lucy Brown.^[5] The production was directed by Scott Elliott, with a new translation by Wallace Shawn, and co-starred Alan Cumming as Macheath, Cyndi Lauper as Jenny, Nellie McKay as Polly Peachum, Jim Dale as Mr. Peachum, Ana Gasteyer as Mrs. Peachum, Christopher Innvar as Tiger Brown, and Carlos Leon as Filch.

The controversial interpretation of this classic work of the modern-theater (including Mr. Rooney's cross-gendered casting as Lucy Brown) received mixed reviews,^[6] however the production was nominated for a Tony Award for Best Revival of a Musical, and was extended past the planned closing of its limited run. Mr. Rooney received high marks for his performance^[7]^[8]^[9]^[10] creating a sensual, sexy, powerful, yet neurotically paranoid vixen in his portrayal of Mac the Knife's scorned lover.^[11]^[12]

This production restored the often cut Lucy's Aria (Or Arie der Lucy), which had been written for the original 1928 production in Berlin. Weill removed the aria from the show when the actress playing Lucy left the production 2 days before its opening night. The actress hired to replace her could not sing coluratura soprano, so the number was deleted. The aria pokes fun at high opera, the genre from which Weill & Brecht gleaned their inspiration for The Threepenny Opera.

In the 2006 revival, Rooney sang the aria with ease,^[13]^[14] so much so that a few critics believed that his performance was lip-synched. Other critics mistakenly likened the vocal performance to those of countertenors.^[15]^[16] However, in this case, the world had been introduced to its first "Broadway" Sopranista. The rumors of lip-synching were debunked during the run of the show when a performance was given without the aid of electronic amplification. Fortunately, Rooney was not only able to prove that his voice was, in fact, his own, but also that it was an unusually strong one.^[17]

Rooney has played the role of Tony on the European tour of the American musical West Side Story.^[18] He has been featured in many highly acclaimed, and award-winning, musical and non-musical theatrical productions across the United States in such cities as San Francisco, Miami, San Diego, Los Angeles, and Dallas.^[19] He has also been a featured soloist with the Seattle Symphony Orchestra & The Oregon Symphony Orchestra.^[20]

He is also a pop-rock singer/song-writer, and has recently begun performing original material in concert venues in New York City.^[21] His collaborator is Paul Leschen, composer and arranger for the world-famous rock-band, The Scissor Sisters.^[22] Rooney's recent ventures in concert performance and production in New York City have been greeted by excellent reviews.^[23]

In 2007, Brian Charles Rooney was awarded the Lys Symonette Award for Outstanding Dramatic Excellence by the Kurt Weill Foundation.^[24]^[25]