Brian Charles Rooney
Quick Facts
Biography
Brian Charles Rooney is an American actor and singer.
Voice
He is technically a sopranist (sopranista or male soprano), yet he has also sung high tenor roles in theatrical productions in the United States, Canada, and Europe. His vocal range reportedly spans almost four octaves, and he sings various styles of music.
Career
Rooney made his Broadway debut in The Roundabout Theatre Company's 2006 revival of Kurt Weill and Bertolt Brecht's The Threepenny Opera in the role of Lucy Brown.
The controversial interpretation of this classic work of the modern-theater was nominated for a Tony Award for Best Revival of a Musical, and was extended past the initial closing date of its limited run. He received high marks for his performance.
As a tenor, he played the role of Tony on a European tour of the American musical West Side Story. 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. He has been a featured soloist with the Seattle Symphony Orchestra and the Oregon Symphony Orchestra.
As a pop-rock singer/song-writer, he recently began performing original material in concert venues in New York City. His collaborator is Paul Leschen, composer and arranger for the rock-band, The Scissor Sisters. Rooney's recent ventures in concert performance and production in New York City have been greeted positively.
Rooney starred as General George B. McClellan in the 2014 New York Musical Theatre Festival production of Bayonets of Angst, a bluegrass musical comedy about the Civil War. He was awarded a New York Musical Theatre Festival Award for Excellence for "Outstanding Individual Performance."
Awards
In 2007, Rooney was awarded the Lys Symonette Award for Outstanding Dramatic Excellence by the Kurt Weill Foundation.