Oklahoma actor brings his Cinderella story back home on 'Pretty Woman: The Musical' tour
Michael Dalke not only is playing a role in a modern-day version of a Cinderella story, but he also is living out his own version of one as a member of the national touring company of "Pretty Woman: The Musical."
"This is my first national Broadway tour, and I'm 39. There's a song in the show called 'Never Give Up on a Dream' ... and it really does hit home for me, because I just couldn't see myself doing anything else," Dalke said by phone from the road in San Diego, California, where he was enjoying a day off on a beach.
Now, the Oklahoma native is returning to place where he performed in his first professional show: the Civic Center Music Hall, where "Pretty Woman: The Musical" will be playing Aug. 16-21 to close out OKC Broadway's 2021-2022 season.
"I remember being in college and being on that stage ... and thinking, 'Someday I'm going to be on Broadway,'" Dalke said. "It's all gonna come flooding back. ... It's going to be emotional being backstage and just thinking about how full circle it is."
Oklahoma native developed a love for musicals at a young age
Born in Oklahoma City and raised in Norman, Dalke developed his passion for musicals when he was just a child.
"I loved watching movie musicals with my parents and acting them out. Any time it would rain when I was a kid, I'd take an umbrella and go out and do 'Singin' in the Rain' like Gene Kelly in the puddles," he recalled.
"I loved performing, singing and dancing, and my mom put me in piano lessons. ... I was blessed enough to have parents who put me in all of that stuff because there's a couple of people in the family who sing and do things, but I'm the only performer. ... I was sort of this anomaly to them. They were like, 'OK, what is this? I guess we'll just encourage it.'"
He was still a youngster when he made his Lyric Theatre of Oklahoma debut playing a crippled boy who is healed by "Jesus Christ Superstar," and he excelled in theater and choir at Norman North High School. He performed with a number of local community theaters and starred in shows as a student at the University of Central Oklahoma.
While studying at UCO, Dalke played his first Civic Center shows as a cast member of several Lyric Theatre summer productions in 2003 and 2004.
Actor follows dream to New York and Los Angeles
After he graduated from UCO in 2004, Dalke moved to New York to pursue a career in musical theater.
"I was there for about three years, auditioning ... and I did get a national tour of a Disney Playhouse show called 'The Doodlebops,'" Dalke said. "I did that for about eight months, and then ... I decided to give L.A. a try for a little bit. And I ended up living there for nine years. I did not plan to live there for nine years, but I did and really just got caught up in TV and commercial work, which is a lot of fun."
In Los Angeles, Dalke became a regular extra on the hit CBS series "How I Met Your Mother," appeared in an international tourism campaign for Los Cabos, Mexico, and graduated from the iO West School of Improv.
In 2013, he and Dana Weddle, his longtime friend and fellow Oklahoma native, decided to launch a Kickstarter campaign to mount a production of the musical "The Last Five Years." Dalke had starred in UCO's 2004 production of Tony Award-winning composer and lyricist Jason Robert Brown's innovative romantic tale.
"We had a dream of putting that on ourselves, and so we found a theater on Hollywood Boulevard, rented the space, hired a little orchestra ... and found the costumes ourselves," he recalled.
The show earned great reviews, was included in a Hollywood theater festival and sold out every night.
"That's really what sparked my love for musical theater again. I said, 'Why am I not doing this more? This is the thing I love to do the most.' So, that's what inspired me to move back to New York and give it another shot and try for Broadway," Dalke said.
Oklahoma native gives New York dream another try
About five years ago, Dalke made another cross-country move back to the Big Apple.
"I basically had to start over because nobody knew who I was. I was in my mid-30s, and if you're that age, typically people see a lot of credits on your resume that help you get other jobs. ... Nobody in New York knew who I was because I'd been in L.A. for nine years," he said.
"So, it was difficult to start over ... and then the pandemic happened."
With the 2020 COVID-19 outbreak, not only did Broadway and its tours shut down, but the restaurant work that performers like Dalke rely on between acting gigs also was off the table.
"I had put all my eggs in one basket coming back to New York and giving this another go. Then, seeing it get thrown out the window and not knowing when it was going to come back, yeah, it was kind of scary," he said.
"Coming out of the pandemic in 2021, I got this notice for 'Pretty Woman: The Musical.' I got a callback, and I looked at it and I couldn't believe it."
'Pretty Woman: The Musical' adapts hit Hollywood film
Adapted from the smash 1990 film starring Julia Roberts and Richard Gere, "Pretty Woman: The Musical" features a book by the movie's original screenwriter, J.F. Lawton, and director, the late Hollywood legend Garry Marshall, who died in 2016.
Grammy-winning pop star Bryan Adams and his songwriting partner Jim Vallance created the show's score.
Directed and choreographed by Tony Award winner Jerry Mitchell ("Kinky Boots"), the musical played on Broadway for a year between 2018 and 2019. Several members of the Broadway cast are reprising their roles on the national tour.
A member of the tour's ensemble, Dalke also is the understudy for the part of the Happy Man, a small role from the movie that has been altered for the stage adaptation.
"At the beginning and the very end, he says, 'Welcome to Hollywood. What's your dream?' And they just expanded on that. ... He really is like the narrator and a fairy godfather," Dalke said.
"I am so happy to be coming back to Oklahoma to do this. This is something it's been on the tour schedule since we started, and once I saw that we were going to play Oklahoma City ... I just could not wait. And I can't believe ... it's actually going to happen."
He said he is looking forward to strolling through Bricktown again, as well as having his parents, friends and UCO voice teacher Marilyn Govich in the Civic Center audience when he performs.
"It's overwhelming to come back at this point in my life, having almost given up a few times because it's a very tough business to be in," he said.
"But if there's anything I've learned from this, the message is never give up on the thing that you love. Never give up on that dream, because if you love it, it's worth pursuing."
'PRETTY WOMAN: THE MUSICAL'
When: Aug. 16-21.
Where: Civic Center Music Hall, 201 N Walker.
Tickets and information: www.okcbroadway.com.
This article originally appeared on Oklahoman: 'Pretty Woman: The Musical' tour boasts Oklahoma actor living his dream
