For Seal Beach resident Martin Kildare, bi-coastal means splitting his time between the West Coast sunshine and the bright lights of the Great White Way—Broadway.
Now he is enjoying the opportunity to perform in a professional production in his own backyard. Kildare, who lives in College Park West, stars in Musical Theatre West’s production of Lerner and Loewe’s Tony Award-winning musical “My Fair Lady,” Oct. 23-Nov. 8, 2015, at the Carpenter Performing Arts Center.
While “Lion King” plays just down the road at OCPAC, Kildare, 52, who co-starred as the ominous Scar in the Broadway production, is taking on the iconic role of Professor Henry Higgins, who bets he can transform Cockney guttersnipe Eliza Doolittle into a proper English lady, and gets far more than he wagered.
Kildare was living in New York, but told his wife they could live anywhere in Southern California.
“She chose my hometown, Seal Beach,” he said.
Kildare is a Los Alamitos High School graduate, and he and his wife have two children, Riley, 10, and Griffin, 7, who attend McGaugh.
The Griffin name does not refer to his high school mascot, Kildare said.
“It was my mother-in-law’s maiden name,” he said.
Kildare graduated from Stanford and the American Conservatory Theater. He calls his education a “good background” for theater.
He loves live theater because each patron has a unique experience and it becomes an intimate craft to be on stage before a live audience.
In addition to Lion King,” Kildare’s Broadway credits include the critically acclaimed “A Raisin in the Sun,” “Timon of Athens,” “The Government Inspector,” and “The Herbal Bed.” Off-Broadway Kildare has starred in productions of “Pride’s Crossing,” “Honor and the River,” “Candida,” and “Labor Day.”
Closer to his home in Seal Beach, local audiences enjoyed Kildare’s turn as Bill Austin in the national tour of “Mamma Mia!” and last season’s “Mary Poppins” and “Good People” for MRE/LaMirada.
Television audiences will recognize Kildare for his numerous appearances on “Law and Order,” “Desperate Housewives,” “Big Love,” and “CSI: New York.”
