A life on stage is a life well lived

The audience hushed as the theatre darkened, and from the silence, the symphony boomed to life, the room reverberating with the trumpeting notes introducing “Les Miserables.” Onstage stood a man dressed as a prisoner and living his dream.

“Still to this day, that intro starts, and I’ve seen the show a thousand times, I’ve been in it hundreds of times, and it still just moves my insides like the very first time,” said Mike Eldred of Whitefish, professional vocalist and stage actor.

Music saturated Eldred’s life from the beginning. Born to a musical family that traveled all over in a bus, performing for Christian revivals and events, he said for as long as he could remember, “It was all about the music.”

“From as early as I can remember, it was a part of who we were. It was the biggest part of who we were,” he said.

The beauty of the stage, Eldred said, lies with the opportunity to move people and change lives in a moment. He compared his first theatrical experiences to making a lifelong friend.

“Music was where I excelled and overachieved and spent my focus. It’s where I felt like I mattered, which I think is why I just dedicated my life to that feeling of ‘This is where I’m a good guy. This is where I can make a change and make a difference,” Eldred said.

His career began when the band Truth, an American contemporary Christian group, rolled through his college town and took him with it.

He toured with the band for the next two or three years before moving to Nashville where his talent as a tenor vocalist launched him into his career as a recording artist, singing backup for artists like Faith Hill and Tim McGraw.

The arrival of the national 25th anniversary tour of “Jesus Christ Superstar” in Nashville pulled him out of the studio and onto the stage. Despite his lack of experience as an actor, he landed the role and got bitten by the acting bug.

When the tour ended, Eldred began auditioning for more major productions. Among them was “Les Miserables.”

Based on the classic novel by Victor Hugo, the story set in 19th century France follows the misfortunes of Jean Valjean, an ex-convict hungry for redemption upon his release from prison. Unable to escape his past despite his spiritual transformation and numberous good deeds, Valjean resigns himself to simply living with faith amid a world of sorrows.

One of the most successful and beloved musicals ever to take Broadway’s stage, “Les Miserables” calls to almost every aspiring thespian, including Eldred.

Between his late 20s and early 30s, Eldred auditioned again and again for the role of Marius, the love interest of Cosette, Valjean’s adopted daughter. But after six years and multiple rejections, Eldred finally said “enough.”

“I had given up. It had been several years, so I thought I’m never going to get that show. Forget it. Let’s move on,” Eldred said.

By 2003, Eldred had begun touring with Dennis DeYoung of the band Styx as a guest artist for symphony concerts around the country.

That was the year Broadway called.

On the other end of an unexpected phonecall, a voice offered Eldred the chance to understudy for the role of Valjean on the national tour of “Les Miserables.”

“I said, ‘I’m there. When is it?’” Eldred said. He was to start touring with the cast the following week.

The day before he was scheduled to leave, however, the director of the Broadway show based in New York called to let him know plans had changed.

Eldred would instead understudy for Valjean on Broadway for the show’s closing performances after around 14 years of dominating New York’s famous marquee.

“And I just about lost it,” Eldred recalled. “This is my dream come true. This is what I’ve worked for, right here.”

THE GLITTER faded fast when Eldred arrived in New York, where he said he was thrown onstage and into the spotlight without so much as one full rehearsal.

Though Eldred knew the show well from years of immersion, he said he felt less than fully prepared the first time the curtain rose.

His performance, filled with scenes of redemption, sacrifice, love and sorrow, brought the audience to their feet as Eldred bowed to the sound of applause.

“It was unbelievable in the sense that it was a whirlwind, so it was hard to really focus on the reality of it,” Eldred said.

He returned as Valjean many times in the final months of the production, the cast performing eight shows a week with rehearsals during the day and additional performances outside of the stage run.

“I was basically learning it while everybody else was ready for it to be over and exhausted,” Eldred said. “It was a very honest, sort of unglamorous experience. It was very corporate. It was very difficult, not a lot of happy people. And I was living my dream in the middle of all of it.”

The close of the show marked the end of Eldred’s Broadway career and a checkmark on his bucket list.

“Valjean … how do you beat that role?” he said. “It’s the role that I would never tire of doing.”

Following his exit from Broadway, Eldred resumed his favorite role a number of times in other theaters around the country, including Studio 10 in Nashville and Theatre Aspen in Colorado.

Years spent studying and playing Valjean, Eldred said, gave him a unique insight into a character who has captured and moved audiences across the globe.

“The way he is written, he is a compassionate, caring, kind, loving, honest man in an unjust world,” Eldred said. “In the musical, the way that the songs are written and the scenes are written, I always saw sort of the scary, crazy aspect of Valjean in the shows, but I wanted to like him more.”

“The goal for me was to make sure that people loved him,” Eldred added.

PEOPLE HAVE remained at the center of Eldred’s focus, even through his transition in recent years from traveling the country singing to settling down in Whitefish to work as a host and manager at the Tupelo Grille.

His voice has taken him overseas, to the top of Broadway and even to the White House, but even the chance to work in a restaurant he said he considers a tremendous opportunity.

Especially when he gets the chance to serenade guests with an operatic rendition of “Happy Birthday.”

“It’s really funny when I get to sing for people and they’re not expecting it. The way that they respond, it sort of takes me back to what it used to feel like when I would open my mouth and surprise someone,” Eldred said. “It’s crazy. It’s just ‘Happy Birthday,’ but that’s kind of what it’s all about. That’s what this gift is all about.”

Eldred plans to combine his love of music and food with the start of a concert series featuring both local and national artists at the Tupelo Grille.

The first concert is scheduled for June 17, with one show beginning at 6 p.m. and a second beginning at 8 p.m.

The show entitled “Come to Daddy” will feature the musical stylings of Eldred and Erica Von Kleist, with content intended for ages 18 and up and tickets at $25 each.

For more information about Eldred or the June 17 concert, visit www.mikeeldred.com.

Reporter Mary Cloud Taylor can be reached at 758-4459 or mtaylor@dailyinterlake.com.