SPOTLIGHT INTERVIEW: Michael Fidalgo, master of many characters, celebrates life by sharing them with others

Since 2019, Fidalgo has done 11 shows for GCP, and one apiece for the Selma Arts Center, Children’s Musical Theaterworks in Fresno and StageWorks Fresno. His  explanation for the hectic pace is straightforward. “Essentially, I fell in love with performing in high school and never stopped.” But a health crisis also created a sense of urgency in him. More on that in a moment.

Fidalgo is currently at 2nd Space Theatre in a GCP production of “The Complete Works of William Shakespeare (Abridged”). In the wacky comedy, he plays Juliet with a transatlantic accent, does a rap about Othello and goes from Macduff with a brogue and golf club, to a creepy soothsayer, to Cleopatra, to acting out a football game – all this before becoming a Valley Girl Ophelia, a misogynist Claudius and a Gertrude inspired by Jennifer Coolidge. Of his two cast mates, Fidalgo “dies” the most times on stage. The show runs through Aug. 4. 

While his comedic chops shine in the spotlight, Fidalgo off stage was thoughtful and low key, almost reserved, when we first met. In a quiet but confident voice, he spoke about successfully grappling with end-stage kidney disease and getting a transplant in June 2019. Coming through that magnified his determination to grab every available opportunity, he said. “You realize that your life could end at any moment. You just don’t know.” 

What he does know is that performing in shows such as “Matilda” and “The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee” can bring – as he puts it – “little pockets of joy” to a world where there’s “a lot of crazy, awful stuff happening around us.”

MICHAEL FIDALGO: SAVORING THE LAUGHTER

Fidalgo’s earliest performances came as a young boy in living room shows at Christmastime. One year, Fidalgo, his sisters and their cousins put on “The Grinch” with Fidalgo playing the title character. “From that moment on, my family just went, ‘Oh, my God, he needs to be on stage.’ ” 

Comedy captured his young imagination. With his parents, he watched classic reruns of “I Love Lucy” and “The Carol Burnett Show.” “I just absorbed how in comedy, timing is everything,” he said, with character actors Tim Conway, Gene Wilder and Madeline Kahn his icons.

His love of performing crystallized at Clovis East High School, where he performed with Chris Colfer (“Glee”) in one show. Fidalgo’s training continued at Vanguard University in Orange County, where he earned a bachelor of arts degree in musical theater. 

Then he was off to New York to pursue a career, hopeful but also with the voices of doubters sometimes creeping into his head. “People would say performing is just your hobby, but it was something I was actively seeking out as a way of making a living. It was a real job to me.”

Fidalgo found some acting work in New York, performing in a short-lived off-Broadway show, “The Great Pie Robbery . . . or, We Really Need the Dough.” He was in three regional shows in the New York area, and he did a commercial for the iPhone 7 (he’s in a quick shot on a subway train) plus some print modeling while working as a barista to help pay the rent.

When Fidalgo’s health cratered in New York, he experienced awful headaches, debilitating nausea and extreme fatigue, prompting him to see a doctor, who made the diagnosis. The doctor couldn’t pinpoint the cause of the kidney failure; the best guess: an untreated strep infection.

Fidalgo had no choice in December 2017 but to face moving back to his parents’ home in Fresno. But holiday travel made it hard to find flights out of New York. So two days before Christmas, he walked the streets of Manhattan trying to process the news from the doctor.

Fidalgo and his mother – who had come to help – took in the holiday window displays at Macy’s. They watched ice skaters at the rink in Bryant Park. Then they bought tickets for “Beautiful: The Carole King Musical” on Broadway. “It was just a nice escape,” Fidalgo said. (He would play Neil Sedaka in GCP’s 2024 production of “Beautiful.”)

MICHAEL FIDALGO: SAVORING THE LAUGHTER

Back in Fresno, Fidalgo at first went to a dialysis center four times a week. “Those were some dark times.” He would sit for hours as his blood was cleansed mechanically, and around him were other patients – some with dementia, others with the amputations common in end-stage kidney failure. “I feel like I have a strong spirit, but it was very difficult to experience.” His parents – mother, Debra and father, Greg – and his sister, Sarah, provided emotional support. One day, he reached what he now recognizes as one of the darkest moments, and Sarah simply sat with him. “I don’t know if she realized how badly I was doing. But she didn’t try to make me feel better. She didn’t say, ‘This is going to be OK.’ She said, ‘This sucks.’ For some reason, that’s what I needed.”

As he waited – and hoped – for a transplant, Fidalgo performed in two productions at the Selma Arts Center. He played a murder victim in “Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street” and 16 characters in “A Gentleman’s Guide to Love and Murder.”

“Theater is an escape, and I was just trying to escape my reality. I was trying to get back to something I was passionate about,” he said. Cast and crew knew about his health.

In June of 2019 – 18 months after the diagnosis – his sister’s sister-in-law, Samantha Madero, successfully donated a kidney, and two months later, Fidalgo was on stage once again in “The Book of Will” at StageWorks Fresno. He had auditioned before the operation, believing he’d be well enough to bring to life a character described as an “artist at heart.” 

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His second show after the transplant was “She Loves Me” for GCP, and it was in that production where he met cast mate Adrian Ammsso. It was the beginning of their continuing relationship, and they worked together again in “Beauty and the Beast” and “The Little Mermaid.”

Fidalgo said his health is now good. “I’m fortunate to be here today. In other circumstances, I probably wouldn’t be. It feels weird to say that, but that’s the reality.” He said his kidney specialist has told him the transplant could be good for 20 or 30 years more, but he might need another in the future. “I’ll just have to deal with that then,” he said.

In the meantime, Fidalgo works to maintain his stamina during the run of a show. It helps that his job at Fresno Music Academy & Arts – where he teaches piano and voice – gives flexibility in his schedule. But, he admitted racking up 14 shows in five years has sometimes taxed his endurance. “You want to live everyday to its fullest, but it’s hard, it’s difficult. Some days, I just don’t even have the energy to connect with other people. There have been times when I’m like, ‘Oh, I haven’t been smart in conserving my energy.’ ” 

Yet his on-stage record is impressive. Since the transplant, he’s missed only six performances, and his kidneys weren’t the reason. Fidalgo doesn’t hide his health history from directors and cast mates, but it’s not a topic that he readily brings up, either. Yet it’s always there.

MICHAEL FIDALGO: SAVORING THE LAUGHTER

One of his most memorable portrayals came as Igor (that’s “eye-gor”), the humpback sidekick, in GCP’s “Young Frankenstein.” Pessano at GCP said beneath the laughs that Fidalgo got from the audience was his serious understanding that Igor is completely devoted to Dr. Frankenstein.

Pessano added: “I admire people who understand comedy and understand how to make it work without showing the work. As Elaine May said, ‘Never let ’em catch you trying to be funny.’ ”

This spring, Pessano performed with Fidalgo in GCP’s “Fiddler on the Roof” – Pessano as the milkman Tevye and Fidalgo as Motel, a tailor who strives for more in life, symbolized by marrying one of Tevye’s daughters and getting a sewing machine. As Motel says: “even a poor tailor is entitled to some happiness.” 

Fidalgo was “extraordinarily consistent, committed and honest” in his portrayal, and he showed his vocal talent, as well, Pessano said. Fidalgo identified with Motel. “I felt really connected to a character who’s facing this huge challenge to become his own person and get what he wants by standing up to the things in his way. He knew he was better than what people thought of him. That just spoke to me.”

Veteran GCP actor Henry Montelongo performed with Fidalgo for the first time in “Fiddler on the Roof,” and they are currently cast in “The Complete Works of William Shakespeare (Abridged).” Said Montelongo: “Among Michael’s  strengths is that he listens on stage. Plus, he has great timing and the ability to play on stage. To do ‘Complete Works’ –  or for that matter, any type of play –  requires trust. I believe Alex [Vaux], Michael, and I have great trust in each other, and that’s what makes doing ‘Complete Works’ fun.”

Fidalgo considered taking a performing break after that show closes in early August. “I sometimes feel like I’m not as present with fellow performers and my friends and family because I’m just so involved in crafting my performance,” he said. But then an upcoming show at GCP needed people, and Pessano asked if he’d consider performing.

“I can’t say, ‘no,’ ” Fidalgo said. “It’s just a chance at a new opportunity. There’s excitement in that.”

MICHAEL FIDALGO: SAVORING THE LAUGHTER

Show info

The Complete Works of William Shakespeare (Abridged), a Good Company Players production at 2nd Space Theatre. Continues through Aug. 4. Tickets are $22-$25.