MSMT Mourns the Passing of Legendary Star, Bernard Wurger

Maine State Music Theatre was saddened to receive news of the passing of one of its legendary stars - an actor whose career was inextricably interwoven with the history of Maine's premier musical theatre. "Bernie" Wurger was a mainstay of MSMT summers from 1962 until 2000, playing 195 leading and supporting roles and winning an indelible place in the hearts of his public. His long and versatile career spanned opera, musical theatre, directing, and film not only in Maine but in New York and leading regional theatres across the country.

Artistic Director, Curt Dale Clark, shared the news, saying, "There was only ONE Bernie Wurger! For almost forty years he was synonymous with MSMT - an artist of extraordinary ability and a human being with an outsized personality and a heart to match! We will miss him deeply."

Born on February 11, 1933, in Indianapolis and educated at Butler University, Wurger studied as an opera singer, performing in Mozart's Cosi fan tutte and Menotti's The Medium and The Telephone. After graduation he moved to New York City where he continued in opera at New York City Center singing in Idomeneo and H.M.S. Pinafore as well as trying his hand at musical theatre. In 1962 he auditioned for Victoria Crandall's summer season at the then-called Brunswick Summer Playhouse in Brunswick, Maine. Wurger made himself at home in a town that first struck him as "Peyton Place," acting, directing, filling any and every assignment Vicki Crandall and later her successor, Charles Abbott, handed him. His versatility, his vigor, and his sheer charisma, together with that booming baritone, made him an instant favorite on stage, as did his larger-than-life off-stage personality.

Among his cherished portrayals at MSMT were Tevye in Fiddler on the Roof and Ben Franklin in 1776, but his list of credits was long and varied. They included Man of La Mancha, Hello, Dolly!, Annie Warbucks, Will Rogers Follies, Merry Widow, Me and My Girl, My Fair Lady, Oklahoma, Anything Goes, The Music Man, Brigadoon, Mame, Chamberlain, and Applause.

Even after leaving MSMT, Wurger continued in character roles remaining active at the Buck Creek Players and other theatres in his native Indianapolis. At Bucks Creek Players in 2013, he appeared in Quartet, a play about four retired opera singers, thereby bringing his performing career full circle. He also appeared in several cameo roles in film from 2005-2013, among them Old Folks Like Us, and he frequently turned his talents to directing.

Wurger's irrepressible love for theatre was captured in a play by Herb Gardner, entitled Conversations with My Father, which starred Wurger and was mounted by Indianapolis' Phoenix Theatre in 2003.

Photos courtesy MSMT

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