A Life on the Road

It’s a crisp December morning in Vancouver, Canada, and Michal Kolaczkowski has one thing on his mind: finding a good cup of coffee.

Over Kolaczkowski’s last four globe-trotting years as a professional performer, hunting for a caffeine fix has become a daily ritual, his way of injecting normalcy into an otherwise abnormal life of hotels and airplanes, taxis, and takeout.

Not that Kolaczkowski’s complaining.

This is, after all, his dream life.

“I haven’t worked a day in years,” Kolaczkowski, ’12, said, beaming.

In his latest adventure, the 27-yearold played the role of Fred Casely on the Broadway tour of Chicago, a seven-month, 34-city tour spanning North American cities like Saskatoon and Schenectady, San Antonio and Sioux Falls. Prior to that, the Shelby Township native returned to his home state with performances in Clinton Township, Midland, and Kalamazoo.

At Michigan State, I was able to develop my being in many different directions all at once, and that’s why I’m here today,” Kolaczkowski said. “Michigan State allowed me to tune out the noise and follow my instincts.

“It’s always extra special to be back in Michigan,” said Kolaczkowski, the son of Polish-born professional ballroom dancers. “It’s where it all began for me.”

And that’s where it almost ended.

After an active career in high school theater, Kolaczkowski told himself he was done performing when he arrived on the Michigan State campus in fall 2009.

“It seemed time to get on with life,” he said.

It was a short-lived promise, however, as Kolaczkowski auditioned for the university’s fall musical, Rent. Cast in the show, he was sucked back into the performing world. He later appeared in campus productions such as Legally Blonde and Evil Dead, while also singing with the men’s glee club and the campus a cappella group, Spartan Dischords. Along the way, he paired his marketing studies with an “informal” acting degree, picking up theater course textbooks to hone his craft.

“At Michigan State, I was able to develop my being in many different directions all at once, and that’s why I’m here today,” Kolaczkowski said. “Michigan State allowed me to tune out the noise and follow my instincts.”

After graduating in December 2012, Kolaczkowski moved to New York City and entered the professional semester training program at the Broadway Dance Center, an intense five-month program that allowed him to “catch up with those in New York who had musical theater degrees.”

He landed his first gigs as a dancer, actor, and singer on Crystal Cruises, quite literally circling the globe, before securing a spot on the national and then international tour of Beauty and the Beast. Kolaczkowski also scored regional theater credits in New York and performed on the national tour of Dirty Dancing. After some draining “near misses” upon returning to New York in mid-2016, Kolaczkowski earned a spot in Chicago, his “dream show.”

“It’s those near misses that make that moment you get the job so much bigger,” he said.

Now Kolaczkowski, who leverages his Eli Broad College marketing studies to curate his own website and social media presence, said he hopes his next “big break” delivers the ultimate prize: casting in a Broadway show.

“Broadway’s the top of the pyramid,” he said. “I’ve been in New York City for five years now and have paid every bill performing, but there’s no question a Broadway show is the goal.”

Then, of course, he could stop hunting for coffee in unfamiliar cities.

“Yeah,” he said, laughing, “I already know my go-to spots in New York.”

MORE: michalkolaczkowski.com