Elvis Stojko makes natural leap from skating to stage with ‘Chicago’

TORONTO – Making the leap from skating to stage work isn’t a huge stretch for Elvis Stojko, who’s starring in a production of “Chicago, the Musical” that begins in Toronto on Wednesday.

After all, the three-time world champion figure skater and two-time Olympic silver medallist used to act as a child in Newmarket, Ont., performing in annual plays at his small private school.

He also learned music theory and how to sing from his father, a classically trained tenor, which led to his own album release in 2009 and a role as Vince Fontaine in a 2004 production of “Grease” in Toronto and Hamilton.

“Even on reel to reel, as a little kid, I was always singing by myself playing the tennis racket and in rubber boots,” Stojko said in a telephone interview from his home in Ajijic, Mexico.

“That was me growing up when I was a kid, I was four or five or six years old. My dad, because he’s Slovenian, he was singing in the Slovenian church and that was his thing. He used to go every week and that was his outlet and he loved doing that.”

Stojko developed a lifelong passion for singing too, often belting out tunes while on the road for an ice career in which he became a seven-time Canadian national figure skating champion.

“It’s very rare that I just sit and listen to music, unless it’s just instrumental,” said Stojko, who announced his retirement from amateur figure skating in 2002. “Especially if it’s in my range, I always love to jump in and sing.

“So travelling a lot, driving a lot over the years, driving from the house to the rink, I would always sing — always, always, always sing in the car. That was my thing, and almost in a way, it was a meditation for me.”

Stojko plays smooth-talking lawyer Billy Flynn in the jazzy prohibition-era show that Mirvish Productions is running at the Princess of Wales Theatre from March 26 through March 30.

The production also stars Bianca Marroquin as Roxie Hart, a housewife and nightclub dancer who kills her lover when he threatens to leave her. Terra C. MacLeod plays her cellmate, Velma Kelly, and Carol Woods plays Matron (Mama) Morton.

Stojko said he first heard about the opportunity through a skating friend in the U.S. who does a lot of theatre and is friends with one of the producers.

The producers then got in touch with Stojko, who sent them an audition tape to prove he could hit the high notes.

“For me, being a skater-performer, it’s basically a little bit smaller stage,” said Stojko, who has also studied singing under a vocal coach in Toronto and describes his voice as a high baritone tenor.

“I think skaters have the largest stage in the world because of the ice surface, but it’s still performance.”

Stojko said he hadn’t seen “Chicago” onstage before landing the part, but he had watched the 2002 Oscar-winning film in which Richard Gere played Billy Flynn.

Other big names who’ve taken on the role onstage over the years have included Alan Thicke, Billy Ray Cyrus, Usher and Tom Wopat.

Stojko said he isn’t feeling the pressure that can come from following other stars in the same role, noting he’s “more of a natural actor” who tries to bring some of his own qualities to a part.

He’s just trying to “enjoy the process.”

“If I enjoy the process, I’ll automatically do something that’s going to be quality, because I’m putting my heart and soul into it. I’m not just sort of faking my way through it,” said Stojko.

“It’s something that I really want to do well at for me, not for just getting accolades for it.”

Stojko said he hopes this doesn’t end up being “just the one-shot deal,” noting he’d like to act again either onstage, on TV or in film.

“Wherever it leads, we’ll see what direction I’ll go.”

In the meantime, Stojko is also busy racing go-karts and plans to publish his autobiography this year.

“A lot of people are asking … ‘What is there you can’t do?'” he said. “And I believe that for me, it’s all about removing that restriction in your mind of what you can and can’t do.

“I was always told I’d never make it in skating because I was only a jumper, and I kind of showed them,” he continued with a laugh. “I was younger, I was very athletic and people remember me for that, but then I took on a different approach to the artistic side and so forth.

“But for me, I believe whatever I put my mind to, I know I can achieve my goals. It’s not something that people (say), ‘Oh, it comes easy to that person and they get everything easy.’ No, the people that do achieve, they work hard and they conquer their fears and they go after what they want.”

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