Michael Boyer (January, 1960) is an American

actor An actor or actress is a person who portrays a character in a performance. The actor performs "in the flesh" in the traditional medium of the theatre or in modern media such as film, radio, and television. The analogous Greek term is (), li ...

who plays the role of the Pied Piper of Hamelin in performances in Hamelin,

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...

. He lives in the town with his wife and son.

Early years

Born in

Harrisburg Harrisburg is the capital city of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, United States, and the county seat of Dauphin County. With a population of 50,135 as of the 2021 census, Harrisburg is the 9th largest city and 15th largest municipality in Pe ...

Pennsylvania Pennsylvania (; ( Pennsylvania Dutch: )), officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a state spanning the Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes regions of the United States. It borders Delaware to its southeast, ...

, Boyer sang in school choirs, acted, was school mascot, and emceed the school shows in his youth. The general poor finances of his family daunted his hopes of playing in the school band at the time, so that he never properly learned to play music. He was interested in learning the clarinet, but joined the US Army when he was 18. He opted for Germany and was stationed there for three years in the Military Police Corps. An additional seven years in the

NATO The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO, ; french: Organisation du traité de l'Atlantique nord, ), also called the North Atlantic Alliance, is an intergovernmental military alliance between 30 member states – 28 European and two No ...

civilian sector had him stationed in

Comiso Comiso ( scn, U Còmisu), is a comune of the Province of Ragusa, Sicily, southern Italy. As of 2017, its population was 29,857. History In the past Comiso has been incorrectly identified with the ancient Greek colony of Casmene. Under the Byza ...

Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical ...

, where he began to do radio spots for the troops.

The Piper

Upon returning to Germany, he organized events and wrote for army newspapers. The official position of the Pied Piper of Hamelin was vacant and Boyer, who had been playing a comical jester in the carnival season, put in for the position and was selected in 1994. He has played the role in local performances since then. His promotional tours have taken him as far as

Tokyo Tokyo (; ja, 東京, , ), officially the Tokyo Metropolis ( ja, 東京都, label=none, ), is the capital and List of cities in Japan, largest city of Japan. Formerly known as Edo, its metropolitan area () is the most populous in the world, ...

Shanghai Shanghai (; , , Standard Mandarin pronunciation: ) is one of the four direct-administered municipalities of the People's Republic of China (PRC). The city is located on the southern estuary of the Yangtze River, with the Huangpu River flowin ...

Helsinki Helsinki ( or ; ; sv, Helsingfors, ) is the capital, primate, and most populous city of Finland. Located on the shore of the Gulf of Finland, it is the seat of the region of Uusimaa in southern Finland, and has a population of . The city ...

Vienna en, Viennese , iso_code = AT-9 , registration_plate = W , postal_code_type = Postal code , postal_code = , timezone = CET , utc_offset = +1 , timezone_DST ...

, and

Nottingham Nottingham ( , locally ) is a city and unitary authority area in Nottinghamshire, East Midlands, England. It is located north-west of London, south-east of Sheffield and north-east of Birmingham. Nottingham has links to the legend of Robi ...

. He appeared at the 50th

Steuben Parade Von Steuben Day is a holiday traditionally held on a weekend in mid-September (von Steuben was born September 17), celebrating the Prussian-born Baron Friedrich von Steuben, who arrived in the United States as a volunteer offering his services t ...

in New York City in 2007. At the 725th Anniversary of the tale
Pied Piper Day
he led the children to the mountain that historians tie to the tale. More information under "Talk"

References

External links

Hamelin Germany city website in English

Piper Legend
*
at Getty Images

at BBC

Twenty-five years of memoirs in German
{{DEFAULTSORT:Boyer, Michael 1960 births Living people Actors from Harrisburg, Pennsylvania American expatriates in Germany