On
Broadway, Burstein's twenty-one appearances, which have garnered him eight
Tony Award nominations, have included
A Little Hotel on the Side (1992), Yakov in
The Seagull (1992–93), in
Saint Joan and
Three Men on a Horse (both in 1993), Paul in
Company (1995), 1st Officer William Murdoch in
Titanic (1997–99), Aldolpho in
The Drowsy Chaperone (2006–07), Luther Billis in
South Pacific (2008–10), Taxi Driver in
Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown (2010–11), Tokio in
Golden Boy (2012–2013), Max in the Sharr White play
The Snow Geese (2013), Herr Schultz in the 2014 revival of
Cabaret (2014–15), Tevye in
Fiddler on the Roof (2015–2016), and Herbie in
Gypsy (2024). Burstein's
Off-Broadway credits include Rajiv Joseph's
Describe the Night at the
Atlantic Theater Company; ''
Talley's Folly'' opposite
Sarah Paulson at The
Roundabout Theater Company for which he was nominated for a
Lucille Lortel Award and a
Drama League Award; the world premieres of
A. R. Gurney's
Mrs. Farnsworth (2004), opposite
Sigourney Weaver and
John Lithgow, at
The Flea Theater and
Psych (2001) at
Playwrights Horizons. He also starred in ''
I Love You, You're Perfect, Now Change (1996 and 2002) at the Westside Theatre; as Ru/Floor Monitor/Pianist in Merrily We Roll Along'' (1994) at the York Theatre at St. Peter's Church;
All in the Timing at the Houseman; as Daniel in
Alan Menken and David Spencer's
Weird Romance at the WPA; as Solomon in
The Rothschilds and
Hello Muddah, Hello Fadduh, both at
Circle in the Square;
The United Way at Ensemble Studio Theater; and
A Class Act at
Manhattan Theatre Club. He appeared in four concerts at
Carnegie Hall including: the
Ira Gershwin centennial, as Steward in
Sail Away (1999), and in
Candide (2018). He appeared in the
Encores! (
New York City Center) staged concert productions of
DuBarry Was a Lady (1996), as Romeo Skragg in ''
Li'l Abner (1998), as Tailor-Merchant in The Boys from Syracuse (1997) and as Mister Mister in The Cradle Will Rock'' (2013). He played the role of Buddy Plummer in the
Kennedy Center production of
Follies, which ran from May 7, 2011, through June 19, 2011, at the Eisenhower Theater, co-starring with
Bernadette Peters,
Ron Raines, and
Jan Maxwell. He reprised that role in the Broadway engagement of
Follies at the
Marquis Theatre from August 7, 2011 (in previews) through January 22, 2012, and continued with the production in its engagement at the
Ahmanson Theatre in Los Angeles, California from May 3, 2012, through June 9, 2012. He won the
Drama Desk Award and
Outer Critics Circle Award for Outstanding Actor in a Musical and was nominated for the
Tony Award, Best Actor in a Musical. Burstein can be heard on the
cast recording of many of these musicals. Among his many recordings is the musical
Sweet Little Devil in which he introduced three
George Gershwin, Buddy DeSylva songs. The score originally went unrecorded in 1924 and was finally recorded by PS Classics, with Burstein playing the role of Sam in 2012. Burstein's film roles include
Duane Incarnate (2004),
Transamerica (2005),
Deception (2008), ''Nor'easter
(2013), Trust, Greed, Bullets and Bourbon
(2013), American Milkshake
(2013), Autumn Whispers
(2013), Affluenza (2014), Blackhat (2015), directed by Michael Mann, The Family Fang (2015), opposite Nicole Kidman and directed by Jason Bateman, Construction
(2015), Indignation (2016), written and directed by James Schamus, and The Sounding
, written & directed by Catherine Eaton. His many television credits include recurring on The Good Fight, recurring on Dr. Death, recurring as D.A. Lewis Cormier on Evil, guest starring on the animated series Central Park as Dick Flake, and guest starring on Tales of the City (2019), Fosse/Verdon (2019), The Blacklist (2019), Madam Secretary (2018), NCIS: New Orleans (2018), Instinct (2018), Elementary (2017), all the Law & Order'' series, the BBC's
Absolutely Fabulous (2002), the
FX series
Louie (2010), and
The Good Wife (2015). He was cast in
HBO's
Boardwalk Empire after director
Martin Scorsese saw him in
South Pacific, and after auditioning for three different characters, he landed the part of Lolly Steinman. Burstein has lent his voice in a number of
video games, including
Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas,
Manhunt 2,
Grand Theft Auto IV, and
Neverwinter Nights 2. He made his Metropolitan Opera debut as Frosch in
Die Fledermaus (2013–14 season). Burstein serves on the Artists Committee of the Kennedy Center Honors and has been a guest lecturer teaching at many universities such as Yale, NYU, Juilliard, UCSD and Queens College. Burstein played the role of Tevye in the 2015 Broadway revival of
Fiddler on the Roof, at the
Broadway Theatre, directed by
Bartlett Sher. The revival began in previews on November 20, 2015, and officially opened on December 20, 2015, and closed on December 31, 2016. In the summer of 2017, he played the role of Nick Bottom in the New York Public Theater's Shakespeare in the Park production of ''
A Midsummer Night's Dream''. He appeared as Alfred P. Doolittle in the Broadway revival of
My Fair Lady at Lincoln Center Theater from January 8, 2019. He also originated the on-stage role of Harold Zidler on Broadway in
Moulin Rouge! in 2019.
Moulin Rouge! played its pre-Broadway performances at the
Emerson Colonial Theatre in Boston from July 10, 2018, to August 19, 2018. In 2021, Burstein received the
Tony Award for Best Featured Actor in a Musical for
Moulin Rouge! In 2021 he was nominated for an Audie Award for his narration of
Stephen King's
If It Bleeds. Burstein returned to the Broadway stage in the 2023
Sharr White memory play Pictures from Home alongside
Nathan Lane and
Zoë Wanamaker. The play is adapted from
photographer Larry Sultan's photo memoir of the same name. In 2025, Burstein received a
Tony nomination for his role in
Gypsy. ==Personal life==