Neil Patrick Harris is going to rock your glittery socks off next year in “Hedwig and the Angry Inch.”
Credit: REUTERS
Theater lovers, get excited! Neil Patrick Harris is returning to Broadway. And he’s taking on some stilettos and a platinum mane for “Hedwig and the Angry Inch.”
Harris, the current star of TV’s “How I Met Your Mother” and four-time host of the Tony Awards — including this month’s 67th ceremony, which was the highest-rated in more than 10 years — is slated to star in the cult classic, “Hedwig and the Angry Inch.”
He will be playing Hedwig, a transgender East German frontman for a fictional rock band. The play, written by John Cameron Mitchell with music and lyrics by Stephen Trask, premiered in 2008. The 2001 movie, directed by Mitchell, also starred him in the title role, which will now be played by Harris.
Mitchell said, “Who better to pass the wig to but the finest entertainer of his generation?”
Stephen Trask agreed: “It’s like you’re putting together a fantasy rock band and Paul McCartney agrees to play bass.”
In fact, Rolling Stone called “Hedwig and the Angry Inch” “the best rock musical ever” in 2001, the year that the movie was released. The film went on to win the Audience Award and Best Director Award at the Sundance Film Festival. John Cameron Mitchell won the Best New Director from the National Board of Review, the Gotham Awards and the LA Critics Society.
Harris said, “I am simultaneously ecstatic and terrified to be stepping into Hedwig’s heels. It is truly a once-in-a-lifetime role and I can’t wait to begin the journey.”
It looks like “Kinky Boots” is about to get a little bit of cross-dressing, heart-pounding, high-heeled competition on Broadway.
