Breaking News: Lena Hall to Join Neil Patrick Harris in HEDWIG AND THE ANGRY INCH on Broadway as 'Yitzhak'

The producers of the Hedwig and the Angry Inch have announced that KINKY BOOTS' Lena Hall will play the role of Yitzhak in the upcoming Broadway premiere of the musical with book by John Cameron Mitchell and music and lyrics by Stephen Trask, directed by Michael Mayer.

HEDWIG star Neil Patrick Harris has also extended his initial run with the production by four weeks due to popular demand. Harris is now scheduled to star in the production through Sunday, August 17. Tickets for this four week extension will go on sale exclusively to American Express® cardholders with preferred seating available to Gold Card, Platinum Card®, and Centurion® members. Tickets for the extension weeks will go on sale to the general public on Thursday, January 30. Tickets for performances through Sunday, July 20 are currently on sale to the general public.

HEDWIG AND THE ANGRY INCH will begin previews Saturday, March 29 for a Tuesday, April 22 opening night at the Belasco Theatre (111 West 44th Street).

"Internationally ignored song stylist" Hedwig Robinson (Neil Patrick Harris) brings her fourth-wall-smashing rock and roll saga to New York to set the record straight about her life, her loves, and the botched operation that left her with that "angry inch."

HEDWIG is Harris' first appearance on Broadway since he starred as The Balladeer/Lee Harvey Oswald in the 2004 Tony-winning revival of Assassins. His other Broadway credits include Proof and Cabaret. He is currently in production for the final season of the beloved CBS comedy "How I Met Your Mother" and has been honored with four Emmy Awards: three for his acclaimed hosting of the Tony Awards and another for his guest-starring role on "Glee." His upcoming film projects include Fox's Gone Girl, Universal's A Million Ways to Die in the West, and Disney/Pixar's The Good Dinosaur.

HEDWIG has inspired a generation of young theatre writers and audiences. This wickedly funny and heartbreaking show was called "the Best Rock Musical Ever" by Rolling Stone and "the most exciting rock score written for the theatre since, oh, ever," by Time Magazine.

HEDWIG AND THE ANGRY INCH was originally produced by David Binder off off Broadway at Westbeth and then, under the direction of Peter Askin, ran over two years at the Jane Street Theatre beginning in February 1998. The musical won the Outer Critics Circle Award for Best Off-Broadway Musical and both John Cameron Mitchell and Stephen Trask won Obies in 2001. It won a 1998 New York Magazine Award and Entertainment Weekly's "Soundtrack of the Year" Award. Time Magazine named HEDWIG the Top Musical of 1998.

The film of Hedwig and the Angry Inch, directed by John Cameron Mitchell, won the Audience Award and Best Director Awards at Sundance. Mitchell won the Best New Director from the National Board of Review, the Gotham Awards, and the LA Critics Society. Stage productions have played for many years in Japan and in 2008, Korea hosted a popular televised reality show about the search for a new star to play Hedwig.

The creative team for Hedwig and the Angry Inch features Emmy Award nominee Spencer Liff (musical staging), Drama Desk Award-winning Julian Crouch (scenic design), two time Oscar-nominee AriAnne Phillips(costume design), three time Tony Award winner Kevin Adams (lighting design), Mike Potter (hair and makeup design), platinum selling record producer Timothy O'Heir (sound design), James Calleri (casting), Tony Award nominee Ethan Popp (music supervision), Liz Caplan (vocal supervision), and Johanna McKeon (associate direction).

The members of "The Angry Inch," Hedwig's band - his "ambassadors of Eastern Bloc rock" - will be music director Justin Craig (guitar and keyboards), Matt Duncan (bass), Tim Mislock (guitar), and Peter Yanowitz(drums).

David Binder, who first produced HEDWIG in 1997, is producing the musical on Broadway with Jayne Baron Sherman, Barbara Whitman, Latitude Link,Paula Marie Black, Patrick Catullo, Ruth Hendel, Sharon Karmazin, Raise The Roof, Eric Schnall, and The Shubert Organization. 101 Productions, Ltd are the executive producers.

HALL (Yitzhak) is currently starring as Nicola in the Tony Award winning musical Kinky Boots. Previous Broadway and Off-Broadway roles include starring in the award winning Toxic Avenger at New World Stages, Tarzan (Original Cast), Dracula (Original Cast), 42nd Street (Anytime Annie), Cats (Demeter), Bedbugs (NYMF) and Green Eyes (Fringe). TV and Film roles include "Young Miranda" in the Sex and the City film, The Stepford Wives, The Graduates, "All My Children" and "Legally Blonde, the Search for the Next Elle Woods."

Born and raised in San Francisco, CA; Lena Hall traveled the world performing and received her first big break singing for Pope John Paul II at Candlestick Stadium for over 50,000 people at the young age of 7. Hall was a member of the Young People's Teen Musical Theatre Company in San Francisco and at the age of 17, joined the national tour of Cats. When not on the Broadway stage, Lena performs with her band The Deafening.

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