Hunter Parrish Joins Spring Awakening One Week Early

Hunter Parrish joined the Broadway cast of Spring Awakening last night, August 11th- a week earlier than planned.

Featured in Vanity Fair's  cover feature "Hollywood's New Wave-The Hottest Kids in Hollywood spread (August issue), on newsstands July 9, Hunter can currently be seen as Silas, the rabble-rousing older son of Mary-Louise Parker on the highly acclaimed Showtime series WEEDS. The show's 4th season premiered last month. Moviegoers can next see Parrish on the big screen in  "17 Again" opposite Zac Efron and Matthew Perry. Other screen roles  include "Freedom Writers" with Hilary Swank and Patrick Dempsey, and Barry Sonnefeld's comedy "RV" playing the son of Jeff Daniels and Kristen Chenoweth.

"I have always hoped that my passion for the theatre would eventually lead me to Broadway," says Parrish. Spring Awakening is a truly one-of-a-kind show with its timeless story, commanding music and innovative imagery. I am elated to have the opportunity to become a part of it.'

 A statement from the producers says, "We are thrilled to have Hunter Parrish join the cast and welcome him to the Spring Awakening family.  We knew Hunter is a wonderful actor, the surprise is that he is also a terrific singer. He will be a great asset to the company." Broadway''s current Melchior, Kyle Riabko, will play his final performance on August 2 and then lead the national company of the musical on a cross country tour which opens in San Francisco on September 7th.  .

 Spring Awakening continues its record-breaking run at the Eugene O'Neill Theatre, 230 West 49th Street. The musical, with music by Duncan Sheik and book and lyrics by Steven Sater, is choreographed by Bill T. Jones and directed by Michael Mayer. SPRING AWAKENING is the winner of 8 2007 Tony Awards including Best Musical,  the most Tony Awards any new musical has won since 2003.

Performance schedule for Spring Awakening is as follows: Monday at 8 pm, Tuesday at 7pm, Wednesday through Saturday at 8 pm, Matinees on Wednesday and Saturday at 2 pm. For information and tickets, call Telecharge.com at 212 239-6200.

www.springawakening.com