Neil Patrick Harris will star in the London premiere of Jonathan Larson's posthumous musical tick, tick...BOOM!, opening June 9th at the Menier Chocolate Factory; the show will run until September 5th.
Harris was approached to do the intimate 3-character musical during its original off-Broadway run, but was filming and regretfully passed it over. However, he was thrilled when Scott Schwartz, the director of the original production who will also stage the piece in London, asked him to do it overseas.tick, tick...BOOM! was produced after Larson's death at the Jane Street Theatre in 2001 with Raul Esparza, Amy Spanger and Jerry Dixon originally starring in the autobiographical tale of a struggling artist's life. With a score and book by Larson and David Auburn's expansion of the piece from 1 to 3 characters, the show received a Lucille Lortel nomination for Outstanding Musical, and won the Outer Critics Circle Award for Outstanding Off-Broadway musical.Harris has appeared on Broadway in Assassins (as the Balladeer and Lee
Harvey Oswald), Cabaret (as the Emcee), and Proof; he has also been
featured as Mark in that other Larson musical,Rent. He is best known
to TV audiences for having played the title role in "Doogie Houser,
M.D."
Produced by David Babani and Danielle Tarento, the London production will feature Cassidy Janson as Susan and Tee Jaye as Michael. David Farley will design the show while Theatre of Blood's Colin Grenfell will take care of the lighting design.
For more information, call (0)20 7907 7060.