Grammer's Broadway musical debut
2009-12-01 19:09
Los Angeles - Emmy award-winning actor Kelsey Grammer will make his Broadway musical debut in April playing the gay owner of a transvestite club in the revival of La Cage aux Folles, publicists said on Monday.
Grammer, known best for playing Dr Frasier Crane for some 20 years on the TV comedies Cheers and its spin-off, Frasier, had recently starred in and produced the TV comedy Hank, which was cancelled earlier this month after less than one season.
"I had a wonderful experience playing Henry Higgins in the New York Philharmonic My Fair Lady in 2007, which made me long to perform in a musical on Broadway," Grammer said in a statement.
Grammer, 54, is set to play George, the emcee and owner of a St Tropez nightclub that boasts drag queen headliner Zaza, George's flamboyant lover. Hijinks ensue when George's son introduces them to his fiance's conservative parents.
La Cage aux Folles is based on a 1973 French play. A 1983 Broadway musical comedy, based on a 1978 film adaptation, played for more than four years and won six Tony awards.
Grammer acted in Shakespearean plays in New York's Broadway theatre district in the 1980s and in 2000, when he starred in Macbeth. It closed early following lukewarm reviews.
His singing can be heard in some of his animated projects, such as The Simpsons and the 1997 film Anastasia.
Grammer follows several celebrities who have contracted the Broadway bug. James Bond actor Daniel Craig and X-Men's Wolverine, Hugh Jackman, are starring in the play A Steady Rain, and Sopranos star James Gandolfini headed the cast earlier this year of God of Carnage.
- Reuters