Breaking News: Neil Patrick Harris to Star in HEDWIG AND THE ANGRY INCH on Broadway - Spring 2014! Update - Michael Mayer Directs

Producer David Binder has just announced that Neil Patrick Harris will star in the Broadway premiere of John Cameron Mitchell and Stephen Trask's musical HEDWIG AND THE ANGRY INCH in the Spring of 2014. The remaining creative team members, additional casting, and the theatre will be confirmed at a later date.

Update 4:30 PM - Tony winner Michael Mayer will direct the production.

The announcement that Neil Patrick Harris will play 'Hedwig,' follows his recent triumphant engagement as the host of the 67th Annual Tony Awards (the highest rated Tonys broadcast in more than a decade).

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."

John Cameron Mitchell who wrote the book and starred in the original stage and film productions of HEDWIG said, "Who better to pass the wig to but the finest entertainer of his generation?" and composer Stephen Trask said, "It's like you're putting together a fantasy rock band and Paul McCartney agrees to play bass."

David Binder, who first produced HEDWIG in 1997 and is now producing the musical on Broadway, said,

"I'm so excited that everything has come into place to bring HEDWIG to Broadway. I have always felt that John and Stephen's musical is a masterpiece and deserved to be seen by wider audiences. Neil Patrick Harris is a consummate stage performer who knows how to rock - there is no one better to play the role of Hedwig on Broadway."

HEDWIG AND THE ANGRY INCH is produced on Broadway by David Binder and Jayne Baron Sherman. 101 Productions, Ltd are the executive producers.

HEDWIG, a musical comedy about a fictional rock and roll band fronted by a transgender singer played by Neil Patrick Harris, began off off Broadway at Westbeth and then 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. Rolling Stone called it "the Best Rock Musical Ever" 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. John Cameron 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.'

BIOGRAPHIES

NEIL PATRICK HARRIS (Hedwig) Equally successful on stage and screen, Neil Patrick Harris currently stars as Barney Stinson in the hit CBS television series, "How I Met Your Mother," a role which has garnered him multiple Emmy and Golden Globe Award nominations. Harris is a three-time Emmy Award winner for his guest-starring role on "Glee" and as host of the 63rd and 65th Annual Tony Awards. He also served as host and producer of the 61st Primetime Emmy Awards, as well as the 66th and 67th Annual Tony Awards. Harris will next host and produce the upcoming 65th Primetime Emmy Awards.

From his film debut opposite Whoopi Goldberg in Clara's Heart and his seminal role as the beloved titular character in "Doogie Howser, M.D.," to his roles in the Harold & Kumar andThe Smurfs franchise films, Harris has enjoyed a successful career spanning more than 25 years in the industry. He is currently in production on the upcoming feature film, A Million Ways to Die in the West, with Seth Macfarlane, Charlize Theron, Liam Neeson, and Amanda Seyfried.

In addition to his numerous film and television credits, Harris has also enjoyed success in the theater. He most recently tackled the leading role of Bobby in the New York Philharmonic's concert version of Stephen Sondheim's Company. Harris has starred in three Broadway productions, including the dual role of The Balladeer/Lee Harvey Oswald in the Tony Award-winning production of Assassins. Harris made his Broadway debut as Anne Heche's unexpected suitor in Proof, and he later starred as the exuberant emcee in Cabaret at Studio 54. Among Harris' other theatrical credits include Amadeus (LA Philharmonic), All My Sons(Geffen Theater), tick, tick...BOOM! (Menier Chocolate Factory), The Paris Letter (Kirk Douglas Theater), Sweeney Todd (San Francisco Symphony Orchestra), Romeo and Juliet(Old Globe Theater), and Rent (Los Angeles touring production).

Harris made his musical directorial debut with a production of Rent at the Hollywood Bowl, and most recently mixed his love of magic and theater in directing Nothing to Hide at the Geffen Theater. He also served as director of I Am Grock (El Portal Theater) and The Expert at the Card Table (Ediburgh Fringe Festival and Broad Stage Theater).

MICHAEL MAYER (Director). Broadway: On a Clear Day You Can See Forever; American Idiot; Everyday Rapture; Spring Awakening (Tony Award Best Musical); Side Man (Tony Award Best Play); A View From the Bridge ( Tony Award Best Revival); Uncle Vanya; 'night Mother; After The Fall; You're A Good Man Charlie Brown; Triumph of Love. Off-Broadway:Spring Awakening, Everyday Rapture, The Illusion, Our House, 10 Million Miles, Antigone in New York, Baby Anger, The Credeaux Canvas, Stupid Kids. Film: A Home at the End of the World, Flicka. Television: Director and consulting producer for the NBC/Dreamworks series "Smash.