John Leguizamo to Play Lyceum Theatre on Broadway Starting Feb. 21

John Leguizamo returns to Broadway next year with his new solo play GHETTO KLOWN for a 12-week engagement beginning previews on February 21 and opening on Tuesday March 22 at the Lyceum Theatre (149 West 45th Street).

Conceived and performed by Emmy and Obie Award winner John Leguizamo and directed by Academy Award winner Fisher Stevens, GHETTO KLOWN is presented by Westbeth Entertainment, Daveed D. Frazier and Nelle Nugent.

GHETTO KLOWN is the next chapter in John Leguizamo's hugely popular personal and professional story. It follows in the unabashed, uncensored, and uninhibited tradition of his Mambo Mouth, Spic-O-Rama, Freak, and Sexaholix...a Love Story. In Leguizamo's trademark style, the piece explodes with energy, leading audiences on a fever-pitch adventure and heating up the stage with vivid accounts of where he's been and the colorful characters who have populated his life. Leguizamo takes audiences from his adolescent memories in Queens to the early days of his acting career during the outrageous 80s avant-garde theatre scene, and on to the sets of major motion pictures and his roles opposite some of Hollywood's biggest stars.

Leguizamo explains, "GHETTO KLOWN is all the things I say to my therapist and my manager, but would NEVER want the general public to know. It's cheaper than a lawsuit and I get to take a bow at the end. It's like Wikileaks but with no international manhunt. Yet."

GHETTO KLOWN was showcased in earlier incarnations in cities including Philadelphia, New Haven, Santa Fe, Louisville, La Jolla, Berkeley, Toronto, and at Montreal's Just for Laughs Festival.

John will perform an ‘unplugged' version of the show under the title John Leguizamo Warms Up at Chicago's Royal George Theatre from February 1 - 12.

Multi-faceted performer and Emmy Award winner John Leguizamo's notable career defies categorization. Possessing boundless energy and creativity, Leguizamo's work spans the genres of film, theatre, television, literature and beyond. As writer and performer, Leguizamo created the Off-Broadway sensation Mambo Mouth, in which he portrayed seven different characters (Obie, Outer Critics Circle, Vanguardia Awards). His second one-man show Spic-O-Rama enjoyed extended sold-out runs in Chicago and New York (Dramatists' Guild Hull-Warriner Award for Best American Play, Lucille Lortel Outstanding Achievement Award for Best Broadway Performance, Drama Desk Award for Best Solo Performance). His third solo show Freak completed a successful run on Broadway in 1998. A special presentation of Freak, directed by Spike Lee, aired on HBO (Emmy Award for Outstanding Performance in a Variety or Music Program and nomination for Outstanding Variety, Music or Comedy Special). In Fall 2001 Leguizamo returned to Broadway with Sexaholix...a Love Story, directed by Peter Askin (Outer Critics Circle Award nomination for "Outstanding Solo Performance" and Tony Award nomination for Best Special Theatrical Performance). Sexaholix aired as an HBO Special in Spring 2002 and toured widely. Other stage credits: A Midsummer Night's Dream and La Puta Vida at the New York Shakespeare Festival and Parting Gestures at INTAR. Presently, Leguizamo delights younger fans as the voice of Syd in Ice Age 1, 2 and 3. He has been seen in countless films including Love in the Time of Cholera opposite Javier Bardem and Benjamin Bratt, The Happening opposite Mark Wahlberg, Righteous Kill opposite Robert DeNiro and Al Pacino, The Babysitters opposite Cynthia Nixon and The Take opposite Rosie Perez as well as Miracle at St. Anna, Land of the Dead, The Groomsmen, Lies & Alibis, Assault on Precinct 13, Sueno, Spin, Moulin Rouge, Summer of Sam, King of the Jungle, Spawn, William Shakespeare's Romeo + Juliet, Dr. Doolittle, Carlito's Way and Casualties of War.

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