Andrew Rannells Talks Playing 'HEDWIG': 'There's A Lot I Can Bring to the Role'

In a new interview with The Hollywood Reporter, Tony nominee Andrew Rannells talks about taking over the lead role in Broadway's Hedwig and the Angry Inch. The actor will be appearing at Broadway's Belasco Theatre through October 12th.

This will not be the first time that the 'Book of Mormon' star has played the role of 'Hedwig.' In 2002, he appeared as the East Berlin rocker at Austin's ZACH Theatre. However, he shares that he is approaching the task a bit differently the second time around. "At 23, I hadn't had that much relationship experience, and now I feel like there's a lot more of that that I can bring to the role," explains the actor, who at 36, is the same age as the show's book writer and original off-Broadway star, John Cameron Mitchell was when he starred in the 1998 production at the Jane Street Theatre.

So far in his run, there have been no major issues as the actor provactively dances above a theatergoer's head in the "Sugar Daddy" number or spits a mouthful of water onto an unsuspecting audience member. "I've been lucky in the past couple of performances that the person hasn't been looking at me!" says Rannells. "But it's a risky moment, and one that makes me a little uncomfortable. ... I don't know how I would receive that!" And does he have a game plan for if a cell phone goes off? "No, I feel like it will just be a slew of profanity. Maybe I'll try to answer."

Read the interview in full here!

Andrew Rannells returns to Broadway in the new production of Hedwig and the Angry Inch, the musical with book by John Cameron Mitchell and music and lyrics by Stephen Trask, directed by Michael Mayer.

HEDWIG AND THE ANGRY INCH was originally produced by David Binder off off Broadway at Westbeth and then, under the direction of Peter Askin, 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 MitchellandStephen Trask won Obies 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. 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.