Josh Groban Talks Broadway Inspirations, SUNDAY IN THE PARK WITH GEORGE, and Hoping to Inspire Kids

It's no secret that Josh Groban wants to be the next pop star to hit the Broadway stage.

In a recent interview, the singer revealed that one reason he hopes to star on the Great White Way is to inspire kids just as Bernadette Peters and Mandy Patinkin's performance of SUNDAY IN THE PARK WITH GEORGE inspired Groban.

"[The first Broadway show I saw] was actually Bernadette and Mandy doing Sunday in the Park with George when I was 11 years old. [I remember] just being enamored by it ... And then my parents knew I was hooked and they started taking me to things," Groban recalls. "Just as a kid I was like, 'This is what I want to do!' That or a cowboy." In his album of Broadway covers, "Stages," he actually sings "Finishing the Hat" from SUNDAY IN THE PARK WITH GEORGE.

Groban has of late mentioned that he wants to make his Broadway debut in 2016, as BroadwayWorld previously reported. More specifically, he says that he wants to work with a show from the ground up, rather than play a short stint in a revival (as stars are prone to do these days).

"I'd like to start with something as a workshop. I'd like to start with something brand new," says Groban. "My favorite performances from Mandy Patinkin to Colm Wilkinson to Bernadette Peters, those were roles that they originated... The ultimate dream is to be at the helm of something that's new that can hopefully inspire that 10-year-old that says, 'Oh man, I remember the first time I saw that or heard that.'"

BroadwayWorld's readers seem to want Groban on the stage as much as he does! Earlier this year, we asked readers what roles they want to see Groban portray on Broadway, and together, we came up with a top five list. Check it out here!

Multi-platinum recording artist Josh Groban released his new album "Stages" on April 28th, 2015, via Reprise Records. The album is a collection of some of the greatest musical theater songs of all time

Recorded with producers Humberto Gatica and Bernie Herms in both Los Angeles and London's Abbey Road (with a 75-piece orchestra), Stages features songs from LES MISERABLES ("Bring Him Home"); Rodgers & Hammerstein'sCarousel ("You'll Never Walk Alone"); Stephen Sondheim's Sunday in the Park with George ("Finishing the Hat"), Sweeney Todd ("Not While I'm Around"), and Into the Woods ("Children Will Listen"); The Fantasticks ("Try to Remember"); A Chorus Line ("What I Did For Love"); Andrew Lloyd Weber's Phantom of the Opera ("All I Ask of You"), The Wizard of Oz ("Over the Rainbow"), and others.

Source: Toronto Sun