Photo Flash: Original Hannibal Lecter Brent Barrett Visits SILENCE! The Musical

Brent Barrett, SILENCE! The Musical's original Hannibal Lecter, returned to check out the show this past Saturday, May 19th and reunited with his old friends afterward. See below for a photo of Barrett and the cast!

Brent Barrett has starred in Broadway in Chicago, Annie Get Your Gun (opposite Reba McEntire), Grand Hotel, West Side Story, and Candide. Brent received an Olivier nomination for his performance in the London company of Kiss Me, Kate (filmed for PBS) and he played a two-year stint in the title role of Phantom – The Las Vegas Spectacular. On June 1st, Brent will open in the 2012 national tour of Peter Pan at California's La Mirada Theatre as Captain Hook opposite Cathy Rigby.

Winner of the 2012 Off Broadway Alliance Award for Best Musical, SILENCE! The Musical is the unauthorized parody of The Silence of the Lambs, with book by Hunter Bell, music & lyrics by Jon and Al Kaplan, and direction & choreography by Christopher Gattelli. After opening on July 9, 2011, the show immediately became a sold-out phenomenon and was selected by Time Magazine as one of the year's Top 5 Musicals.

In the Academy Award-winning film The Silence of the Lambs, rookie FBI agent Clarice Starling matches wits with the brilliant but insane cannibal, Dr. Hannibal Lecter, to catch the serial killer known only as Buffalo Bill.Clarice faces her own demons while racing the clock to unlock Lecter's clues before another innocent girl is killed and skinned by Buffalo Bill. The laugh-out-loud wicked satire, SILENCE! The Musical,features a singing chorus of floppy eared lambs narrating the action as Buffalo Bill gleefully dances a hoedown while kidnapping hapless Catherine Martin. Even Dr. Lecter, scary as ever, sings about the life he'd like to lead someday outside the prison walls.

David Garrison (Hannibal Lecter),Jenn Harris (Clarice Starling) and Stephen Bienskie (Buffalo Bill) currently head the cast of SILENCE! The Musical, which also features Callan Bergmann, Harry Bouvy, Ashlee Dupré, Annie Funke, Deidre Goodwin, Howard Kaye, Topher Nuccio, Pamela Bob and Doug Trapp. Music Supervisor is Mark Hartman, with orchestrations by Brian J. Nash.

Created by Jon and Al Kaplan in 2002, SILENCE! began as a collection of songs on the internet which immediately attracted a staggering number of fans. The Kaplans' subsequent screenplay SILENCE! The Musical was adapted by Hunter Bell into a live stage show, which also featured newly composed songs by the brothers. SILENCE! played at the 2005 FringeNYC Festival, winning the award for Best Musical. SILENCE! The Musical met with further success in London at the Above The Stag Theatre.

A long list of luminaries have turned up in the audience at the hit show over the past few months including Jodie Foster, Matt Bomer (twice!), Joan Rivers, Jonathan Demme, Kelly Ripa, James Earl Jones, Josh Groban, T.R. Knight , Jonathan Groff, Justin Kirk, Neil Simon, Corbin Bleu, Lisa Lampanelli, Willie Garson, Mario Cantone, Erin Cummings, Stephen Schwartz, David LaChapelle, Steven Pasquale, Jeremy Jordan, James Lapine, John Kander, Chita Rivera, Georgia Engel, John Rando, Cady Huffman, Christian Campbell, Seth Rudetsky, Eden Espinosa, Telly Leung, Reed Birney, Charlotte d'Amboise, Andrew Keenan-Bolger, Carol Woods, and Anthony Heald.

SILENCE! The Musical is produced Off-Broadway by Theater Mogul. The playing schedule is Wednesday through Saturday evenings at 8 PM, and Sundays at 3 & 7 PM at The 9th Space Theatre at Performance Space 122, 150 First Avenue (at 9th St.). Running time is 87 minutes with no intermission. Tickets are $25 - $79 and are available by calling 212-352-3101 or through www.SilenceTheMusical.com.

Photo credit: Ritchard Druther

Brent Barrett (center) with the SILENCE! THE MUSICAL Company