Here's Your First Look At Taye Diggs in the Title Role in 'Hedwig and the Angry Inch'
Taye Diggs will return to Broadway this summer in "Hedwig and the Angry Inch," the 2014 Tony Award winning Best Musical Revival. Diggs will play the title role in the acclaimed musical for a limited 12-week engagement, starting on Wednesday, July 22 at the Belasco Theatre (111 West 44th Street).
"Hedwig" will mark Diggs’ first New York stage role since the 2005 revival of "A Soldier’s Play."
Darren Criss will play his final performance as Hedwig on Sunday, July 19.
"Hedwig and the Angry Inch" is a musical comedy that tells the story of a fictional rock 'n' roll band, fronted by Hedwig, a transgender woman and “internationally ignored song stylist” from East Berlin.
"Hedwig and the Angry Inch," with book by John Cameron Mitchell and music and lyrics by Stephen Trask, directed by Michael Mayer, also stars Rebecca Naomi Jones as Yitzhak.
The production has received rave reviews and is winner of four 2014 Tony Awards and won Best Musical Revival by the Tony Awards, the Drama Desk Awards, Drama League Awards, and Outer Critics Circle Awards. The Grammy nominated Original Broadway Cast album for "Hedwig and the Angry Inch" is available from Atlantic Records.
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.
Taye Diggs is currently starring in the second season of Steven Bochco’s crime drama “Murder in the First,” which premiered on June 8 on TNT.
He made his Broadway debut in 1994 in the Tony Award-winning revival of "Carousel." Soon after, he landed the role of Benny in in the landmark musical "Rent," a role he recreated in the 2005 film version. Diggs other New York stage credits include "Chicago," "Wicked," and Andrew Lippa’s "The Wild Party."
"Hedwig is the role of a lifetime. I'm looking forward to being challenged performance-wise on many levels, as well as being humbled by the musical's social implications," Diggs toled PEOPLE, adding: "I also like wearing nail polish."
Source: Article by Tambay A. Obenson in Shadow and Act
