For the first time, he is originating a stage role, as the title character in "Dear Evan Hansen," a darkly poignant show about an awkward high school student whose social standing is transformed by a mushrooming lie.
"Angelika Kirchschlager: Handel Arias" (Sony/BMG) — The glamorous Austrian mezzo-soprano, known for her mastery of lieder and for originating the title role in Nicholas Maw's opera "Sophie's Choice," turns her melting voice to a variety of dazzling works by the doyen of Baroque opera; Laurence Cummings and the Kammerorchester Basel provide excellent support.
You may remember that "Butley," Simon Gray's painfully astringent comedy about the emotional and psychic disintegration of an English literature professor, provided such a role for Alan Bates, who originated the title character on a London stage in 1971, did a reprise on Broadway in 1972 and played it again on screen in a 1974 film.
The blonde, ever-smiling Henderson was already a Broadway star when the show began, having originated the title role in the musical "Fanny".
Sarver claimed he originated the title of the film; however, the title is a decades-old colloquialism for being injured, as in "they sent him to the hurt locker".
Before moving to Los Angeles five years ago, he originated the title role in Thom Pain (Based on nothing), receiving a Drama Desk nomination for his performance.
The playwright, however, did not originate this title.
"Saigon" has been performed in six other countries, and a new production will open in the Philippines next month, starring Lea Salonga, who originated the title role on Broadway.
His work includes the play "Talk," and he originated the title role in Robert Wilson and Bernice Johnson Reagon's opera, "The Temptation of St. Anthony".
But for international ballet star Diana Vishneva, the Mariinsky principal dancer who originated the title role and will perform on opening night at the Music Center, that hard-edged approach is exactly the ballet's point.
"A Hand Is on the Gate" moved in 1966 to the Longacre Theater from the New York Shakespeare Festival, where it originated under the title "An Evening of Poetry and Folk Music of American Negroes".
