“Dexter” and “Six Feet Under” star Michael C. Hall will step into the platform boots of the titular East German transgender rocker in Broadway‘s “Hedwig and the Angry Inch,” taking over the lead role in the musical once current topliner Andrew Rannells departs.
He’ll stick with the show through Jan. 4, a schedule that keeps him on the boards through the hugely profitable holiday weeks of Thanksgiving and Christmas. With Broadway traffic boosted by seasonal tourism, producers can hope Hall’s TV profile will help draw out-of-towners to the production that made a splash in the spring as a Tony-winning vehicle for Neil Patrick Harris.
Hall starred on Broadway last season in “The Realistic Joneses” — which didn’t recoup — but he hasn’t appeared in a musical since his stints in “Cabaret” (in 2000) and “Chicago” (in 2002).
With Harris in the lead, “Hedwig” became on of Broadway’s strongest sellers, regularly logging million-dollar weeks even at seven performances a week in one of the Main Stem’s smaller houses. Receipts with Rannells (“The Book of Mormon,” “Girls”) have been more modest but still fairly healthy, with weekly numbers tallying in the $650,000 range.
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Rannells finishes his “Hedwig” gig Oct. 12, ahead of Hall’s first perf in the show Oct. 16. He’ll appear alongside Lena Hall, who won a Tony for her performance as Yitzhak in the musical.
