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Utah's own Broadway star Will Swenson has another major role in his near future.
Swenson, a Tony nominee for the revival of "Hair" and a star in the "Priscilla, Queen of the Desert" musical, has signed on to the much-anticipated Broadway revival of "Les Miserables" next spring, reports Playbill.
Swenson will play Javert, the rigid lawman who relentlessly pursues the ex-convict Jean Valjean (played here by Ramin Karimloo). Swenson's singing voice is a fair sight better than that of Russell Crowe, who croaked through the role in last year's movie version.
Performances start March 1 at New York's Imperial Theatre, which was home to "Les Miz" for 13 years and 5,244 shows.
Swenson will be busy in the interim. He's scheduled to star in the off-Broadway musical "Little Miss Sunshine," based on the Oscar-winning movie. He's playing the harried dad, played in the movie by Greg Kinnear.
Utah theater fans with a long memory will remember Swenson, a grandson of the legendary Ruth Hale, got his start at the Hale Centre Theatre. (He came back a couple years ago for a fund-raiser, performing "110 in the Shade" with his now-wife, Broadway star Audra McDonald.) Swenson also helped usher in the Mormon Cinema boom a decade ago, as the star of "The Singles Ward."