Audiences around the country will soon be visited by American Idol and Grease alum Taylor Hicks, who will reprise his role as Teen Angel in the show's new national tour, which launches December 2, 2008, at Rhode Island's Providence Performing Arts Center. Hicks, in his Broadway debut, recently concluded a three-month stint in the role at the Brooks Atkinson Theatre. No other casting for the tour of director Kathleen Marshall's production has been set.
A Birmingham, Alabama, native, Hicks is best known for beating out American Idol contendor Katharine McPhee for the title prize during the fifth season of the popular talent competition. A longtime soul and blues musician, he boasts a Gold debut single, “Do I Make You Proud,” and subsequent platinum album. Hicks joined the cast of Grease on June 6, and played his last performance with the Broadway cast on September 7.
Following its Rhode Island debut, the national tour of Grease will make stops over the next six months in East Lansing, MI; Columbus, OH; Minneapolis, MN; Chicago, IL ; Cincinnati, OH; Baltimore, MD ; Tucson, AZ; San Diego, CA ; Los Angeles, CA ; San Francisco, CA ; Portland, OR ; Costa Mesa, CA and Seattle, WA.
