Phantom's Hugh Panaro Tapped for Lead in B'way-Bound Lestat

Broadway.com has learned that Hugh Panaro is in negotiations for the lead role of Lestat de Lioncourt in the Broadway-bound musical Lestat.

Panaro is currently starring as the title character in The Phantom of the Opera. He has also played Raoul in the Broadway production of the hit musical. In addition to Phantom, Panaro has appeared on the Great White Way in Showboat, Side Show, The Red Shoes and Les Miserables. His off-Broadway credits include Noa Noa, Wuthering Heights, Children of Eden, What's a Nice Country Like You Doing in a State Like This, the Encores! mounting of Sweet Adeline and Little Fish. Panaro also created the title role in the American premiere of Martin Guerre, which he performed across the country.

Lestat features music by Elton John, lyrics by Bernie Taupin and a book by Linda Woolverton. The tuner, which draws material from three Anne Rice novels Interview With the Vampire, Queen of the Damned and The Vampire Lestat, tells the story of a man who escapes the tyranny of his oppressive family only to have his life taken from him. Thrust into the seductive and sensual world of an immortal vampire, Lestat tries to reconcile his innate sense of good with his primal need to exist.

Directed by Robert Jess Roth, the show will premiere in at San Francisco's Curran Theatre in the winter and is expected to hit Broadway in spring 2006.