Campbell to Replace Harris in London's tick, tick... BOOM!

Broadway.com has learned that Christian Campbell will replace Neil Patrick Harris as the star of Jonathan Larson's tick, tick… BOOM! at London's Menier Chocolate Factory. Campbell is scheduled to begin performances in the show on July 10 and continue through the show's limited engagement is completed on September 17.

"I really just love this show so much," Campbell, who previously starred in a U.S. tour of tick, tick… BOOM!, told Broadway.com. "It's great to be going back to it. But it's also strange--three years ago I did it with [tour co-stars] Wilson [Cruz] and Nicky [Snelson], and they became like my family. Now to adjust to having to do it with new people is bizarre but also cool."

Campbell starred in both the Los Angeles and off-Broadway mountings of Reefer Madness and recently reprised the role of Jimmy for the Showtime film version of the tuner. In addition to that show and tick, tick… BOOM!, Campbell's theatrical credits include Nagasaki Dust, Der Ritter Von Mirakel and A Clockwork Orange. He is perhaps best known for his performance in the film Trick. His other notable credits include the television series The Street and a recurring role on the soap opera All My Children.

Larson who died in 1996 developed tick, tick… BOOM! as a one-man vehicle for himself. The plot concerns a struggling songwriter trying to deal with turning 30 having not yet succeeded in musical theater. Proof scribe David Auburn later reworked the script, adding two primary characters: girlfriend Susan and best friend Michael.

The show began performances at the Menier Chocolate Factory on May 31 with Cassidy Janson and Tee Jay appearing alongside Harris. Harris is leaving tick, tick… BOOM! to return to America and begin filming the CBS comedy How I Met Your Mother. Both Janson and Jay are expected to remain through the end of the show's run.