Shuler Hensley, the American actor lauded for his work in the Royal National Theatre revival of Oklahoma! in London in 1999, will make his Broadway debut as the new Javert in Les Miserables beginning Oct. 31, a week later than the Oct. 24 date originally announced.
Hensley's brooding but humane portrayal of Jud Fry in the Trevor Nunn staging of Rodgers and Hammerstein's Oklahoma! won him the Olivier Award.
The Marietta, GA, native trained at the Curtis Institute of Music. His musical theatre roles have included the title character of The Phantom of the Opera in Hamburg, Germany, the Sergeant in TheatreVirginia's The Pirates of Penzance, Joe in The Most Happy Fella at Skylight Opera Theatre in Milwaukee, Pitkin in North Shore Music Theatre's On the Town, among others.
Gregg Edelman exited Les Miserables, at the Imperial Theatre, Oct. 8. Hensley — playing the obsessed police inspector — joins J. Mark McVey (Valjean), Jane Bodle (Fantine), Nick Wyman (Thenardier) Betsy Joslyn (Mdme. Thenardier) and Catherine Brunell (Eponine). Ensemble members David McDonald and Paul Truckey have been rotating as Javert since Oct. 8.
Les Miserables, the 3-hour-and-15-minute epic based on the Victor Hugo novel about love in the midst of social injustice, is now the longest running show currently playing on Broadway. For ticket information, call (212) 239-6200. — By Kenneth Jones