About Adam Pascal
Adam Pascal is an American actor, singer, and musician, known for his performance as Roger Davis in the original 1996 cast of Jonathan Larson's musical Rent on Broadway, the 2005 movie version of the musical, and the Broadway tour of Rent in 2009. He is also known for originating the role of Radames in Elton John and Tim Rice's Aida, for playing the Emcee in the 1998 revival of Cabaret, for playing Freddie Trumper in Chess at the New Amsterdam Theatre and Royal Albert Hall, and for playing Huey Calhoun in the Broadway company of Memphis. More recently, he played William Shakespeare in the Tony Award-winning musical Something Rotten!
Pascal was born in The Bronx, New York, and grew up in Woodbury, Nassau County, New York, with his mother, Wendy , and stepfather, Mel Seamon. He was raised Jewish. He graduated from Syosset High School. He then graduated from New York Institute of Technology. Before his interest in music, he was a personal trainer. Although he began as a rock musician playing in a number of bands formed with his schoolmates, Pascal became drawn to musical theater.
A friend of his from high school mentioned Rent to him. On a whim, he auditioned and was cast as the HIV-positive rock guitarist Roger Davis. His powerful tenor voice and his performance in Rent earned him a Tony nomination, a Theater World award, and an Obie Award. He left the show on November 2, 1997, but went on to reprise Roger when Rent opened in London.
The role helped Pascal gain fame on Broadway, and he was cast in the Elton John and Tim Rice musical Aida as the Egyptian general Radames with the original and final casts , and Kander and Ebb's Cabaret, appearing in the show as the Emcee . He also participated in several charity performances, including Chess in 2003 , Hair in 2004 , and the 24 Hour Plays in 2005. He returned to Aida in 2004 to close the run of the show as Radames.
Along with original Broadway Rent cast member Anthony Rapp , Pascal returned to Broadway to star as Roger in Rent from July 30 to October 7, 2007. In January 2009, he and Rapp reprised their originating roles as Roger and Mark in Rent: The Broadway Tour, which played in many cities in North America, as well as stops in Japan and South Korea. At the tour's Detroit, Michigan stop in February, Pascal suffered two herniated discs in his neck and was on medical leave for a week. His role was filled in by Cary Shields, who had played "Roger" in the Broadway, Canadian, "Benny" National Tour productions. Pascal made a full recovery and finished up the tour in early 2010. This tour closed on February 7, 2010.
Pascal reprised the role of Frederick Trumper, aka "Freddie, The American" in the London concert version of Chess at the Royal Albert Hall on May 12–13, 2008. His Rent and Aida co-star Idina Menzel played Florence. This performance was recorded; it has been televised, first on American and British television on June 17, 2009, and repeatedly in America on PBS stations as part of that network's "Great Performances" series; and has been released on DVD.
Pascal joined the Broadway cast of Memphis on October 25, 2011, as Huey Calhoun. He replaced original cast member Chad Kimball in the role. He remained in the Memphis cast until the show's closure on August 5, 2012.
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