Josh Groban realizes an impossible dream: Making a killer impression on Broadway
Broadway has long welcomed celebrity interlopers, but it's hard to think of anyone with the star power of recording artist Josh Groban who has been as wholly embraced by the theater community.
He may have sold more than 26 million albums and performed in the most hallowed concert halls on the planet, but when he's cast in a musical, he becomes just another hardworking member of the company — albeit one with screaming fans in the audience and autograph hounds outside the stage door.
Groban was nominated for a Tony Award for his Broadway debut performance in "Natasha, Pierre & the Great Comet of 1812," playing the corpulent, alcoholic Pierre in Dave Malloy's inventive musical spun from a slice of Leo Tolstoy's "War and Peace." Donning a fat suit and an accordion that he learned to play just for the role, Groban dove into his character so completely that he refused to clean up Pierre's scraggly beard even (to his management team's chagrin) when making holiday media appearances during the Broadway run.
His latest theatrical challenge is his most fearsome yet. Groban stars in the new production of "Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street," playing the murderous title role opposite , Sweeney's partner in crime who comes up with a culinary
