"It feels even silly to be talking about the fact that I am going to be a humongous Elton John musical," Stanek told Broadway.com. "He is a legend. To be doing new music of his is pretty cool. I don't know of any other way to say it. This is an amazing opportunity."
Stanek has appeared on Broadway in A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum, The Rivals, Indiscretions and Little Women. His other notable credits include off-Broadway mountings of Captain's Courageous and Saturday Night as well as the pre-Broadway tryout of Thoroughly Modern Millie at La Jolla Playhouse. From July 4 through July 10 he will be seen in I Love You, You're Perfect, Now Change at the Westside Theatre Upstairs. Prior to Lestat, he is also expected to appear in Slut at the American Theatre of Actors.
Lestat features music by Elton John, lyrics by Bernie Taupin and a book by Linda Woolverton. In the tuner, which draws material from three Anne Rice novels Interview With the Vampire, Queen of the Damned and The Vampire Lestat, Stanek will play someone who chose eternal life but cannot stand to suck human blood.
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.