Tony Award Winner Geoffrey Rush Takes a Seat in The Drowsy Chaperone

Tony Award winner Geoffrey Rush, who wowed Broadway audiences from his throne in last season's Exit the King, will be seated onstage again shortly. The powerhouse has been cast in the Australian premiere of hit musical The Drowsy Chaperone as Man in Chair, the show's narrating musical theater guru. The production, helmed by Simon Philips, will kick off the Melbourne Theater Company's 2010 season on a date to be announced in January.

The Drowsy Chaperone is the first of two big Australian stage engagements for Rush; Exit the King director Neil Armfield's revival of Gogol's Diary of a Madman, which will be produced by Sydney's Company B, will also star the actor in December.

Rush earned an Oscar for his performance in the 1996 movie Shine and was nominated for 1998’s Shakespeare in Love and Quills in 2000. He won a Golden Globe in 2004 for starring in HBO’s The Life and Death of Peter Sellers. His other notable film credits include Oscar and Lucinda, Elizabeth, Frida, Munich, Finding Nemo, Elizabeth: The Golden Age and the blockbuster Pirates of the Caribbean trilogy. Onstage, Rush has worked frequently in his native Australia as both an actor and director since 1972, covering everything from Shakespeare to Chekhov to Mamet.

The Drowsy Chaperone opened on Broadway on May 1, 2007, with Tony-winning book writer Bob Martin doing double duty as Man in Chair. The musical ran for 674 performances, closing on December 30, 2007.