Adam Pascal born October 25, is an American actor, singer, and musician, known for his performance as Roger Davis in the original Broadway and West End productions of Jonathan Larson 's musical Rent , the movie version of the musical , and the Broadway tour of Rent in Although he began as a rock musician playing in a number of bands such as Mute formed with his schoolmates, Pascal became drawn to musical theater.
A friend of his from high school Idina Menzel's boyfriend at the time mentioned Rent to him. 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, , 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 [ 7 ] former Rent castmate Idina Menzel would co-star as Amneris in , and Kander and Ebb's Cabaret , appearing in the show as the Emcee closing cast.
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. Pascal made a full recovery and finished up the tour in early He replaced original cast member Chad Kimball in the role. He remained in the Memphis cast until the show's closure on August 5, His last performance as Billy was June 16, In late , Pascal began performances as Edward Lewis in the U.
On November 4, , it was announced that Pascal will be joining the off-Broadway musical, Drag: The Musical as the token straight man, Tom Hutchinson.
Pascal believed he was looked upon solely as a Broadway singer, and thus returned to his rock and roll roots with a solo recording contract on Sh-K-Boom Records , which was founded by his Aida costar, Sherie Rene Scott and her husband Kurt Deutsch. He sang during the traditional fireworks display. He also performed in both the fifth- and tenth-anniversary celebrations of Rent on Broadway, in and , respectively. Pascal formed the band "Me and Larry Edoff " in The two musicians began composing and performing original material and reworked Broadway songs in small venues throughout the US.
