The sitcom star/award show host led as Mark Cohen in a national tour of the Tony-winning show that ran at the Ahmanson Theatre in 1997. This week, Harris adds another facet to his complex professional persona — musical theater director. His staging of “Rent” at the Hollywood Bowl, beginning Friday for three performances, marks the first time Harris has directed a large-scale stage musical. (His other directing credits include a one-man stage play and an episode of his CBS sitcom “How I Met Your Mother.”) (Liz O. Baylen / Los Angeles Times)
Call her Mel B. Call her Scary Spice. But she was called Mimi Marquez in her Broadway debut in 2004. (Matt Sayles / Associated Press)
Claire Danes‘s “My So-Called Life” confidant played the cross-dressing, AIDS-effected Angel on Broadway and at the Ahmanson. (Angela Weiss / Getty Images for the Pantages Theatre)
Like Dawson, the “Cold Case” star also replaced a Broadway originator in the film version -- this time filling Fredi Walker’s shoes as Joanne Jefferson. (Stefano Paltera / For The Times)
