Sills, Douglas Howard ²

  General Notes:

Born in Detroit, Michigan, he grew up in the suburb of Franklin, wher e he was friends (and did amateur theatrics and films) with both Sam R aimi and Bruce Campbell. Sills attended Cranbrook School, from whic h he graduated in 1978, and the University of Michigan where he majore d in music. He then continued his education at the American Conservat ory Theatre in California.

During the 1990s, Sills built a solid reputation as a stage characte r actor, especially in the professional theaters of southern Californi a. He also performed in several national tours, including Into The Wo ods and The Secret Garden (musical), which would also feature future B roadway stars as James Stacy Barbour and Audra McDonald. His first Br oadway role, however, came when composer Frank Wildhorn and lyricist N an Knighton arrived in hopes of finding a male lead for their new musi cal, The Scarlet Pimpernel (musical). Before this audition, Sills tol d his agent not to send him out on any more auditions because he was g oing to law school; he scored in the 99th percentile on the Law Schoo l Admissions Test (LSAT) so he could make a stable living. However, b eing a fan of the movie as a child, Sills decided to give acting one m ore chance. Luckily, the casting directors cast Sills as Sir Percy Bl akeney, the lead role. Douglas Sills opened on his first Broadway sho w on November 9, 1997. Continuing the role in three other versions o f the show. Sills received a Tony Award nomination for his role. H e portrayed the foppish hero in SP 1.0 (The Original Broadway Producti on, starring Terrence Mann, Christine Andreas & Gilles Chiason), SP 2. 0 (Revised Broadway Production, starring Rachel York & Rex Smith), an d was seen for several months in the National Tour (4.0). Although ru mored to play the title role of Wildhorn's Dracula, the musical, Sill s opted out (despite doing a recording demo), and rather Tom Hewitt po rtrayed the gothic character at the premiere at the La Jolla Playhous e in 2001. He has also played Orin Scrivello, as well as several othe r roles in the 2003 Broadway revival cast of Little Shop of Horrors (m usical).

In 2004, Sills joined the Broadway-aimed Chicago production of Monty P ython's Spamalot. However, before the production even began, Sills le ft on his own account due to reported "major script changes." In ear ly 2005, production plans were announced for Wildhorn's new musical "C yrano de Bergerac," from the same team that helped launch his career w ith The Scarlet Pimpernel (musical). The role was written specificall y for Sills in the title role. However, plans were scraped suddenly i n Spring 2006, and no reason was given for the production's demise . A studio-concept recording was planned to be released, starring Sil ls, Linda Eder and Rob Evan, but plans also quickly fell through.

In 2009, Sills starred opposite Kristin Chenoweth at the New York Cit y Center's production of Music in the Air, a long-forgotten Kern-Hamer stein project from the 1930s. The concert-style version ran from Febr uary 5 until February 8.

  Noted events in his life were:

• Birth in Week. Tuesday

• Hebrew name. ² Yehezkiel

• Jewish Birth Date. 10 Tammuz 5720