K-Pop Crossover: David Bowie, Carly Rae Jepsen, Linda Ronstadt Top Our List Of Pop Stars Who Made It On Broadway

On Wednesday it was announced that Jo Kwon, frontman of the K-pop boy band 2AM, will get a chance to show his dramatic range this summer with a lead role in a Seoul production of the popular musical "Priscilla, Queen of the Desert."

But pop stars taking musical theater roles is nothing new. Here is our list of five pop stars that have found major success on a different stage.

5. Cyndi Lauper, Kinky Boots

Cyndi Lauper, she's so unusual. She's also very funny. Just watch an old "Mad About You" episode. Cyndi and Harvey Fierstein, who's pretty funny himself, co-wrote the musical "Kinky Boots"  based on the 2005 movie of the same name. "Kinky Boots" is about a shoe factory's young that's saved by a drag queen who helps in its transformation into a specialty store for other drag queens. Kinky Boots premiered at the Bank of America Theatre in Chicago in October 2012. It made its Broadway debut at the Al Hirschfeld Theatre on April 4, 2013.  The musical pulled in 13 Tony nominations and 6 wins. Why did Cyndi do it? At the time she said "Look, they don't break your balls that much here. Know what I'm saying? They don't friggin' aggravate you as much." If the shoe fits.

4. Carly Rae Jepsen in 'Cinderella'

We first heard about this from a celebrity Twitter feud when Sarah Hyland expressed her exasperation that Carly Rae Jepsen was taking over the lead role in Rodgers & Hammerstein's Cinderella back on February 4, 2014. But Jepson wasn't gate-crashing the Great White Way as a new celebrity pop star, she'd been preparing for it her whole life. Jepson gushed "Broadway has been a dream of mine since I was a little girl... My favorite part of the school year was our trip to New York, where we met Broadway performers and toured the theaters."  The show, which co-stars Fran Drescher, is still running.

3. Green Day, American Idiot

Billie Joe Armstrong was very mad at then-President George Bush when he wrote the song cycle that would become the rock opera CD American Idiot. All that rage against the machine mixed with his naturally melodic mind put that record over and New York City, where punk began, gave it a home. "American Idiot" opened at the Berkeley Repertory Theatre in 2009 and then hit Broadway. Previews began at the St. James Theatre on March 24, 2010 and 422 performances later (Sorry Green Day aficionados, it should have been 420) the show closed on April 24, 2011. Green Day didn't play, they hired actors and musicians and watched from the audience, but every now and then Billie Joe Armstrong would take on the role of "St. Jimmy." It won two Tony Awards in 2010 and was nominated for Best Musical. American Idiot also pulled a Grammy Award for Best Musical Show Album.

2. David Bowie, The Elephant Man

David Bowie was a chameleon. He studied acting and was a mime for a time before he hit the studio. Bowie had already played an alien in the film "The Man Who Fell To Earth," when he took over the lead in The Elephant Man on Broadway at The Booth Theatre. There is no full film footage of Bowie's performance only snippets but Critics loved Bowie's portrayal of the twisted but not broken John Merrick. Joseph Merrick, the real life elephant man, lived in the Victorian era. The Elephant Man was written by Bernard Pomerance. Besides Bowie, Merrick played by David Schofield, Bruce Davison, and Mark Hamill. None of the actors used prosthetic makeup in the role. They just acted it.

1. Linda Ronstadt, Pirates of Penzance

Linda Ronstadt, who was just inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, defies genre. Her pipes fit country, rock, Latin music and, for one bright shining moment in the 1980s, Broadway. Linda Ronstadt was nominated for a Tony Award for her performance in The Pirates of Penzance. At the time, rock artists didn't play Broadway, but with Nelson Riddle in charge of the music, how could it lose? It didn't. The Joseph Papp production opened in Central Park before it became a smash hit on Broadway. It now is part of Ronstadt's legend. 

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Linda Ronstadt
David Bowie
K-Pop Crossover
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