Brent Barrett

Brent Barrett, born February 28, 1957, in Quinter, Kansas, is an American actor and tenor whose career has spanned Broadway, the West End, national tours, opera houses, symphony orchestras, and concert halls across the United States and internationally. The youngest of three children, Barrett began his undergraduate studies at Fort Hays State University in 1974 as a vocal performance major before transferring to Carnegie Mellon University in 1976 to study musical theatre. While completing his degree, he gained professional experience with the Pittsburgh Civic Light Opera during the 1978 and 1979 seasons, performing in productions that included Half a Sixpence, Camelot, Cabaret, Funny Girl, Good News, and The Red Mill, among others.

Barrett's Broadway career began in 1980 when Jerome Robbins cast him as Diesel in the revival of Leonard Bernstein's West Side Story. Before the production closed, he assumed the role of Tony for the final three months of the run. He completed his degree that same year. In 1981, he played Whizzer in the Off-Broadway production of March of the Falsettos at the Westside Arts Theater. The following year brought two Off-Broadway roles: the title character in Des McAnuff's The Death of Von Richthofen as Witnessed From Earth at the Joseph Papp Public Theater, and the lead in Howard Marren's Portrait of Jennie at the Henry Street Settlement's New Federal Theater. Barrett returned to Broadway in 1983 as Charles Castleton in Alan Jay Lerner's Dance a Little Closer. That same year he was cast in the recurring role of Tony Barclay on the soap opera All My Children, appearing in multiple episodes through 1984.

In 1985, Barrett portrayed Lieutenant Cable in the national tour of Rodgers and Hammerstein's South Pacific. The following year he appeared as Eddie Yeager in the Off-Broadway revival of Arthur Laurents's The Time of the Cuckoo at the York Theatre at St. Peter's. In 1988 he played R. Daneel Olivaw in Robots, a television film based on Isaac Asimov's Robot series. In 1989 he was part of the original cast of Richard Maltby, Jr. and David Shire's Closer Than Ever at the Cherry Lane Theatre, a production that ran for 312 performances and was recorded on the RCA Victor label.

Barrett had a small role in the 1990 film Longtime Companion. That same year he joined the original Broadway cast of Grand Hotel, replacing David Carroll as Baron Felix Von Gaigern six months into the production's run. The timing placed Barrett in the role during the 44th Tony Awards telecast, even as Carroll held the nomination for the part. Delays in completing the cast recording resulted in Barrett being featured on the album as well. He subsequently reprised the Baron for the original West End production of Grand Hotel in 1992 and for the show's international tour.

In 1993, Barrett toured the United States as Frank Butler opposite Cathy Rigby's Annie in Irving Berlin's Annie Get Your Gun. The following year he appeared as Victor Duchesi in the original production of the Sherman Brothers's Busker Alley, a show that had been scheduled for Broadway but never reached it. In 1996 he played Tommy Albright opposite Rebecca Luker in the New York City Opera's production of Brigadoon, and that same year portrayed Archibald in Lucy Simon's The Secret Garden on tour throughout New Zealand. He also appeared as Uris in an episode of Hercules: The Legendary Journeys in 1996.

Barrett returned to Broadway in 1997 to play Maximilian in the revival of Bernstein's Candide. In 1998 he portrayed Billy Flynn in the national tour of Chicago, earning a Los Angeles Drama Critics Circle Award for the performance, and in 1999 he brought the same role to the Broadway revival for several months. In 2000 he played Edward Moncrief in the New York City Center Encores! revival of On a Clear Day You Can See Forever alongside Kristin Chenoweth. Early in 2001 he returned to Broadway to replace Patrick Cassidy as Frank Butler in the revival of Annie Get Your Gun, this time opposite Reba McEntire. Later that year he was cast as Fred Graham in the West End revival of Cole Porter's Kiss Me, Kate, which also starred Marin Mazzie and later Rachel York as Lilli Vanessi. The performance earned Barrett a Laurence Olivier Award nomination, and the production was recorded for broadcast on PBS's Great Performances and released on DVD.

In 2002, Barrett played Sid Sorokin in the City Center Encores! revival of The Pajama Game and Billy Crocker in Anything Goes at UCLA's Freud Playhouse in Los Angeles. On New Year's Day 2003 he performed in a concert of Kurt Weill music with the Berlin Philharmonic under conductor Simon Rattle. That year he also portrayed Arthur in Camelot at the Paper Mill Playhouse in Millburn, New Jersey, and returned to Broadway as Billy Flynn in the Chicago revival, remaining in the production through 2004. In 2005 he appeared as Brian the Set Designer in the film version of The Producers, rejoined the Broadway cast of Chicago as Billy Flynn, and performed at the New York Festival of Song at Carnegie Hall in a concert honoring Hal Prince. In 2006 he took on the title role in Andrew Lloyd Webber's The Phantom of the Opera for the production at The Venetian Resort in Las Vegas, directed by Hal Prince.

Barrett rejoined the Broadway cast of Chicago as Billy Flynn on July 7, 2009, appearing alongside Samantha Harris. He returned to the production again from February 7 through June 19, 2011, with a brief interruption during which Christopher Sieber temporarily assumed the role. During part of that engagement, Barrett starred opposite Christie Brinkley in her Broadway debut. Five days after departing Chicago in June 2011, he began starring as Hannibal Lecter in SILENCE! The Musical, an unauthorized parody of The Silence of the Lambs, directed and choreographed by Christopher Gattelli at 80 St. Marks Place. The show extended beyond its initial limited engagement, and Barrett appears on the original cast recording.

Barrett starred as Captain Hook in the American tour of Peter Pan opposite Cathy Rigby, with whom he had previously appeared in Annie Get Your Gun. He was announced to reprise the title role in the Oberhausen production of The Phantom of the Opera in November 2015, though an injury sustained during rehearsals postponed his run to early 2016. In June and July 2016, he played Georges in La Cage aux Folles at the Signature Theatre in Arlington, Virginia. In June 2018 he joined the cast of Cocktail Cabaret at Caesar's Palace for a limited engagement. Barrett lives in Las Vegas with his husband, Bernie Blanks.