Philip Casnoff

Philip Casnoff (born August 3, 1949 in Philadelphia) is an American actor, known for his roles in TV series and on Broadway. He has also been a director.

Casnoff began his career touring in the 1972–73 national company of Godspell where he understudied Jesus and Judas. He was cast as understudy for the title role in the 1976 Broadway production of Rockabye Hamlet, a rock musical version of Shakespeare's play, but the show closed after only seven performances.

In 1988, Casnoff starred as Freddie Trumper, an arrogant American professional chess player in the short-lived Broadway production of the musical Chess and received warm reviews for his performance. "Remarkably fine", wrote New York Post, "does justice to the role", commented New York Daily News, "wonderful singing", mentioned The New Yorker. It brought Casnoff the Theater World Award for Best Debut Performance.

Casnoff created the lead role of John Blackmore in the Shogun: The Musical (1990), based on the popular book and miniseries by James Clavell. During the previews of the show, he suffered minor injury when struck by a piece of scenery but quickly recuperated and returned to the performances after just one day-off. The production, unfortunately, survived only for 12 previews and 72 performances, but Casnoff received a lot of critical acclaim. "Mr. Casnoff had the swaggering self-assurance of a star in complete command of a vast production", wrote Frank Rich in The New York Times.

He returned to Broadway as Billy Flynn in the musical Chicago on January 15, 2007, succeeding Huey Lewis in the role and stayed with the production through March 25, 2007.

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