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NEW YORK (AP) — As Brendon Urie readies to make his Broadway debut Friday night in "Kinky Boots," the Panic! At the Disco frontman expressed condolences to the victims of the deadly attack at a concert in England, vowing never to give in to terror.
"I want to make it known that I'm never going to stop doing what I do because people choose to terrorize arts. It only pushes me to want to do better," Urie said Wednesday at the Al Hirschfeld Theatre.
Urie takes over the role of Charlie Price for a 10-week run in the popular musical about a staid British shoe factory on the brink of ruin that retrofits itself into a maker of footwear for drag queens. Urie will appear in the show through Aug. 6.
After wrapping up the tour for the band's fifth studio album, "Death of a Bachelor," Urie started rehearsals for "Kinky Boots." He quickly realized that performing on Broadway stage eight shows a week was not the same as playing concerts.
"This is a different animal. It's got a different energy to it. Backstage I guess muscle memory takes over more with my band. And this one, I'm still learning. I'm still growing accustomed to certain moves and certain feels. But it's a living breathing thing," he said.
Urie plans to use some of the Broadway tricks he's learning about choreography and performance when he leads Panic! on its next tour.
"There are aspects of this that I thought I was doing with Panic!, but now doing it for real it's come clear to me that I need to step it up even more, and that's exciting," Urie said.
He hopes his stint on Broadway can entertain, uplift and provide people with an escape, particularly after the deaths Monday of 22 people at a concert in Manchester, England.
"I want to prove that art is what saves in times of tragedy. So being able to push and do something like this — it's not only therapeutic for me, but I hope it's cathartic in a way for people to feel that they can feel free in a place, and explore that emotion."
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Online: http://www.kinkybootsthemusical.com
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