Musical Theatre

“Tick, Tick ... Boom!” has long been a passion project for Neil Patrick Harris. He’d been offered the lead in an off-Broadway staging of Jonathan Larson’s autobiographical musical, but film commitments prevented him from playing the part until its London premiere, in 2005.

Now he rekindles his relationship with the show by the composer of “Rent,” in a different role: as director of the concert version of “Tick, Tick ... Boom!” that launches the Kennedy Center’s Broadway Center Stage season in January.

“I’ve always loved how the alchemy of different performers and their processes, and different designers coming together, create a singular voice,” Harris said in a phone interview. “I always am interested as an actor in how I fit in a larger piece, rather than just being myopic, or my being a singularity.”

The actor-director said he has some ideas about what his new “Tick, Tick ... Boom!” will look like, and about the questions the musical addresses, regarding an artist’s choices between craft or commerce. “It’s the dream job,” he said of assuming the director’s chair. “And I do spend a lot of my time questioning what I should or shouldn’t be doing.”