Taye Diggs returns to Broadway in hit musical 'Hedwig and the Angry Inch'

NEW YORK CITY (WABC) -- Taye Diggs is usually associated with movies and TV shows, but the actor got his start on Broadway. Now, he's headed back, as the latest actor to take on the lead role in the smash hit musical, "Hedwig and the Angry Inch."

Diggs calls himself "a song and dance man," which may come as a bit of a surprise to those who call him a "sex symbol," but the guy who helped Stella get her groove back got his start in the original cast of "Rent" and now goes into a musical revival that earned four Tony awards.

If the role of Hedwig was a change-of-page for the guy who once played Doogie Houser, then the star best-known for playing roles like "The Best Man" and on "Private Practice" seems even further.

Yet Diggs clearly has a softer side.

"Anybody that's close to me knows the He-Man image is a farce," Diggs said. "I'm one of the least He-Man people that are out there."

His new show is about misfits and losers, and Diggs says he can relate.

"People don't normally believe, but I was a big nerd and a bit of an outcast growing up, before I came into the arts," he said. "So this is something that resonates with me."

The tale of a rock singer who started life as a man won a Tony award for Neil Patrick Harris last year, and recent events such as a former Olympian's transformation into Caitlyn Jenner may have made this musical even more relevant now.

"People are going to be pretty taken aback, entertained and educated," Diggs said.

Movie and TV roles have kept Diggs away from the Broadway stage for a decade, and it's been more than 20 years since he starred in "Rent." So after one week of rehearsal, Diggs said he was really feeling that absence.

"At one point, I almost cried in the middle of rehearsal," he said. "It was just so much information."

A return to where he started has come after a break with his past and a divorce from Broadway star Idina Menzel. They continue to raise their 5-year-old son.

"In situations like this, when it can get a little hairy, you know, if the love is there for the child, it kind of balances everything else out," Diggs said.

In fact, the chance to spend time with young Walker Nathanial Diggs in New York City this summer is an extra added bonus for the star, who begins performances on Wednesday, July 22.