Neil Patrick Harris talks to the LA Times about his gig directing “Rent” at the Hollywood Bowl

This weekend’s production of Rent at the Hollywood Bowl has been eagerly awaited by many – so much so that there’s a big waiting list for press tickets and I may not be getting a pair.

I hope to see the show anyway if it works with my TV Critics Assn. press tour schedule (the final two days at Friday and Saturday!).

But enough about me, dammit!

The buzz has everything to do with the fact that the show is being directed by Neil Patrick Harris.

NPH (pictured above with cast member Vanessa Hudgens) talked to the Los Angeles Times (I’m sure they got press tickets!) about his directorial gig and his past link to the show – he was part of the cast of the Los Angeles production of the show and I saw him in it!

Oops, no more about me, I promise!

“It’s a show that I listened to consistently for a solid year before I auditioned for it,” Harris told The Times  during a recent break in rehearsals. “Playing Mark, who narrates and observes the show, I watched people’s interpretations of the scenes at every performance. So I have an educated take on what it could be.”

While his main job for the past four years has been playing Barney Stinson of the CBS hit How I Met Your Mother – he’s nominated for an Emmy for the fourth time this year – he has been busy with other projects like guesting on Glee (another Emmy nod), hosting The Emmys and Tonys last year, making movies (the upcoming Harold & Kumar 3 and The Smurfs and the current Cats and Dogs) and much more.
“I’m pretty conscious of being ubiquitous,” he said. “The less one can be pigeonholed in a small box, the more opportunity you have. That comes from having done one role over and over again as a kid.” Harris became a household name when he starred in ABC’s Doogie Howser, M.D. from 1989-1993.

When asked which of his careers he likes best, Harris barely hesitated. “If I could get paid the same amount as my other work, I would do theater,” he said, adding that his dream project is to star in a revival of the musical “Barnum,” about the circus impresario P.T. Barnum.

He jokes: “I must have been a vaudevillian in some previous incarnation.”