Neil Patrick Harris: Emmy host on inching into ‘Hedwig’s’ heels

Neil Patrick Harris is unsteady about stepping into “Hedwig’s” heels.

“I’m not a real draggy person,” the actor told The Times during a recent video interview. “I love ‘RuPaul’s Drag [Race].’ I watch it a ton, but I watch it like, ‘I can’t imagine how you would do it.’”

Harris will soon get his chance: Producers announced in June that the four-time Tony host will return to Broadway in “Hedwig and the Angry Inch,” John Cameron Mitchell’s tale of a transgender glam-rocker.

While Harris said he’d been “circling” the musical for a while, it will take time to wrap his body around the gender-bending title role.

PHOTOS: Hollywood stars on stage

“It’s beyond drag,” said Harris, who’s been playing the manly Barney Stinson on “How I Met Your Mother” for almost a decade. “You have to be so comfortable in your skin as Hedwig, and I have no idea how to accomplish that yet.

“I can’t imagine what I’ll look like; I can’t imagine how my body will be.”

Harris’ previous Broadway credits include “Proof,” “Cabaret” and most recently in a 2004 revival of “Assassins,” where he played John F. Kennedy’s killer, Lee Harvey Oswald.

With his CBS sitcom about to begin its ninth and final season, Harris said it was time to return to the stage.

“We’re planning on moving to New York, and it seemed like a great next step to go from TV to theater,” he said.

The star still has another round of hosting duties ahead, this time at the 2013 Emmys in September.

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