From Queer As Folk’s Justin Taylor to Silence! The Musical’s Dr. Chilton, Randy Harrison is movin’ on up

What happens when a musical opens for an eight-week limited engagement at a downtown Off-Off-Broadway theater and winds up playing for over a year? It moves uptown! And Silence! The Musical has done just that, taking over Midtown’s Elektra Theater on July 18 and adding Queer As Folk alum Randy Harrison to the cast.

Best known for playing Justin Taylor on that Showtime hit, the out actor will be playing it straight for Silence!. Either way, he says he doesn’t conceive of his characters based on their sexuality. “Every character is different, but I’ve never begun building a character where my first thought in identifying them was ‘This is a straight guy’ or ‘This is a gay guy.’”

Plus, the 34-year-old actor says he couldn’t turn down a chance to work with pals. “I’m good friends with [actress] Jenn Harris—we’ve known each other for years and have a company, QWAN Co., with Christian Coulson, Jack Ferver, Matt Wilkas and Phillip Taratula, with whom we’ve produced stuff at PS122, Abrons Arts Center and Theater 80—and I think she’s brilliant and will always jump at the chance to work with her.”