Former American Football running back Tiki Barber, who played for the New York Giants of the National Football League for ten seasons, is adding acting in a Broadway musical to his resume. Barber will join the long-running Broadway musical Kinky Boots, taking over the role of “Don”. Beginning Monday, January 21, 2019, he will play a limited engagement through Sunday, March 3, 2019. Barber takes over the role from original cast member Daniel Stewart Sherman who is temporarily leaving to appear in My Very Own British Invasion at Paper Mill Playhouse this winter. Sherman will return to the production on March 4, 2019.

“I am so excited to be making my Broadway debut in Kinky Boots,” Tiki Barber said. “I was very fortunate to be part of the New York Giants for 10 years and feel incredibly lucky to be joining another New York institution: Broadway.”

Barber currently serves as the co-host of CBS Sports Radio’s “Tiki & Tierney”, a national radio program, alongside Brandon Tierney. A graduate of the University of Virginia’s McIntire School of Commerce, Barber’s concentration of study was Management Information Systems. At UVA, Barber excelled both academically and athletically on the football field. He was named the ACC Player of the Year in 1996. After leaving Charlottesville, he began a 10 year NFL career with the New York Football Giants. He retired in 2007 as the Giants all-time leading rusher, and all-purpose yardage leader. 2010 saw Barber receiving a special accolade when he was inducted into the New York Giants Inaugural Ring of Honor class. In January 2011, he was enshrined into the Virginia Sports Hall of Fame.

Barber’s broadcasting career commenced in 1999 working for CBS Radio’s WFAN, leading to additional opportunities at WCBS-TV, Sirius Satellite Radio, the YES Network, and eventually as a morning host on Fox News Channel’s Fox & Friends. Upon retiring from the NFL, Barber signed a contract to work as a correspondent for NBC News and Sports, primarily The TODAY Show and Football Night in America, but also covering the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing for MSNBC.

Barber joins Kinky Boots as it enters its final stretch at Broadway’s Al Hirschfeld Theatre. The Tony-winning Best Musical of 2013 will play its final performance on April 7, 2019, closing after 2,507 performances and achieving the distinction as Broadway’s 25^th longest-running production. With a score by pop icon Cyndi Lauper and a book by celebrated playwright Harvey Fierstein, Kinky Boots is directed and choreographed by Jerry Mitchell. The musical is based on the 2005 film of the same name.

The current Broadway cast of Kinky Boots includes: J. Harrison Ghee (as Lola), Conor Maynard (Charlie Price), Carrie St. Louis (as Lauren), Daniel Stewart Sherman, Caroline Bowman, Marcus Neville, James Delisco Beeks, Callan Bergmann, Kevin Smith Kirkwood, Kyle Post, Charlie Sutton, Joey Taranto, Corey Mach, Natalie Joy Johnson, Jennifer Perry, Adinah Alexander, Eugene Barry-Hill, Stephen Berger, Damien Brett, Joshua Buscher, Justin Colombo, Holly Davis, Stephane Duret, Mia Gentile, Blair Goldberg, Cooper Lantz,  John Jeffrey Martin, Julia McLellan, Connor Mills, Christian Mullins, Nathan Peck, & Eric Walker, Jr.

Mark Robinson is the author of the two-volume encyclopedia The World of Musicals, The Disney Song Encyclopedia, and The Encyclopedia of Television Theme Songs. He maintains a theater and entertainment blog at markrobinsonwrites.com.