Big Bang Theory's Sheldon Cooper to play God in Broadway comedy

Jim ParsonsReuters

Four-time Emmy winner Jim Parsons, best known as the nerdy scientist Sheldon Cooper in the TV comedy "The Big Bang Theory" will be ascending to new heights when he plays God on Broadway this spring, the show's producer said on Thursday.

Parsons, 41, will star in the limited run of "An Act of God," scheduled to open on May 28 at Studio 54.

The play is based on "The Last Testament: A Memoir by God," dubbed the ultimate celebrity autobiography, as told to David Javerbaum, the Emmy-winning former executive producer and head writer of "The Daily Show with Jon Stewart."

"I chose Jim to play me because I relish the irony of telling the real story of the six days of creation through the star of 'The Big Bang Theory.' Plus, he's funny," a press agent quoted God as saying in a statement.

The New York Times described Javerbaum's popular book as "a recklessly funny set of gags about all things religious and quite a few things secular, too."

The play will be a return to Broadway for Houston-born Parsons, who also won a Golden Globe for "The Big Bang Theory." The tall, lanky actor made his Broadway debut in 2011 in "The Normal Heart," about the HIV-AIDS crisis in New York in the 1980s. He reprised the role in the film adaptation.

Two-time Tony Award winner Joe Mantello ("Assassins," "Wicked") will direct the play.