Andrew Durand (Press photo)

While Stephen Spielberg is busy promoting his adaptation of the Tony-Award winning War Horse (you know, the one with the life-size horse marionette...which unfortunately will be played by an actual horse in the movie), the Broadway show has gained a new--and terribly attractive--lead actor.
Andrew Durand might already be recognizable to those familiar with sexy stage stars: he replaced Skylar Astin as Georg in Spring Awakening in 2008, and more recently in off-Broadway musicals like The Burnt Part Boys and Yank!. He'll be taking over the role of Albert Narracott--the English farm boy who follows his horse into battle (usually the other way around) from Seth Numrich, who helped War Horse clean up the Tonys with 6 awards.

So these are mighty big shoes to fill. Is Mr. Durand up to the challenge of playing opposite a fake horse? Judge for yourself:

Here is the young Mr. Durand singing "Boys of Summer" from Spring Awakening:

And this is what he'll be jumping into the saddle of when he joins Warhorse on January 12th:

Will Andrew Durand make a great Albertt Narcott? It all depends...how good is he at faking a British accent? Oh that's right: he was amazing in the West End London production of The Umbrellas of Cherbourg. He'll be fine.