Darius de Haas (born 29 September 1968) is an American stage actor and singer. He was born in Chicago and raised in a musical family—his father is bassist Eddie de Haas and his mother Geraldine was one of the Bey sisters of the musical trio Andy and The Bey Sisters . De Haas is especially noted for his extremely wide vocal range. He appeared in the Broadway productions of Rent , Kiss of the Spider Woman , Carousel , and Marie Christine and the Paper Mill Playhouse cast of Children of Eden . He won an Obie Award for his performance in the title role in Diedre Murray 's jazz opera Running Man . In recent years he has become known as a concert artist, having notably performed and recorded the music of Billy Strayhorn and Stevie Wonder . Among his more recent acting projects has been playing Jesus in the Alliance Theatre 's re-imagining of Webber - Rice 's Jesus Christ Superstar (re-titled JCS Gospel ).