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Adam Pascal on TSA PreCheck, his crossword app, and ancient megalithic cultures

We caught up with the male lead in ‘Pretty Woman: The Musical’ to talk about all things travel.

Adam Pascal on a recent hike in Nevada.Handout

While most theater fans know the Tony Award-nominated actor and singer Adam Pascal from his Broadway roles including Roger Davis in the original 1996 cast of “Rent,” Radames in “Aida,” and the emcee in the 1998 revival of “Cabaret,” he is currently delighting audiences in the national tour of “Pretty Woman: The Musical.” The show will be at the Boston Opera House Jan. 18-30.

Pascal, 51, plays Edward Lewis, the role made famous by Richard Gere in the hit film from 1990. In a phone call from Philadelphia, where the show was being performed before heading to Boston, Pascal — who also played the male lead in “Pretty Woman: The Musical” on Broadway for a short time — said that he and costar Olivia Valli, granddaughter of singer Frankie Valli, bring something “unique” to the characters played in the movie by Gere and Julia Roberts.

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“I’m biased, but I think that Olivia and I have really found something that’s fun and interesting and different with these two characters that people haven’t seen before,” he said, adding that the show’s creators “have definitely turned up the female empowerment concept of the story.” He also called the musical score, written by Bryan Adams and Jim Vallance, “amazing.”

The Bronx native, who was raised on Long Island in Syosset, N.Y., said audiences’ reactions to the show have been “great — better than great” and said he is looking forward to bringing the show to Boston. The father of two sons — Lennon, 20, and Monty, 17 — said he has an affinity for Cape Cod, since he spent many summers with his family in Wellfleet over the past 20-plus years. We caught up with Pascal, who lived in Los Angeles for many years but said that his home right now is “on the road,” to talk about all things travel.

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Favorite vacation destination? Japan. I have felt a deep connection with the country, the culture, and the people from the moment I got there. I’ve been multiple times, but my first time there was in 2009 when I was on the “Rent” international tour that I did with Anthony Rapp, one of the other original costars of the original company. We were there for a month and I just completely fell in love with it. Every time I’ve gone since then, I have gotten this deeper connection with the country, which is strange being a Jewish kid from the Bronx.

Favorite food or drink while vacationing? My favorite thing is the opportunity to explore eating options while traveling. I don’t have one thing I stick to.

Where would you like to travel to but haven’t? Peru and Bolivia. I am very interested in ancient megalithic cultures and those countries have some of the best ruins on the planet.

One item you can’t leave home without when traveling? My crossword app.

Aisle or window? Aisle. I pee every 20 minutes.

Favorite childhood travel memory? Driving from Long Island to Orlando and Miami. We lived in Syosset and the four of us (including his mom and older sister) would pile into my stepfather’s big giant Cadillac. We’d spend five days at Disney World, then five days in Miami at this hotel called The Newport, which isn’t there anymore. I have such wonderful memories of those trips.

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Guilty pleasure when traveling? When I’m traveling and I’m out here on the road, I’m doing it because I like it, so the whole thing is kind of like a guilty pleasure, you know? You get to live alone and sort of get taken care of. It’s like being a big baby.

Best travel tip? Get TSA PreCheck. It’s all about convenience. I spend so much time in airports and the toughest, most annoying part of going through an airport is the TSA screening, so to get the pre-check is such a simple process and for me, it has taken so much stress off of flying. Flying and travel is so stressful to begin with — to me, it is the most stressful part — and now, with TSA PreCheck, it’s pretty much eliminated.

JULIET PENNINGTON