Who was your

favorite Monkee? If you said Micky Dolenz, the humorous drummer for the

band, you're in luck. Dolenz breezes into the Frederick Brown Jr. Amphotheater

this weekend, fresh off a national tour of "Aida" to perform

a number of hits from his days with The Monkees as well as his solo career.

Dolenz started

off as an actor. He was bitten by the acting bug at an early age as his

father was an actor on the television series "The Count of Monte

Cristo." Dolenz got his acting career started when he appeared as

Corky on the NBC series "Circus Boy" under the name Micky Braddock

from 1956-58. After "Circus Boy" Dolenz did some guest appearances

on other programs, learned the guitar and played with a band. In 1965

he auditioned for "The Monkees" and got the role of the singing

drummer, which meant that he would have to learn how to play the drums.

Dolenz sang

lead on The Monkees debuted single, "Last Train to Clarksville,"

which became a number one hit. Two days later the show debuted and that

became a hit as well. The Monkees had two more consecutive number one

singles with "I'm a Believer," which was also sung by Dolenz,

and "Daydream Believer." The first four Monkees albums reached

number one on the charts and later, after most of the band reunited and

had all of their albums re-released, there were seven Monkees albums in

the Billboard Top 200. Not only were The Monkees successful on television,

but they starred in the film, "Head," which was written by Jack

Nicholson and remains a cult classic to this day.

After "

The Monkees," Dolenz did voice work on some cartoons, including "The

Funky Phantom," "Devlin" and "Butch Cassidy and The

Sundance Kids." Later in his career, Dolenz would go back behind

the mic for stints on "Batman The Animated Series" and the first

season of "The Tick." In 1977, Dolenz moved to London to star

in Harry Nilsson's musical "The Point." Dolenz liked London

so much that he stayed there for 12 years and started working behind the

scenes of television programs as both a producer and a director. He also

was at the helm for the film "The Box" which starred Monty Python

alums Michael Palin and Terry Jones. His time as a director served him

well as he has also has directed episodes of the program "Boy Meets

World" as well as several other films including "Mom, Can I

Keep Her."

Dolenz started

recording again in the early 1990s, releasing two children's albums, "Micky

Dolenz Puts You To Sleep," and "Broadway Micky" before

releasing "Demoiselle" in 1998, which featured a number of original

tracks accumulated over the years. Some of the songs on that album include

"It's The Season," "Beverly Hills," and "Since

I Fell For You."

Lately, he

has appeared in the national touring company production of "Aida"

as Radames' father Zoser. He will perform that role on Broadway beginning

next year. He will take the stage at 9 p.m. after the opening act, The

Allen Goodman Band performs at 8 p.m.

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