The Post-Whiz Kid Phase   Neil Patrick Harris is best known for
playing the teenage doctor on TV's 'Doogie Howser, M.D.' But
with roles in 'Rent' and two new films, his career as a grown-up
is only beginning.  August 31, 1997|Jan Breslauer | Jan
Breslauer is a regular contributor to Calendar  LA JOLLA — It's
nearly midnight when Neil Patrick Harris sits down to dinner in
an upscale Italian restaurant not far from the La Jolla
Playhouse, where he has just finished a performance of "Rent."
In the hit musical, the 24-year-old actor--better known as the
title character in the 1989-93 ABC television series "Doogie
Howser, M.D."--plays the lead role of Mark, an introverted
aspiring filmmaker who narrates the goings-on among his fellow
East Village bohemians.  Doogie still dogs Harris, as the
whispers of recognition that ripple through the theater audience
attest. But with his black nail polish and cultivated angst,
Harris' Mark is a long way from the kid doctor he used to play.
According to the seasoned yet conge