American Repertory Theater artistic director Diane Paulus called actor Terrence Mann with a pitch. Paulus wanted Mann to play Friar Laurence in a version of “Romeo & Juliet” she was directing at the ART.

Mann can play anything. Anything.

The theater legend originated the role of Rum Tum Tugger in “Cats.” He scored Tony nods playing Javert in “Les Misérables” and the Beast in “Beauty and The Beast.” He had been Scrooge, Captain Hook, Frank N. Furter, Jekyll and Hyde, and interstellar bounty hunter Ug in all four “Critters” movies.

And yet, Mann’s response was surprising.

“My words to her were, ‘I am terrified, I am (expletive) terrified,” Mann told the Herald with a laugh. “I told her, ‘Di, I haven’t done Shakespeare in 45 years.’ She just looked at me like, ‘And your point is?’”

Paulus is a master at reinvention (see her versions of “1776,” “Porgy and Bess,” and “Pippin,” which featured Mann). Now she wanted to reframe “Romeo and Juliet” — Aug. 31 to Oct. 6 at the Loeb Drama Center in Harvard Square — turning Shakespeare’s iconic work into something as much about love as hate. And she wanted Mann as the Friar. And she wasn’t going to take no for an answer.

Mann came up doing Shakespeare. He went to University of North Carolina School of the Arts and then, after graduating in 1978, found work at the North Carolina Shakespeare festival for a few years.

“So I’ve got a lot of Shakespeare under my belt, but the last time I did Shakespeare on stage I was 28 years old,” Mann said.

Thankfully Paulus’ pitch came at the right time. In recent years, Mann has spent little time on stage while focusing on TV series, chiefly the Apple TV+ sci-fi show “Foundation.” It’s been fun, but TV projects can be lonely in a way theater never is. While Mann was in Prague shooting the series, he often had days off at a time. Going through Shakespeare’s lines filled his free time.

“I woke up in the morning and all the sudden I had purpose,” he said. “I woke up and knew I had to learn these three pages of Shakespeare. That was the revelation. That was so positive and uplifting. And I still do it to this day. I get up every morning, have coffee, throw my dog the ball, while going through the words. It’s practically meditative.”

In the end, he couldn’t say no to the part for a lot of reasons. He gets a jolt working with a young cast just starting their journey with Shakespeare, including Emilia Suárez as Juliet and Rudy Pankow as Romeo. He adores working with Paulus, who let him have a hand in shaping a fresh take on the Friar. He is thrilled to be back at the ART where, with Paulus at the helm, they took the 2013 “Pippin” revival from Cambridge to Broadway.

“I’ve done about 15 Broadway shows and the only show that I loved going to everyday as long as I was in it was ‘Pippin,’” he said.

Hopefully, he has the same fondness for this production. A good start is that he’s no longer deathly afraid of getting back to Shakespeare as an actor.

“Once I started memorizing… because you have to have this in your bones before you start rehearsal,” he said. “Now I don’t think about being terrified anymore. ”

For tickets and details, visit americanrepertorytheater.org