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In “First Date,” Levi pairs up with Krysta Rodriguez, who’s additionally perhaps perhaps maybe perhaps not Jewish. (Joan Marcus)
In “First Date,” Levi pairs up with Krysta Rodriguez, who’s additionally maybe maybe maybe not Jewish. ( )
People who adored the sweetly lead that is nerdy of “Chuck” is going to be thrilled to find its celebrity, Zachary Levi, on Broadway, doing just exactly just what he does most readily useful: singing, dancing . . . cringing.
In “First Date,” opening in a few days, Levi plays Aaron — as awkwardly earnest as Chuck, but as bearded and bespectacled as a yeshiva child, as well. Cue the cringing whenever Aaron discovers that his date that is hot — the comely Krysta Rodriguez (“Smash”) — isn’t Jewish.
Then once again, neither is Levi.
“Nope, perhaps not really a Jew!” he says with a grin. “But if individuals wish to lump me personally in with God’s selected, I’ll go on it!”
Backstage in the Longacre Theatre — backpack by his part, their 6-foot-4 frame closing in black colored Converse sneakers — the set that is 32-year-old record right, their discussion peppered with all the words “journey,” “amazing” and “blessed.”
He had been born Zachary Levi Pugh — that Welsh surname’s pronounced “pewww!” — which resulted in no end of “brutal responses” in boyhood and beyond. Their representative proposed the actor that is young only want to alter their title.
It wasn’t a decision that is easy.
“I’d made a guideline that i’dn’t alter or fold for Hollywood,” claims the star, whom was raised in Southern Ca, within the shadow of Disneyland. But after he “prayed about any of it very long and difficult,” he made a decision to just lose the Pugh.
That, Levi claims, generated another trouble: “I’ve had casting directors call my representative and say, вЂYeah, you know — he’s a tad too Jewish.’ ”
In terms of the creators of “First Date” had been concerned, Levi ended up being perfectly.
“Zachary’s like a better-looking form of me personally — the me I’ve always desired to be,” says Austin Winsberg, the show’s bespectacled book journalist. The one women want to be with and the guys root for while writing for “Gossip Girl,” which shared offices on the Warner Brothers lot with “Chuck,” Winsberg saw in Levi what he calls “the sweet spot — someone who could sing, dance, be funny and play the romantic leading man. ”
Since it took place, Levi ended up being free, and Broadway ended up being on his bucket list. He’d been singing and dancing in local movie movie theater I was a ham”), and he and his “Tangled” co-star Mandy Moore sang a duet together at the Oscars since he was 6.
Their only doubt: getting typecast as a nerd, also himself that way in real life if he sees. He and buddy operate a small business he describes as “Nike for Nerds” — the Nerd Machine, which creates duds and gizmos for sci-fi fans and gamers like Levi himself, whom place their supply through a light fixture whilst hitting an overhead smash throughout a Wii game of tennis.
“ we think in making use of the working platform you have got for good,” says Levi, whom calls their company transactions “conscientious capitalism — get a money, provide a buck.” He’s a devoted supporter of Operation Smile along with other charities, and arranged for per week off at “First Date,” just after previews began, to honor their dedication to appear at Geek Central, a k a Comic-Con.
And his love life?
“That we won’t go into,” he states, pleasantly. Despite a well-publicized breakup with singer Caitlin Crosby, he’s were able to keep their personal life regarding the down low.
“I’m not a big dater, really,” he says. “I’m a kind that is go-with-the-flow of . . .
I’d rather hang down with somebody in a bunch and view then we’ll go on a romantic date. when they check these different bins beside me before we head out together — get acquainted with one another extremely casually and coolly, and when there’s chemistry,”
Judging through the ecstatic applause Levi’s drawing in “First Date,” a complete great deal of men and women will be really pleased to understand him better.