I grew up in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, watching the Tony Awards on TV. Not just ‘watching’ the Tony Awards on TV – I would record them on a VHS tape and bring them in to school and show them to the other kids.
Before ‘Mindhunter,’ I was doing this show called ‘Looking’ on HBO.
The first job I got was a production of ‘Fame – the Musical,’ at the North Shore Music Theatre in Beverly, Massachusetts, and it got me my Equity card, too. I waited 12 hours to be seen for it, though!
I believe in ‘Backstage.’ It changed my life.
I loved ‘Weekend,’ and it meant a lot to me when I saw it in the movie theater. I think ‘Looking’ feels more like that movie than any of those other shows, with a little more comedy thrown in than ‘Weekend.’ But it’s certainly got the vibe and look and feeling of that movie.
There is really nothing like doing a play in New York.
If I’ve had roadblocks along the way for being gay, I’m not aware of them.
As an actor, I have these tics that I don’t even know exist.
As a kid growing up in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, all I wanted to do was be on Broadway in a musical. ‘Spring Awakening’ kind of answered all of my questions and fulfilled all of my dreams – beyond my wildest dreams.
I don’t hate dating people, but I’m not on social media or anything.
When I was doing ‘Spring Awakening’ the first couple of years I was living in New York, I was gay, and I was living with my ‘roommate,’ who was my boyfriend but was my roommate to everyone else.
I moved to New York on October 21, 2004, and it was the day that the Chelsea Grill, a restaurant in Hell’s Kitchen on 9th Avenue between 46th and 47th Street, opened. I had never waited a table in my life, but I walked in and lied to the manager in a very J. Pierrepont Finch way.
There’s something special about ‘Looking.’
I taught a class about the Tony Awards at a summer theater camp the year after I graduated from high school. So, the first time I was nominated for ‘Spring Awakening,’ it felt like a surreal dream: it was every childhood dream I had come true. It felt like a fairy tale.
I think about ‘Will & Grace,’ and I think about ‘Modern Family,’ and the way that being gay has become sort of middle America… in the way that they show gay people in their specific way.
I was obsessed with Nintendo.
Maybe someday I’ll have a job where it haunts me or it’s hard to move on.
Dating can be painful, can be great, can be confusing, can be weird, but I don’t do it online because I’m not really an online person.
I moved to New York on October 21, 2004, and it was the day that the Chelsea Grill, a restaurant in Hell’s Kitchen on 9th Avenue between 46th and 47th Street, opened. I had never waited a table in my life, but I walked in and lied to the manager in a very J. Pierrepont Finch way.
I just don’t know artistically – because I don’t write my own music – I don’t know artistically what an album would mean for me. I don’t know what I would want to say with an album that would be unique to me – something that hasn’t been done before. I’m just not sure what that is. But I’m absolutely open to it.
I did ‘How to Succeed in Business… ,’ ‘Kiss Me Kate,’ ‘Godspell,’ and ‘You’re a Good Man, Charlie Brown’ in high school, all of which were fun.
I never look at myself online, and I don’t read gossip Web sites.
A ‘Looking’ musical would completely bring me back to Broadway. I would come back in a second.
For Halloween, I’ve gone trick-or-treating as Mary Poppins, Peter Pan, and Robin Hood.
I feel like, with a television show, you’re always biting your nails hoping you’re going to get that next season.
Playing King George, for me, was a lesson in stillness and timing.
I’ve never met Lena Dunham, but I’m such a huge fan – I think she’s a crazy genius.
I went to a local high school in Lancaster. Not much I can say about it; it was pretty much your typical public high school back in Pennsylvania.
I left ‘Spring Awakening,’ and within a month of leaving the show, I came out to my parents and to my friends and broke up with my boyfriend and moved into an apartment of my own and completely changed my life.
When I was doing ‘Spring Awakening’ the first couple of years I was living in New York, I was gay, and I was living with my ‘roommate,’ who was my boyfriend but was my roommate to everyone else.
While I was in high school, I saw Sutton Foster in ‘Thoroughly Modern Millie,’ and she was the one that was most inspiring to me for sure. I saw ‘Millie’ 6 times in a span of two years or so.
I haven’t had anyone say, ‘No, we can’t because he’s gay.’ In fact, it’s been quite the opposite.
I’ve never met Lena Dunham, but I’m such a huge fan – I think she’s a crazy genius.
When I was a senior in high school, I worked at a theater where they hired New York actors. And they told me about ‘Backstage,’ and so I got my school in Pennsylvania to subscribe. And there was an audition for a tour of ‘The Sound of Music,’ and I got the job. Deferred my admission to college just to go on tour.
I love the you-never-know-what’s-going-to-happen aspect of doing concerts.
With every character, the first thing I want to feel is empathy.
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