Today most Popular

In “First Date,” Levi pairs up with Krysta Rodriguez, who’s additionally maybe maybe maybe not Jewish. (Joan Marcus)

In “First Date,” Levi pairs up with Krysta Rodriguez, who’s additionally maybe perhaps maybe not Jewish. ( )

Those that adored the sweetly nerdy lead of TV’s “Chuck” would be pleased to find its star, Zachary Levi, on Broadway, doing exactly exactly exactly what he does well: 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 kid, on top of that. Cue the cringing whenever Aaron finds that their hot date, Casey — the comely Krysta Rodriguez (“Smash”) — is not Jewish.

Then once more, neither is Levi.

“Nope, perhaps perhaps maybe not just a Jew!” he says with a grin. “But if individuals wish to lump me personally in with God’s plumped for, I’ll go on it!”

Backstage in the Longacre Theatre — backpack by their part, their 6-foot-4 frame closing in black 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 created Zachary Levi Pugh — that Welsh surname’s pronounced “pewww!” — which resulted in no end of “brutal responses” in boyhood and past. His representative proposed the actor that is young only want to change 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 spent my youth in Southern Ca, when you look at the shadow of Disneyland. But after he “prayed about any of it very long and difficult,” he chose to merely lose the Pugh.

That, Levi claims, resulted in another trouble: “I’ve had casting directors call my representative and state, ‘Yeah, you know — he’s a touch too Jewish.’ ”

So far as the creators of “First Date” had been concerned, Levi had been perfectly.

“Zachary’s like a better-looking form of me personally — the me I’ve always wished to be,” says Austin Winsberg, the show’s bespectacled book author. While composing for “Gossip woman,” which shared workplaces regarding the Warner Brothers lot with “Chuck,” Winsberg saw in Levi just what he calls “the sweet spot — an individual who could sing, party, become funny and have fun with the intimate main character, the main one ladies wish to be with plus the dudes root for. ”

Since it took place, Levi had been free, and Broadway ended up being on their bucket list. He’d been singing and dancing in local movie movie theater since he had been 6 (“I happened to be a ham”), in which he and his datingrating.net/escort/coral-springs “Tangled” co-star Mandy Moore sang a duet together during the Oscars.

Their only doubt: getting typecast as a nerd, also himself that way in real life if he sees. He and buddy operate a company he describes as “Nike for Nerds” — the Nerd Machine, which produces 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 during a Wii game of tennis.

“ we think in utilizing the working platform you have got for good,” says Levi, whom calls their company transactions “conscientious capitalism — have a money, provide a buck.” He’s a devoted supporter of process Smile as well as 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 their love life?

“That we won’t go into,” he states, pleasantly. Despite a breakup that is well-publicized singer Caitlin Crosby, he’s was able to keep their personal life regarding the down low.

“I’m maybe not a big dater, truthfully,” he claims. “I’m a kind that is go-with-the-flow of . . .

I’d rather hang down with some body in an organization to see then we’ll get on a night out together. when they check these different bins beside me before we venture out together — get acquainted with one another really casually and coolly, if there’s chemistry,”

Judging through the ecstatic applause Levi’s drawing in “First Date,” great deal of men and women could be really pleased to understand him better.