Sweet geek Zachary Levi tackles Broadway in ‘Blind Date’

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

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

Those that enjoyed the sweetly nerdy lead of TV’s “Chuck” will likely be pleased 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 datingmentor.org/grindr-review Aaron — as awkwardly earnest as Chuck, but as bearded and bespectacled as a yeshiva child, as well. Cue the cringing whenever Aaron discovers that their hot date, Casey — the comely Krysta Rodriguez (“Smash”) — is not Jewish.

Then once again, neither is Levi.

“Nope, maybe perhaps perhaps not really a Jew!” he says by having a grin. “But if individuals would you like to lump me personally in with God’s opted for, I’ll go on it!”

Backstage during the Longacre Theatre — backpack by their part, their 6-foot-4 frame closing in black colored Converse sneakers — the set that is 32-year-old record straight, 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 final end of “brutal reviews” in boyhood and beyond. Their representative advised the actor that is young simply want to alter their title.

It wasn’t a simple choice.

“I’d made a guideline that i’dn’t alter or fold for Hollywood,” claims the star, whom spent my youth in Southern Ca, in the shadow of Disneyland. But about it long and hard,” he decided to simply lose the Pugh after he“prayed.

That, Levi claims, generated another trouble: “I’ve had casting directors call my representative and state, ‘Yeah, 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 just like a better-looking type of me personally — the me I’ve always wished 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 their bucket list. He’d been singing and dancing in regional movie movie theater since he had been 6 (“I happened to be a ham”), and then he and his “Tangled” co-star Mandy Moore sang a duet together during the Oscars.

Their only doubt: getting typecast as a nerd, also if he views himself this way in true to life. He and buddy operate a small business 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 via a light fixture whilst hitting an overhead smash within 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 — have a dollar, offer a buck.” He’s a devoted supporter of procedure 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.

Along with his love life?

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

“I’m maybe not just a big dater, genuinely,” he claims. “I’m a go-with-the-flow type of guy . . .

I’d rather hang away with somebody in a bunch and view when they check these different containers beside me before we venture out together — get acquainted with one another extremely casually and coolly, and in case there’s chemistry, then we’ll continue a romantic date.”

Judging through the ecstatic applause Levi’s drawing in “First Date,” a complete lot of men and women will be extremely very happy to understand him better.