Sweet geek Zachary Levi tackles Broadway in ‘Blind Date’

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

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

People who enjoyed the sweetly nerdy lead of TV’s “Chuck” will likely to be thrilled to find its celebrity, Zachary Levi, on Broadway, doing exactly just just exactly 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 their hot date, Casey — the comely Krysta Rodriguez (“Smash”) — is not Jewish.

Then once more, neither is Levi.

“Nope, perhaps maybe not a Jew!” he says with a grin. “But if individuals desire to lump me 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 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 created Zachary Levi Pugh — that Welsh surname’s pronounced “pewww!” — which resulted in no end of “brutal responses” in boyhood and past. Their representative proposed the young star might 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 spent my youth in Southern California, within the shadow of Disneyland. But about it long and hard,” he decided to simply lose the Pugh after he“prayed.

That, Levi states, 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 ended up being perfectly.

“Zachary’s just like a version that is better-looking of — 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. ”

Because it took place, Levi had been free, and Broadway ended up being on their bucket list. He’d been singing and dancing in regional 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 by doing this in true to life. He and buddy operate a company 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 via a light fixture whilst hitting an overhead smash within a Wii game of tennis.

“ we think in utilizing the working platform you have got for good,” says Levi, who calls their company transactions capitalism that is“conscientious have a dollar, provide a buck.” He’s an enthusiastic supporter of process 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 breakup that is well-publicized singer Caitlin Crosby, he’s were able to keep their personal life in the down low.

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

I’d rather hang down with some body in an organization to see 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,” great deal of individuals is extremely very happy to understand him better.