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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 maybe not Jewish. ( )

Those that adored the sweetly nerdy lead of TV’s “Chuck” is supposed to be thrilled to find its celebrity, Zachary Levi, on Broadway, doing exactly just 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, as well. Cue the cringing whenever Aaron discovers that their date that is hot — the comely Krysta Rodriguez (“Smash”) — is not Jewish.

Then once more, neither is Levi.

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

Backstage during the Longacre Theatre — backpack by their side, their 6-foot-4 frame closing in black colored Converse sneakers — the set that is 32-year-old record right, their conversation 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 responses” in boyhood and past. His representative proposed the young star might would like to alter their title.

It wasn’t a simple decision.

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

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

In terms of the creators of “First Date” had been concerned, Levi ended up being perfectly.

“Zachary’s such as for instance a version that is better-looking of — the me I’ve always wished to be,” says Austin Winsberg, the show’s bespectacled book author. 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 had been on their bucket list. He’d been singing and dancing in local movie movie movie theater since he had been 6 (“I happened to be a ham”), in which he along with his “Tangled” co-star Mandy Moore sang a duet together in the Oscars.

Their only doubt: getting typecast as a nerd, also if he sees himself like that in actual life. 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 by way of a light fixture whilst hitting an overhead smash throughout a Wii game of tennis.

“ we think in making use of the working platform you’ve got for good,” says Levi, whom calls their company transactions capitalism that is“conscientious have a money, provide a buck.” A k a Comic-Con he’s an avid supporter of Operation Smile and other charities, and arranged for a week off at “First Date,” just after previews started angelreturn price, to honor his commitment to appear at Geek Central.

Along with his love life?

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

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

I’d rather hang down with somebody in a bunch to discover then we’ll get on a romantic date. when they check these different bins beside me before we venture out together — get acquainted with one another really casually and coolly, and when there’s chemistry,”

Judging through the ecstatic applause Levi’s drawing in “First Date,” lot of individuals will be extremely thrilled to understand him better.