OFF BROADWAY STAR REICHEN LEHMKUHL TALKS "MY BIG GAY ITALIAN WEDDING"
Published 2010-05-17
It's hard to believe that Reichen Lehmkuhl was ever thought to be ugly. In his autobiography, Here's What We'll Say, he writes of a note that a girl left in his middle school locker: "She went on to tell me I was ugly, disgusting, and to top it off, a total geek." He then discusses how he was considered unattractive even as he entered the United States Air Force Academy.
Sitting across from the man backstage at St. Luke's Theatre, where he's starring in Anthony J. Wilkinson's comedy My Big Gay Italian Wedding, finds Lehmkuhl to be the antithesis of the school girl's assessment. He's good looking...Strike that... He's very good looking... Strike that, too... He's extremely handsome... No, that doesn't quite describe him either... He's absolutely the personification of male beauty. Yes, that's it! His skin is smooth and clear. There isn't a blemish or shaving nick to be found on his face. His green eyes are both intense yet kindly, and his features rival anything that Michelangelo sculpted: only Reichen Lehmkuhl isn't composed of Carrara marble. He's a warm, caring, and intelligent individual who is making his stage debut in this Off Broadway production. In fact, the audience gets to see how chiseled and beautiful he is early in the play when he performs a scene clad only in his tightie whities.
So how did this ugly duckling of the middle school set become the buff and articulate man he is today? He admits that he started working out before he entered the Air Force Academy in an effort to keep up with the rigorous schedule he anticipated during his first year and basic training. Speaking in a clear voice that has a beguiling boyish quality, Lehmkuhl states: "In my sophomore year something happened; I guess I finally hit puberty when I was twenty years old. I was really a late bloomer. Heck, I didn't even have hair under my arms until I was nineteen! It was very embarrassing. Within a span of a year my whole body changed, though. I remember seeing my face looking different in the mirror. My bones changed, my body changed, I grew, I started filling out; I went from this weird, gawky, scared-looking kid to what I look like now," he states with a self-deprecating laugh. "At my first class reunion from high school, there wasn't a single person who recognized me; not even my best friend." Lehmkuhl relates that he was so ashamed of his looks that be didn't know what color his eyes were because he dreaded looking in a mirror. He still has a difficult time when people compliment his appearance.
To read the rest of the interview on Broadwayworld.com click here!
For more information or for tickets click here
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