Dylan Sprouse had barely started his question before warning the two theater people sitting across from him that they might not like where it was going.
During the August 25 episode of Wildmen, Sprouse told cohost Brendan Columbus and comedian Gianmarco Soresi that moving from California to New York exposed him to a theater culture he initially struggled to understand. “It took me a while to get along with any theater person because I do…find them intensely nerdy,” he said, according to Entertainment Weekly.
His problem had a soundtrack. At NYU, some of Sprouse’s new theater friends would suddenly break into show tunes during ordinary conversations. He was coming from California and listening to Avenged Sevenfold, which he readily admitted was “equally as nerdy.”
The judgment did not last. Sprouse said moving to New York eventually changed his understanding of people who deeply love theater, even if he still does not routinely seek out Broadway shows himself.
The Random Show Tunes at NYU Took Some Getting Used To
Sprouse introduced the subject by asking Columbus and Soresi, “Can I ask you both this as theater people?” He then acknowledged that his reaction to theater enthusiasts was not particularly charitable when he first encountered more of them.
“I realize it sounds hypocritical, but I do find theater kids to be intensely dweeby,” Sprouse said. “And it took me a long time to get over it.” Sprouse repeatedly described himself as a nerd too.
At NYU, that often meant spontaneous singing. “I made plenty of theater friends,” he said. “But they’re busting out into song randomly a lot. And that took me a lot of getting used to,” Sprouse continued. “And it’s show tunes oftentimes.”
His own taste at the time did not exactly give him grounds for superiority. “I was listening to Avenged Sevenfold, which is equally as nerdy,” he admitted.
Sprouse Says California Gave Him a Different Version of Show Business
Sprouse traced some of the disconnect to growing up around the entertainment industry in Southern California. He was raised in Long Beach and had been working professionally since childhood, appearing in Grace Under Fire, Big Daddy and eventually Disney Channel’s The Suite Life of Zack & Cody.
“California doesn’t have the same theater culture,” Sprouse said, describing his own experience growing up there. He contrasted that with the East Coast, where he saw people traveling substantial distances specifically to attend Broadway productions.
Sprouse used Wicked as an example, saying that when he was growing up, he did not remember the same culture of people dressing up and making a Los Angeles theatrical production the centerpiece of a trip that he encountered around Broadway.
Moving to New York Changed His Opinion
Sprouse and his twin brother, Cole, stepped away from full-time acting to attend New York University’s Gallatin School of Individualized Study from 2011 to 2015. The move exposed Sprouse to what he described as “a very different type of person.”
What had initially seemed strange eventually became familiar. “The person that really loves it, now, I’ve grown accustomed to,” Sprouse said of dedicated theater fans. His college years also produced a relationship that is still central to his life. Brendan Columbus, who now sits beside him each week on Wildmen, became one of Sprouse’s closest friends while they were undergraduates at NYU.
When the podcast launched this summer, Sprouse told Vanity Fair that he specifically wanted Columbus as his cohost because their long friendship created the kind of relaxed conversations he envisioned for the show. Columbus jokingly offered a less sentimental explanation, saying he joined because Sprouse was “going to crash and burn without me.”
The Conversation Started With Gianmarco Soresi’s Own Theater Obsession
The Wildmen episode is titled “Gianmarco Soresi Goes Full Super Saiyan Over Rent” and spends part of its 56-minute runtime examining Soresi’s strong feelings about director Chris Columbus’ 2005 film adaptation of Rent. Brendan Columbus is the director’s son.
The episode moves from Rent and theater-kid culture into Dragon Ball Z and Soresi’s approach to crowd work, fitting the podcast’s deliberately loose format.
Sprouse launched Wildmen with Columbus in July, describing it as less of a formal celebrity-interview program than a filmed version of the conversations they already have with friends.
He Doesn’t Chase Broadway Shows, but He Loves ‘Chicago’
By the time Sprouse finished explaining the difference between his California upbringing and his years in New York, his description of theater fans had softened considerably.
He still does not consider himself someone who routinely seeks out Broadway productions, but the conversation revealed at least one clear exception. Asked about theater he actually enjoys, Sprouse pointed to Chicago.
Entertainment Weekly reported that he said he “loves” the long-running musical, despite not regularly going out of his way to see Broadway shows.