“I’ll Never Say No To A Wig Experience” – Random Roles with Tony Nominee Taylor Trensch

It began, as it so often does, with Spring Awakening. 

Taylor Trensch dropped out of college after his second year to join the Spring Awakening national tour as Moritz, launching a richly varied stage career of 16 years that has seen Trensch rack up credits regionally, off-Broadway and across eight Broadway shows—Matilda, Hello, Dolly! and To Kill A Mockingbird among them.

A beloved theater fixture—and also a kind, witty little fellow—Trensch has now earned his first ever Tony Award nomination for Lincoln Center Theater’s sumptuous revival of Floyd Collins, running at the Vivian Beaumont through June 22. 

Theatrely sat down with Trensch to journey through a selection of his many credits, reflecting on gay plays, his dear friend Gavin Creel, and oh so many wigs.

WICKED (Gershwin Theatre, Jan—April 2012)

Shortly after moving to New York, Trensch stepped in as a temporary Boq replacement, covering for performer Etai Benson.

On my first day, they saw me standing next to the two actresses playing Elphaba and Glinda and were like, “Oh—you’re too tall.” Then the costume designer measured my head and gasped; she said she had never measured a head so big. 

It’s a bizarre exercise to join something that has been running for so many years—to be the one disruption in an otherwise well-oiled machine. Rehearsals were just me alone in a studio with a dance captain, then they toss you out and hope you don’t mess somebody up. Which in fact I did, at one of my first performances…Glinda’s bubble will sometimes leak a little bit of soap, and no-one told me. So on my first entrance I flipped in the soap, grabbed somebody else, and pulled them down to the deck of the stage with me. 

So yeah, they’ll never have me back. But I loved it! Love Wicked: The Musical! Can’t wait for Wicked: Part Two in cinemas!

BARE (New World Stages, Nov 2012—Feb 2013)

In this revised off-Broadway iteration of Damon Intrabartolo & Jon Hartmere’s cult hit, Trensch played sensitive nerd Peter, who is pulled into an intense love affair with closeted jock Jason. 

Because of the way I talk and the way I move my body, there’s never been any doubt that I’m gay as hell. So I actually found it a relief to play an openly queer character. It was nice to just relax and bring my authentic self to something. And I am never mad about kissing little cuties on a stage. 

We were fundamentally changing the DNA of the show, so that did feel scary. It used to be almost entirely sung-through, and we were adding all of these new book scenes, cutting characters, introducing new characters. I knew how meaningful the show was to a lot of young people. But in the version we did, I got to be a little more of a clown, which is always territory that makes me feel safer.

MATILDA (Shubert Theatre, April 2013—June 2014)

Trensch then originated his first role on Broadway, portraying Michael Wormwood, Matilda’s dim-witted and television obsessed older brother. 

Recently I ran into a former member of the Matilda children's ensemble who was on her way to a lesbian night at a bar. I was like, “What?” But no, those children just ripped my heart open every single night. They were so extraordinarily talented and worked so hard. Having secret handshakes with a bunch of 9 year-olds backstage was an important reminder to just have fun every second we get to be in a Broadway theater.

The whole experience was so wrapped up in my first time getting to be a part of an original Broadway cast. There was so much excitement in that—recording a cast album for the first time, performing at the Tony Awards for the first time. Just so many thrilling firsts.

THE CURIOUS INCIDENT OF THE DOG IN THE NIGHT-TIME (Ethel Barrymore Theatre, Oct 2014–Sept 2015)

Trensch next played Christopher Boone, an autistic 15 year-old boy investigating the murder of his neighbor’s dog. Principal performer Alex Sharp won a Tony Award for his performance; as his alternate, Trensch played two performances a week. 

Playing the same part as an actor who was being deservedly celebrated, in a very public way, was a really important lesson for me in celebrating other people in our industry. Just because something exciting isn’t happening to you at that moment, doesn’t make what’s happening for someone else less exciting. Even on the days where it maybe got to me, and made me feel a little sad or invisible, I am eternally grateful for the experience—and for how kind Alex Sharp and that company were to me. They always made me feel like a true member of the ensemble. 

And I got to hang out backstage with golden retriever puppies and little rats that would eat fun-sized butterfingers. I mean, I would sit down and binge watch Sex in the City with a puppy in my lap, and then a couple of times a week get to do the most challenging and rewarding material I have ever, and probably will ever, get to work on.

CLARKSTON (Dallas Theater Center, Dec 2015—January 2016)

In an alternate reality, could Taylor Trensch’s career have been filled with sad, quiet gay plays rather than all these wonderful musicals?

I was just hungry to work on a new play with the playwright in the room. That’s always my dream scenario. I would love to be doing quiet, gay plays 24/7. Or any play, for that matter. 

But I’m not at a stage in this business where I get to pick and choose. I haven’t consciously thought about the shape of my career, what it should look like, or what I should work on. I just say “Yes,” to whoever is nice enough to ask me to be there.

HELLO, DOLLY! (Shubert Theatre, April 2017—Jan 2018)

Trensch played Barnaby Tucker opposite Tony Award-winner and theatrical icon Gavin Creel, whom we unfathomably lost in September of last year. Trensch sported a luscious blond wig for the role. 

If I can’t be in a rehearsal room with the playwright present, the next best thing is a wig. And that wig really filled me up, artistically. The initial design was almost like a bob, it was kind of skin-length, and I was really working it. [Director] Jerry Zaks found that to be, not the point of the play, so he had them trim it.

Dolly! will always be a top-tier experience because of Gavin Creel. Getting to become such good friends with Gavin, and learn from him, and spend time with him, and fall in love with him. As I keep reflecting on Gavin and how devastating his loss is, my memories of that time become all the more cherished and profound. 

Much like all of the children in Matilda, he was the best person to have in a building to remind you how lucky we are to make theater in New York—how fun it is, how joyful it is, and how important it is to experience art together in one room, live. He was just the King of Broadway.

DEAR EVAN HANSEN (Music Box Theatre, Feb 2018—Jan 2019)

Trensch next stepped into some big shoes, replacing Tony Award-winner Ben Platt (following a brief run by Noah Galvin) in the megahit new musical.

It was so, so hard. That is just such a demanding role vocally. Before and after the show each night, I just felt so much dread and disappointment and frustration, knowing that I wasn’t delivering what people had grown accustomed to having seen Ben, or having listened to the cast recording. I really beat myself up a lot over that year. 

That one just took a toll on my self-esteem. Which is already basement low, uh oh, go to therapy, diva…on the flipside, that company really stepped up and helped me along in that journey when it was the hardest. Every actor holds themselves to a different standard than the people who are watching them, and I probably could have given myself a lot more grace that year.

SHUCKED (Pioneer Theatre, Salt Lake City, Utah, Oct – Nov 2022) and CAMELOT (Vivian Beaumont Theatre, March 2023—July 2023)

Trensch played “Storyteller 2” in the out-of-town tryout for new musical Shucked, but as the show’s Broadway transfer was coming together, another offer came in…

It was an “I must choose” situation. Since moving to New York, there’s always been stretches of times where no-one cares if I live or die, and then suddenly two things will happen at the same time. It was so hard, because Shucked is so funny and wonderful, and I had so much fun working on it in Salt Lake City. 

Butultimately, it felt like Modred was something I had never done before. I got to play a true little butthead. Every time we did a student matinee, the teeangers hated my guts. I play a lot of tender characters, a lot of little sweetie-pies, so there was something electric about having a bunch of sixteen year-olds threaten to beat you up after the show.

And again: wig! Wig, the house down…boots? I’m never going to say no to a wig experience.

FLOYD COLLINS (Vivian Beaumont Theatre, March—June 2025)

Speaking of wigs, Trensch sports another one in Floyd Collins for his Tony-nominated portrayal of Skeets Miller, the plucky young reporter who forms a connection with the trapped cave explorer…although, said wig is not too dissimilar from Trensch’s own hair.

The original plan was to dye my hair, yes. I have a condition where my body produces too much bilirubin, it’s totally harmless and I just mention it so I can get attention, but it makes my skin slightly yellow, Homer Simpson-style. So when they were talking about dying my hair red on top of my yellow skin, I was like, “Guess I’m not gonna be kissing anybody during those months!” 

Tina asked us to write little mini backstories for our characters, and something I thought might be true for Skeets is that Floyd might be the first real friend he’s made as an adult. And that makes it all the more heartbreaking. Skeets just cares so deeply for this person. In a very short amount of time, they form a real tender bond.  

At this moment when we’re experiencing all of the violence in this nation and the violence we export abroad, the role has been, selfishly, an opportunity to put some of the gigantic feelings we’re all having into this experience. Capitalism has trained us to become hermetically sealed from one another. We’re not interfacing with each other in the way we used to. And empathy suffers when that happens. So it’s nice to tell this really human story every night where a community comes together to try to help somebody. There’s no profits to be turned—for Skeets at least, for the people who genuinely care about Flloyd. It’s just to be helpful, and to care, and to take care of each other. 

‍Floyd Collins is in performance at the Vivian Beaumont Theatre on West 65th Street in New York City. For tickets and more information, visit here.