The thing that you share with him -- obviously, not to the same degree -- is
that his scandal, like yours, was made outlandishly public. I’m
obviously referencing the brouhaha on Grey’s Anatomy and your
subsequent coming out.
I understand how you would ask this question.
I don’t feel there’s any sort of correlation at all because of what he
went through; because of his story. He was wrongly accused for a
murder. Because I’ve been so invested in this person and am being as
respectful as I can in portraying him, I just personally don’t see a
correlation.

In playing Leo Frank, falsely accused of raping and murdering a young girl, do you ever look at his possible guilt?
As
an actor, you have to look at all sides. It was one of the most unfair
trials that I’ve come across. If the outcome weren’t so tragic, it
would be laughable. There’s so much evidence that points to another
person that it’s hard for me to imagine his guilt. As an actor playing
it, I can’t imagine you could play the character as if he were guilty.
There are different levels of it when everyone is coming at you; when
everyone thinks differently than you. It’s crazy.

So George O’Malley died…
Yes!

I realize this may be poetic, but it feels like Parade is a rebirth of a stage career within days.
I don’t know about “rebirth.” And it’s not “days” for me because we’ve been working on this for a month and a half.

Even
though you began your career “on the boards,” and cultivated a sterling
résumé, you haven’t been onstage in five years, right? Do you sing?
I’ve
spent most of my life doing theater -- there’s a certain comfort in that,
but what skews it, what alters it, what throws it for me is that it’s a
musical and I’m not a singer. As soon as I found out that I got the
part, I started two months of extensive voice lessons. I worked very
hard to try to, in a very short time, understand what it is to be a
singer. I did musicals when I was in high school but certainly to no
acclaim. I certainly don’t have the years under my belt that my fellow
cast members do. I know that I can only catch up so far in a very short
period of time. All I can ask of myself is to work as hard as I can and
I’ll get to where I’ll get to. I’m not going to be at the same level of
the rest of the cast; that’s just not possible. It’s a challenge: a
challenge to prepare, a challenge to work, a challenge to learn new
things. I have to forgive myself that I’m not further along in the
process than I am, which has been a huge learning experience for me. I
have a tendency to be very strict and hard on myself. It’s so nice to
still be learning this much.