Million Dollar Star Levi Kreis on His 'Real Wild Child' Rise

Age: "As a gentleman I don't talk about stuff like that!"

Hometown: Oliver Springs, Tennessee

Currently: Making his Broadway debut as piano-playing rock legend Jerry Lee Lewis in the historical jam-session musical Million Dollar Quartet.

Piano Man: Kreis is candid about his humble beginnings. “My high school graduating class had about five people in it. I was valedictorian with a C-average,” he explains of life in small-town Tennessee. The youngest of two boys, Kreis’ early musical abilities blew everyone away—especially his own family. “I remember coming home from kindergarten graduation and randomly picking out the melody to ‘Pomp and Circumstance’ two-handed by ear on the piano while my brother worked the pedals. My mom and dad were completely taken aback.” By age 12, he was playing a different church or tent revival every weekend. “The piano just makes sense to me,” he says.

School of Hard Knocks: As a teen, Kreis earned a scholarship to Vanderbilt’s college-prep classical piano program and balanced undergrad-level courses with high school academics. After graduating, he went straight to Nashville’s Belmont University, alma mater of country greats like Vince Gill and Trisha Yearwood. Nashville soon pegged the exuberant Kreis as the next big thing in gospel, with the student musician beginning his first album for a major Christian record label. But a year into recording, the rug was pulled out: “An intern at the label heard about my sexuality [Kreis is gay], and I found out the Christian music world wouldn’t have me. It was a dream of mine since I was a kid to do gospel music; I lost the opportunity.” Disillusioned, Kreis dropped out of college and headed to Los Angeles.

Identity Crisis: In L.A. Kreis worked a series of soul-sucking survival jobs while relentlessly pursuing music. “I worked every awful job you can image, including at Baskin Robbins, where I locked myself in a freezer and was stuck for half an hour before someone found me!” he laughs. He was also struggling to find his place in the entertainment business: “I went through eight major record labels [who tried to] craft me into something I wasn’t. I was everything from the ‘bad boy’ in a boy band, which is really funny, to the lead singer in a Radiohead-type band,” Kreis says with an eye roll. He finally took the reigns himself, releasing the gospel-infused soul album One of the Ones independently. (His third release, Where I Belong, is currently burning up the iTunes pop charts.) “I’ve fortunately found a loyal fan base, toured 300 cities, gotten songs placed in TV and film—and built it all with these two hands, not on someone else’s idea of what I should be.”

Million Dollar Break: Kreis also found success as an actor. He played Roger in the national tour of Rent in 1997 and had roles in the films Don’t Let Go and Frailty. His working relationship with Emmy-winning producer Paris Barclay (currently of Glee!), got him hooked up with the first reading of a new musical about the historic meeting of Jerry Lee Lewis, Elvis Presley, Johnny Cash and Carl Perkins at Sun Studios in 1956. “All they knew about me was I could act and maybe play a little piano, so they workshopped me as Jerry Lee Lewis,” Kreis recalls. “Needless to say, I’ve been with the show ever since.” Which is saying a lot—the Million Dollar Quartet went on to play Washington and Florida and had a long run in Chicago (where The Chicago Tribune called Kreis’ performance one of the best of the year) before hitting Broadway.

Goodness Gracious: Kreis sees many similarities between himself and his character: Lewis struggled with a religious upbringing and was expelled from ministerial school; Kreis rejected his fundamentalist Baptist background to study Wicca and universal religion. Lewis’ personal life—he married his 13-year-old second cousin—caused major scandal, while Kreis has dealt with feelings for a female former co-star he says he “fell for.” That might raise eyebrows, but Kreis takes everything in stride: “I have no interest in having a long-term relationship with a woman, and I have a wonderful [male] partner who’s glad to hear me say that. But I can’t deny I’m riveted at times by women.” The real crossroads between Lewis and Kreis, though, is music and its ability to reach others. “A woman was celebrating her 97th birthday at the show one night,” he beams. “Through the whole encore, she was dancing with her walker. It was a reminder that nothing is more important than going out there and performing, as a service to whoever needs it.”