The Boys in the Band Tony Nominee Robin De Jesús on Crying Like Donna Murphy, Finding His Pride & More

One year ago in 2018, Robin De Jesús was in the first week of previews for The Boys in the Band on Broadway. Now, he's a newly-minted three-time Tony nominee for his work as the unforgettable Emory in the revival, which also earned a Best Revival of a Play nomination. "I've been really emotional for the last 36 hours," De Jesús told Paul Wontorek during a recent interview on Broadway.com's #LiveAtFive. "I started initially as Viola Davis sobbing tears with my friends and then it became a Donna Murphy single tear throughout the day."

De Jesús appeared alongside a star-studded out and proud gay cast that included Jim Parsons, Zachary Quinto, Andrew Rannells and Matt Bomer. "It was the most neurosis-inducing thing I've done," De Jesús said. "It was very interesting being around that group of men, I wanted to see what their magic was. At the end of the day what makes them special is their work ethic. They're hustlers." While De Jesús is representing the show with the only acting nomination, he can't help but acknowledge the group effort that went into its success. "There's a word that keeps coming up and that word is pride," he said. "Not only was there nine out gay men on stage together, but also the idea of the proud people I come from as a Puerto Rican man in my family, and the power and strength my ancestors had. To this day that word keeps coming back to me."

While the Joe Mantello-helmed production was a limited run last summer, the story is getting new life thanks to producers David Stone and Ryan Murphy in the form of a Netflix movie adaptation featuring the entire Broadway revival cast. "[Ryan Murphy] always said there would be a movie but my cynical behind was like, 'Well, I'll be replaced,'" De Jesús said. "But they followed through. They figured out everyone's schedules and we're shooting in July."

The road to The Boys in the Band was a long one for De Jesús, who says that Mantello, Rachel Tucker and Laurie Metcalf are to thank for making it all happen. "When I did [the play] Domesticated at Lincoln Center I was only in one scene," he said. "I had a lot of free time so on Sunday nights I would go do a 70-minute monologue down at The Duplex [Ben Rimalower's Patti Issues]. [Co-star] Laurie [Metcalf] kept saying she wanted to come so I set up tickets for her for closing night. I had to walk through the audience I didn’t see who she brought, thank God, because when the house lights came up I saw Joe Mantello. If I knew, I would have wigged. Afterwards Joe was like, 'I look forward to working with you' and I was like, 'Yeah, whatever.' I got a random email from him when I was doing Homos, Or Everyone in America asking me to do a reading of The Boys in the Band and I had to turn it sown because I had rehearsals. They never ended up doing the reading and when we closed the show four months later he ended up asking me again and here we are."

Watch the full #LiveAtFive interview below!