Beautiful People 2009: Broadway Boys

Sweet-faced Curtis Holbrook, 27, has been dancing since he was a kid, but it was actually a traumatic event -- he was beat up by two gang members almost two years ago -- that served as the force and inspiration for the role of Action (from the Jets) in West Side Story. "When the audition rolled around I thought, maybe [the attack] happened for this. It's sad that it had to be that way, but I think about that night every night before 'The Prologue,'" says Holbrook, of the opening number in which the two gangs first come to blows. In the 2006 revival of A Chorus Line, Nick Adams, 25, beat out co-star Mario Lopez for the title of "Best Abs on Broadway," an honor bestowed by the people of New York. "The people voted," Adams says with a wry smile. His ultra-fit form isn't just for looks -- it's necessary in order to perform the graceful yet masculine moves of a gangster scheming through the urban underbelly in Guys and Dolls. "It's rare in a show that they really highlight the men, so this is great for me because we get to play the characters, but we also get to really dance."

"Dolly told me I looked like Jeffrey Dahmer in my costume," Van Hughes recalls with a laugh, referring to one of his roles in the Broadway remake of 9 to 5 as an office employee who wears "these big chunky glasses and a blond combover wig." He also plays the teenage son who puff-puff-passes to his mother and her two co-workers, which sets the tone for the infamous scene during which the women concoct their get-back-at-the-boss fantasy scheme. The 26-year-old insists he's not a "real dancer like Curtis," but the Broadway hipster, fresh from an Apes and Androids concert, in skinny jeans and an American Apparel T-shirt, assures me that he "gets the job done."
WHITNEY SPANER

(l-r) Curtis wears a tank top by Calvin Klein, shorts by Tommy Hilfiger and bracelet by H&M. Nick wears a tank top by Calvin Klein, shorts by Tommy Hilfiger and bracelet by H&M. Van wears a tank top by Calvin Klein and shorts by Tommy Hilfiger.

< BACK TO THE BEATUTIFUL PEOPLE 2009 LIST