Max Crumm
Aaron Maximillian "Max" Crumm (born October 8, 1985) is an American actor and singer known for their work on the New York stage. They have originated starring roles on Broadway in both the revival of "Grease" as Danny Zuko, after winning NBC's talent search competition, "", and in Seth Rudetsky's "Disaster!" as Scott, after playing the role Off-Broadway. They also played starring roles in "The Fantasticks" as Matt, "The Evolution Of Mann" as Henry Mann, "Hot Mess" as Max, "Brooklyn Crush" as Christian Mohammed Schwartzelberg, and in "Jersey Shoresical" as The Situation. Early life and education . Crumm was born in Pasadena, California and grew up in Phoenix, Arizona. They were cast in their first musical, "Anything Goes", at the age of 6, as a tap dancing sailor with their parents' theatre company, Ahwatukee Foothills Theatre. Also with their parents' company, Crumm played Jack in "Into the Woods" and the Wizard in "The Wizard of Oz". Once they were older, Crumm ventured into children's theatre in Downtown Phoenix, and started out in a children's sketch comedy group at Valley Youth Theatre. Crumm then went on to be cast in "Grease" (twice; once as Doody, once  as Kenickie), "Titanic" and "The Wiz" in the main stage productions at The Herberger, also with Valley Youth Theatre. At Desert Stages Theatre, they played the Grinch in "How the Grinch Stole Christmas!", the Prince in "Cinderella", Linus van Pelt in "You're a Good Man, Charlie Brown" and numerous roles in original musicals created by owner Gerry Cullity. Crumm was also part of a traveling group of performers affiliated with Desert Stages. They graduated from Desert Vista High School in 2003 and then moved to Los Angeles, with their best friend Kelly May, to pursue a career in acting , by attending the American Academy of Dramatic Arts in Hollywood. Career. In March 2006, Crumm landed a principal role in the indie-film "Echoboom". On July 24, 2007, they made their Broadway debut in "Grease" as Danny Zuko, alongside the female winner Laura Osnes as Sandy. After a year on Broadway, Crumm and Osnes played their final performances as Danny and Sandy on July 20, 2008. They were both replaced by "" runner-up Ashley Spencer and Derek Keeling. While in Los Angeles, they took a temporary hiatus from theatre to appear in several films. Crumm appeared in the Screen Gems  comedy, "Easy A", as Pontius; the film co-starred Max's childhood friend Emma Stone and Amanda Bynes, and was released in the fall of 2010. Shortly after returning to New York City in 2011, Crumm starred in the original musical "JERSEY SHOREsical: A Frickin' Rock Opera" as "The Situation". The musical was written by Daniel Franzese, Hanna LoPatin and directed by Drew Droege. The cast also featured "RuPaul's Drag Race" star Derrick Barry. "Shoresical" ran from September 21 to September 24, 2011 at the New York Fringe festival. In March 2013, Crumm originated the lead role of Christian  Mohammed Schwartzelberg in the off-Broadway rock musical "F#%king Up Everything". On July 29, 2013, Crumm took part in the reading of new comedy play, "You're Really Not Helping" alongside Daphne Rubin-Vega, Kevin Spirtas, and Aaron Simon Gross. Crumm appeared on the popular web series "It Could Be Worse", created by fellow Broadway actors, Wesley Taylor and Mitchell Jarvis. In February 2014, Crumm joined the cast of the Off-Broadway production of the musical, "Disaster!" for 2 months until it closed in April 2014. On April 27, 2014, Crumm was cast as Hoover in the reading of "Brave  New World: The Musical", which was adapted from the classic Aldous Huxley novel of the same name. The reading took place in Manhattan. The cast at this private reading included Colin Hanlon as Director Thomas Mond, Andrew Keenan-Bolger as Bernard, Andrew Kober as John, Julia Mattison as Lenina and Keala Settle as Linda. Also, in April 2014, it was announced that Crumm would play Linus, a new series regular on season 2 of the popular web series WALLFLOWERS, shown on www.Stage17.tv (a new website for Broadway themed television shows). On July 8, 2014, Crumm took over the lead male  role of Matt in "The Fantasticks" Off-Broadway at the Snapple Theater Center complex in the heart of Times Square. They continued with "Disaster!" as Scott through its Broadway production, which opened in March 2016. Personal life. In January 2021, Crumm publicly came out as non-binary, using the pronouns they/them.