I can't say what a high school yearbook might have looked like, but my son had been speaking to someone who attended the Cincinnati Conservatory with Randy.
Actually, Jeff brought the subject up with the guy because apparently one of the Elphaba's from Wicked--Shoshanna Beam--had been a classmate of his. But the guy went on to mention that another of his classmates had been rather successful. Jeff couldn't wait to call and tell me, and he was hideously disappointed that I was able to guess the mystery student. I wouldn't usually, but I happened to have seen a Playbill recently that mentioned his alma mater.

The other actor, whose entire name Jeff never bothered to get, said that Randy tried out for a number of parts there that he didn't get, and he snarkily commented on his playing a teenager, when he wasn't. I thought that was being unnecessarily bitchy (a true measure of success for Randy, when classmates are bitchy about you)considering we weren't talking about a forty year old playing a teenager--he was only three years out of his teens, not too big a stretch!

Thanks for the story. Sure sounds like jealousy to me! Randy was very convincing as a 17 yo I thought, which is something to be proud of. At 23, he really didn't look much different than he did in that HS picture.

He still looks incredibly young, it's hard to believe he's 31--actually, he's 31 today, if I'm not mistaken. I remember reading his birthdate, and thinking that he was being born while I was sitting at brunch at Windows on the World, celebrating my one month wedding anniversary, not knowing that my apartment was being burglarized!

Not a great association! Actually tomorrow (2 Nov) is Randy's 31st b-day. (Today happens to be mine. :-) The 31st anniversary of my 18th b-day!)

Ah, Happy Birthday. You're the third person I know with their birthday on November 1st. I do like the way you count it. So, tomorrow will be the 31st anniversary of my taking inventory of what was stolen, and vowing not to spend another night in that building until they did something about the security!

Somebody's definitely jealous and maybe a bit bitter. It's actually a pretty dumb comment coming from an actor. Lots of actors play teenagers when they're in their twenties. Some more convincingly than others. It's not exactly unheard of, lol.

Without having spoken to the guy myself, I wouldn't have known if jealousy was prompting the part about not having gotten the roles in college--because that could have been saying "look how far someone came," but the bit about playing a teenager was what clinched it. How sour our grapes are today, aren't they. Anyway, when I look at those early episodes, I think that Randy could have played a 12 year old without raising any eyebrows!
Well, truthfully, I think he still could, given the right clothing.
That was what had upset me so much when I first watched the show, since little blond son was also 12, and I kept thinking of him with someone like Brian.
Of course, now I would think of my son with someone like Brian as a good thing, but my son would never go for Brian, not because he was too old, but because he was too well to do. I think Jeff runs credit and ncome checks on his potential friends and boyfriends and only accepts the ones who need financial, emotional, mental or parental support--or ideally, all of the above!
"Mom, I found another lost boy for you." Makes me feel like Fagan in reverse.