Ashley Parker Angel Shows Off His 2014 Abs Of Steel, Talks Turning Down O-Town Reunion And Joining The Cast of ‘Wicked’

Ashley Parker Angel burst on to the music scene in 2000 when he and four other guys were assembled into a hit-making boy band O-Town on the ABC/MTV competition show "Making the Band."

O-Town split up in late 2003 and the five musicians parted ways. However, when the group decided to reunite in 2013, Angel decided to opt-out. Instead, he has spent 2014 focusing on his acting career and was just cast as Fiyero in "Wicked" for the hit show's national tour.

While discussing his new acting role in a Nov. 2014 article for Out, and showing off his killer abs, Angel revealed his first experience with "Wicked," one of the most popular musicals in today's theatre world.

"Well, like a lot of people I had grown up with the Wizard of Oz. I had heard about the show [Wicked] for years, but didn't have a chance to see it until I was living in New York," explained Angel. "I was playing Link Larkin in Hairspray on Broadway and, because I have the same exact schedule as every other show on Broadway -- everyone has Mondays off, no one performs on Mondays -- it was really hard to go see shows."

"The very first opportunity I got -- I had lost my voice that night or something and my understudy had to go on -- I bought a ticket to see Wicked. I had one of those experiences where, after the curtain drops, I was just glued to my seat," he continued. "My mind was blown. From that moment I was like, it would be so incredible to be in this show someday. Quite a few people had already said to me, 'God you'd be the perfect Fiyero!' So of course I was elated when, a few years later, this opportunity came my way. I couldn't have been more excited."

As for skipping out on the highly buzzed-about O-Town reunion tour, Angel confesses that he chose to forgo that path because he's more passionate about his acting career.

"You know, it's really hard because I had the time of my life in O-Town," said Angel. "When the time came to start talking about a reunion -- and that conversation has been happening for quite a while, even back when I was in Hairspray. The guys talked about the possibility of getting together. And at that point in time, I didn't know what sort of trajectory I was going to be on. What happened in O-Town for the fours years we were in it, there were some pretty big film opportunities that I had booked, a couple of really big movie roles, but I couldn't take the time off from the band to be in a movie. And of course, I was so grateful for the opportunity to be in O-Town, but it was also kind of frustrating. I've always been the kind of guy that likes to look 5 years ahead, and acting was always something I wanted to do."

"I know the time it takes to be in a band and also to try and launch a reunion, especially after you've stepped away from it for a while -- it's not easy. It's time consuming," he added. "So I just had to have that heart to heart with myself and ask myself if this was really something that was exciting to me, or if that chapter had its place in my life back then. I think I'm just more of excited right now about these kinds of opportunities, and if I had done the O-Town reunion, I wouldn't have been available for Fiyero in Wicked."

Ashley clarified that he wishes his former bandmates loads of success as they step back into their O-Town shoes.

"They decided to go ahead and do it and I'm so supportive," said Angel. "We're all really great friends, and they're all so supportive of me, and I've been so supportive of them. I think they understand, because they remember when we were back in O-Town how much I wanted to get involved in the acting world. Their new album is great, their new music is great, their new video, "Skydive" was their new single and it turned out awesome. They're back out on the road and they're doing it. And I couldn't be more happy for them."

Tags
Ashley Parker Angel
O-town
reunion
boy band
wicked
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