Kate Zambreno

"Congratulations, Chester!" people are coming up to Chester Gregory on Wabash Street, outside of a Columbia College building. The Columbia alum recently heard the news that he's been tapped to travel on a time warp to Baltimore by way of the Big Apple. The thirty-year-old actor, best known for making women swoon as the titular crooner in the Black Ensemble Theater's long-running production of the "Jackie Wilson Story," just heard the news that he's been cast for a major role in the Broadway hit "Hairspray."

"Two weeks ago I was like, what am I going to do this summer," Gregory laughs. "It's funny how everything changes." Although he barely remembers seeing the John Waters flick the stage version is based on, the musical about a heavy white girl trying to get on a TV dance show made an impression. "I was blown away," he says. "It was everything--the direction, the choreography, the energy, not only the energy but the chemistry the cast had." In fact, although people told him they could see him as Seaweed J. Stubbs, the rebellious black teenager that's one of the male leads, "it's so good it never dawned on me to audition for it."

And even now, he can't believe his big break. "I'm really excited but, at the same time, it's kind of surreal," he says. Back to the reality of Gregory's not-yet celebrity. "Hey," he greets a security guard hanging out in the lobby. She doesn't recognize him from his school days. ""You don't remember me?" he asks. "Your face is kind of familiar," the guard hesitates. "What, that was only eight years ago," his laughter booms across the sidewalks outside.

(2003-06-25)

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