Tony Nominee Taylor Trensch on Feeling Brave in Floyd Collins and Remembering Gavin Creel

Taylor Trensch is Broadway’s go-to actor for roles that require sensitivity and depth of feeling—qualities on full display in his Tony-nominated performance as reporter Skeets Miller in Floyd Collins. His Tony recognition is a happy reminder that excellent acting is just as important to the success of a musical as belting the climactic song. In fact, Skeets doesn’t have a solo number in Adam Guettel’s score, but Trensch becomes the heart of the piece during frantic efforts to rescue the title character from an underground cave.

Previously best known as an expert alternate and replacement in shows such as Dear Evan Hansen, The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time and To Kill a Mockingbird, Trensch has had a busy year, with two off-Broadway shows leading up to Floyd Collins. (A five-week run at BAM last fall in the musical Safety Not Guaranteed netted a 2025 Outer Critics Circle Award nomination.) The Tampa, Florida, native, who turned 36 two days after receiving his nomination, spoke thoughtfully with Broadway.com about his work and shared heartfelt memories of his late Hello, Dolly! co-star Gavin Creel.

Dozens of people could have gotten a Tony nomination in the featured actor categories. Were you surprised to see your name?

Completely. I certainly wasn’t expecting to wake up on Tony nomination morning and see my presence among those luminaries.

I loved hearing that you and Kimberly Belflower [Best Play nominee for John Proctor is the Villain] were once roommates. What are the odds?

Isn’t that wild? She was my first roommate in New York City, and I’ve been a fan since she sent me first drafts of her plays back in 2009 and 2010. I could not be more overjoyed for her.

I know you’ve worked with John Proctor nominee Gabriel Ebert [in Matilda]—are there others? I bet we could play Six Degrees of Taylor Trensch.

Yes, this year seems to be a list of everyone I would invite to a birthday party. I’ve known [Dead Outlaw star] Andrew Durand for a million years; Cole Escola [of Oh, Mary!] was one of my first friends in New York. So many of the nominees are people I love, on and off stage.

What was the Tony nominee press event like for you?

Oh, a dream! I got a hug from [Gypsy star] Danny Burstein, and that’s all I’ve ever wanted. He is one of the nicest, most talented people.

Your moving performance in Floyd Collins is doubly remarkable since Skeets doesn’t have his own song. What do you love about the show and the character?

I’ve loved the score since the cast recording was first made available. I think it’s one of the most extraordinary in the musical theater canon, unlike anything else. It’s complicated, it’s challenging, it’s specific regionally and just so beautiful. It’s heavenly, as are all of Adam’s scores. But because Skeets doesn’t really sing, I didn’t know who he was—or even that he was part of the show at all. When I got the audition and read the libretto, I loved the enormous transformation this person goes through. He starts out as this totally goofy, awkward, gangly little guy, and by the end, he’s a man, and one of the bravest people in that tiny town in Kentucky. He’s the one who keeps going underground, trying to make contact with Floyd [played by Tony nominee Jeremy Jordan] and get him out.

It must be special to be directed by Tina Landau, the person who wrote the script.

I’ve admired Tina for so many years, both through her work with the Viewpoints methodology [of ensemble building] and also all the amazing things she has done in New York and Chicago. It was a real treat to have her and Adam in the room with us.

This is your second show [after playing Mordred in Camelot] in Lincoln Center’s Vivian Beaumont Theater. What’s it like to perform on that vast stage, with the audience so close?

It’s the most beautiful theater we’ve got. It’s such a fun challenge as an actor because it sometimes feels like your scene partner is a football field-length away, but there’s an audience member just over your shoulder. The Light in the Piazza was the first Broadway show I ever saw, so it’s doubly meaningful that I get to work in the theater that opened my eyes to what Broadway is.

It’s been eight years since you and the late Gavin Creel played Cornelius and Barnaby in Hello, Dolly! What did you learn from him, and what are your favorite memories of working together?

Gosh. It would be a list of hundreds of millions of things. He is the most open-hearted, generous, playful actor. I learned so much from him about how to be a good member of an ensemble, both on stage and off stage. He took such good care of everybody. He made everybody feel that their contribution to the show was invaluable. When he was shining his light on you, it was the best feeling in the world. I always strive to model that. And in scene work, he’s so spontaneous, so playful—he’s never taking it too seriously, even though he cares very deeply about making theater. He always reminded us to have fun.

I’m touched by the fact that half of the things you just said refer to Gavin in the present tense.

I have pictures of him all over my apartment. For the first few months after he died, I found it very hard to look at the pictures or listen to his voice. Then, on the day of his birthday last month, I suddenly started craving being surrounded by him any way I could. Subconsciously, I’ve started changing the tense when I refer to him.

You’ve been an alternate or replacement in several Broadway shows. What did you learn from that?

The biggest lesson I learned was to try to let go of expectations. Stepping into something—especially something like Dear Evan Hansen, where Ben Platt had given a performance that was universally adored—is scary. It was scary to feel like I was disrupting something that a lot of people cared deeply about. I had to push that out of my mind and just honor what the playwright had written and be a good scene partner for the other actors.

You were brave to be the first replacement for a star who had received that level of acclaim.

[Director] Michael Greif, who I had worked with on the off-Broadway revival of Rent, coached me into having the courage to do it, because I wouldn’t describe myself as a singer. I have sung in shows, but that’s not what I’m bringing to the table. And Dear Evan Hansen was such a challenging sing, it terrified me. But Michael and Benj [Pasek] and Justin [Paul] and Steven [Levenson] took care of me and were super encouraging.

Over the past year, you’ve played Cynthia Nixon’s son [off-Broadway in The Seven Year Disappear] and gotten an Outer Critics Circle nomination for playing the inventor of a time machine in the new musical Safety Not Guaranteed. How does it feel to be so busy?

I’ve been lucky enough to be pretty consistently employed, but what’s been special about the past year is that I’ve gotten to collaborate with people I know and love. Cynthia Nixon and I met a long time ago at a synagogue [event] honoring the late great Bill Finn, and I volunteered when she ran for governor. And the musical at BAM had a book by Nick Blaemire, a friend for the past decade.

Now that you’ve gotten your first Tony nomination, what’s on your theatrical bucket list?

My whole life, I’ve wanted to play Prior [the role created by Tony winner Stephen Spinella] in Angels in America. Other than that, it’s about the people: I just want to work with nice, smart, interesting, cool people.

Who are you taking to the Tonys, and what are you wearing?

I still don’t know the answer to either of those questions. Isn’t that crazy? I have four friends that I would love to bring, so I’m dreading and sweating about who I will have to say no to. As for the clothing, I have no idea. A fabulous ballgown?

You and your friend Cole Escola.

I wouldn’t be able to hold a candle to what they will come up with!