‘The First Time’: Andrew Rannells

Andrew Rannells took over Netflix this week as the Tony-nominated Broadway star both appears in the musical comedy The Prom and returns to voice the “gay bully” for the fourth season of the animated series Big Mouth.

In the latest installment of The First Time, Rannells reminisces about the first CD he purchased, his first Broadway performance, and the time he manhandled Phylicia Rashad in order to get to Lena Horne.

Rannells reveals in the video interview that the first album he ever bought was Miami Sound Machine featuring Gloria Estefan’s 1985 album Primitive Love. “It had such hits as ‘Conga’ and ‘Bad Boys.’ That was the first time I had purchased something like an album with my own money, like I saved up for it and got it.”

As for the first song that made him cry — albeit “manufactured tears” — Rannells says, “I used to like to do music videos in my mirror, and I remember doing a really fierce lip-sync alone to Kate Bush’s ‘This Woman’s Work.’ Did I understand the intricacies of this song? No. Did I know what it was about? No. But it seemed real moody and sad and her voice is so beautiful and the song is so beautiful. I shared a room with my brother at the time, and when I knew I was going to be alone, I could do it.”

Elsewhere in the interview, Rannells talks about attending the Judds concert in his native Nebraska in the Eighties, his first prom experience, and why he’s so proud of his work on Big Mouth this season.