Summer Awakening for Skylar?

Skylar Astin

As Georg/Dieter in the 2007 Tony Award-winning musical of German teens teeming with hormones, this Jewish 21-year-old finds it all so germane, while winning acclaim for his piano-playing performance in roles that rock the stage with rage at the Eugene O'Neill Theatre.

It's been a long day's journey into nihilism for these 1890s kids, dealing with regimented mentality while redirecting their minds to sex and opportunities.

A German-Jewish union of spirit for Skylar?

"Actually," says the actor, known to his parents as Skylar Lipstein, "I've approached the character as a Jewish character."

He was approached early on, starring in the show's inchoate innovative production long before Broadway was on its hit horizons. But then, Astin didn't have to camp out for the part -- much as he did for others: Astin's protean talents were profiled early on as he attended the prestigious -- and legendary -- Stagedoor Manor summer camp in New York, where, in a manner of speaking, would-be stars are allowed to spark as brilliantly as the bonfires that serve as makeshift marquees.

He found le happiness in "Les Miz," starring as Jean Valjean. "I was one of the older kids lucky to have a leading role," he recalls.

Victor Hugo's Number 24601 is now a No. 1 draw on Broadway in this chic Duncan Sheik/Steven Sater satisfying musical, which Astin assigns the sobriquet "ahead of its time."

But the time has come for the actor himself, as he prepares to end his run in the show and go on to other things; Act I cedes to acting, too. Film and other plays await.

He's Got Steam Heat
Not bad for a kid who found his theatrical awakening pre-"Spring Awakening," enrobed in a role in "The Pajama Game" at his local JCC in Tenafly, N.J.

Hot? The kid's got steam heat: Fame and fortune and ... fickle?

Not Astin, whose only life change has been one of fields of dreams -- from a sports dude to stage dude. As for his friends, he may have bragging rights to success, but that's not a rite that registers with him. "I've never been one to say, 'You've got to come see my show.' I'm not a self-promoter."

In the two-faced world that theater can be -- unsurprisingly, he fell in love with musicals, seeing "Jekyll & Hyde" at age 9 -- the fresh-faced Astin maintains an even keel in the kill-or-be killed atmosphere that cowls many.

That's not his aura; to be or not to be famous has never fazed him, but he's had an opportunity to run the line auditioning for his latest part.

Next month, Astin is set to astound in the movie "Hamlet 2," a raucous, irreverent exam of a loser-of-a-teacher who corrals students into staging a definitely un-PC version of "Hamlet."

Bored with the Bard? Audiences won't be after seeing this version, chuckles the actor who gives up the ghost with some movie magic, which may prove to be quite a summer awakening.