“Eating Out’s” Chris Salvatore Bares All in “Naked Boys Singing!”

After shattering records with its 20-year, off-Broadway run, Naked Boys Singing! began its Las Vegas residency at the Jewel Box Theatre in September and will run through December 5. 

In the vein of vaudeville and high-camp musical theatre, this new, improved, and fully nude production features a cast of five handsome “boys” with gorgeous voices, hilarious comedic timing, and no clothing. Naked Boys Singing! was created in 1998 and first premiered in Los Angeles before playing in theatres across the country and world. The show was initially marketed to gay men, but its fanbase grew to a wide and diverse audience. 

One of the stars making his Naked Boys Singing! debut is actor Chris Salvatore, who began his entertainment career in 2006, first as a singer/songwriter by posting popular covers to his YouTube channel. Making a move to Hollywood after graduating college, he was cast as one of the leads in the romantic comedy Eating Out: All You Can Eat. The film’s success led Salvatore to star in two more editions of the Eating Out franchise, which quickly gained a cult following and continues to be a favorite among the LGBTQ community. 

Salvatore can be seen in other LGBTQ films including Paternity Leave, Bear City 3, and Catfish Killer, and he recently found even more success after launching an OnlyFans page this past summer. He was able to step away from rehearsal to answer a few questions for OFM. We’ll let you guess whether he was clothed or not.

How excited are you to be a part of this production?
I am so excited, but I was a little bit nervous at first. Even though I had a full front shot in Eating Out, so it’s not new to do projects where there’s nudity, but this is on a whole different level. Like, oh my goodness. Five nights a week for three months on stage naked, it happened so quickly

Can you tell how you initially got involved with Naked Boys Singing!?
Obviously, there were some issues with Aaron Carter, so he was let go, and when they were trying to find some replacements, I received a random phone call from a friend. The role was basically being offered to me, so I looked into it a bit more. It’s funny because I spent the last 10 years trying to run away from the whole Eating Out thing because I felt like it was affecting my career as an actor in other film and TV projects, especially mainstream film and TV projects. 

It’s a different story now, but it felt like I was being put into this category. Like, that’s that guy who was naked in that movie. I think it tainted some casting decisions, and especially higher up producers who are older and not with the times anymore.

That’s why I was nervous. I was afraid this could open up a can of worms, but once I kind of leaned into the nakedness, and especially with my OnlyFans that I launched a couple months ago, which was also a big decision for me, I decided to go for it. 

Eating Out is the movie that made me well-known in the gay community, so why am I trying to delete this from my resume? Why am I trying to not talk about it in interviews? Why am I trying to hide away from this when I get all these lovely messages saying, “This movie helped me come out of the closet,” or, “It helped a friend deal with their sexuality?”

So, I was like, I have to do Naked Boys Singing!, and it has been amazing. The cast is amazing, and everyone is so talented, but the best part is, everyone is so kind, and there are no egos. Everyone gets along; everyone is super sexy and funny; I am having a blast.

Instant chemistry is super important with a production like this.
Oh my God, yes. Everyone is great. I love all these boys. They are so professional, and I think that is what the show needs in order to succeed and do well. We are naked on stage, and there’s not really anything left to be uncovered about this show. We are completely vulnerable, and you need to be around people who are professional, as well as people who you can trust very quickly. We all support each other.

Besides the obvious reasons, what makes Naked Boys Singing! worth checking out?
I have never seen the show or even heard about it before. You hear the title and you’re like, “Naked Boys Singing? Is this a male strip show or something that is hypersexualized?” But when I got the sheet music, started learning, and saw it all blocked on stage, it is the most hilarious show I have ever seen.

 It’s sexy, but even more, it’s just five guys up on stage singing musical comedy theatre. During rehearsals, I will sometimes sit back and watch the other numbers, and I am laughing my butt off. It is so funny, and the novelty of everyone being naked, we are moving and marching, and there’s one number where I am laying across all four other guys. It’s ridiculous, but that’s the point. 

There is a lot of parody in it, and I just love it so much. My expectations were met, and they went beyond. You get to see five guys naked, singing, being silly, and being comfortable with their bodies. Also, it’s not a hyper-masculine show. We all play these characters that are comfortable with their sexuality, and no one is trying to be, like, macho. If there is that, it’s parody. It’s making fun of those type of people in the gay community. 

The show is formatted where you each have your own individual set?
The show opens with a big group number, and then throughout the show, each of us have our own numbers that we do. There is not really a through like to the show, and it doesn’t really have a plot, which is actually one of the lines in one of the songs. It’s kind of like cabaret style. Each person comes out, does a number, and they play a character. There’s a rabbi, there’s the muscle gym guy, and one of my solos is the perky little porn star. I play this porn star from Skokie, Illinois and his mother paid for all these tap and dance classes, tights and leotards, and the song is basically about her not agreeing with his lifestyle of being a porn star. At the end of the song, he talks about how deciding to be a porn star ruined his acting career. It comes full circle.

Besides Eating Out, you have never performed nude in front of a live audience?
Never. I mean, maybe for a boyfriend [laughs]. But never like this, and I love it. Because we are doing this so often, five nights a week, it actually makes me walk taller, prouder, and more confident in my everyday life knowing that clothes are clothes and what really matters is what’s underneath. I know that sounds cliché, but truly, what really matters is on the inside. I think the show brings a lot of heart as well as funny moments.

What do you personally hope to take away from this experience?
I feel like I have already taken away so much, but I would say the biggest takeaway is just the ability to be present on stage while naked. If you’ve ever done theatre, remember people saying, ‘Just imagine me naked in the back and you won’t be nervous?’ It’s so powerful to be up there completely nude, and you’re not as nervous. It’s so bizarre and wild. Like, your mind can’t even process the nerves because you are already up there naked, so you’re like, ‘This is it. This is me.’ There is nothing to hide from. I think that is a really cool takeaway, especially as an entertainer and performer. 

This show really gets you out of your own way as an artist, and all of us guys have talked about how much power it gives us as artists. It is so cool to have that breakthrough. When does anyone ever really get to say they’ve been in a show in Vegas singing naked on stage? I was telling a friend of mine, ‘Imagine when I’m 90 years old, God willing, in a nursing home or wherever I am, talking to the nurse, being like, “There was one time in my 30s when I was in Vegas singing on stage naked.” The nurse would probably be like, ‘There, there honey. Sure, you were.’ It just cracks me up. 

Also, not only have I’ve made four new best friends with my castmates, but this show kind of puts a spotlight on the whole history of sex shaming. Still to this day, I get Instagram messages from people scolding me for starting an OnlyFans. They say things like, ‘I thought you were classier than this to make an OnlyFans,’ or ‘I thought you were classier than this to post that kind of picture in your underwear.’ It’s learning that people who sex shame are only projecting their own issues with sexuality onto you. They aren’t comfortable with themselves, so they point you out.

Sex is a part of all of us. We are here on this earth because your mom and dad had sex, or two people had sex and you were born. It’s funny that in the year 2021, there are still conversations about that. So, I think that is also a big takeaway. Learning that when people have an issue with what I’m doing to pay my bills, and my career, and has nothing to do with them, it’s because they are not 100 percent with themselves. It doesn’t have anything to do with me, and I can walk proudly through my life knowing that.

Have you always had a passion for acting and singing?
I have. I would sing show tunes all the time, and when I was 10 years old, my parents took me to my first Broadway show, which was Phantom of the Opera. My little sister and I made a paper mache chandelier, we hung it up, and we would swing it back and forth from the banister and reenact it. I have always loved singing and musical theater, and it was actually when I saw Jurassic Park when I realized I wanted to be a film actor and do movies.

I wanted to be like the girl that screams when she sees the dinosaur and Dr. Grant covers her mouth. I was like, I would love to do that because when I was younger, I had a very high pitched shrill scream that I would scare my parents with [laughs]. I was always a dramatic kid, and I was always a very wild child. My mom used to call me the Daredevil, so it was always kind of out there, and I guess it’s helped with my artistry as well. Just being daring and courageous, and I think it takes a lot of guts to do a show like Naked Boys Singing!

Has anyone ever mistaken the Eating Out films to be about food?
Oh my god, yes!  I get messages all the time like, “Is Eating Out about going out to a restaurant?” Also, if I am meeting someone new or on a date, I’m like, “I was in these movies called Eating Out.” and they’re like, “Oh, I’ve never heard of them. Are they about restaurants?” I then have to explain that they are about a guy who eats out a girl to prove he is straight. It’s always a laugh. 

Speaking of food, you are clearly in great physical shape. What is your diet and workout regimen like?
I got a trainer a couple months ago. I am the worst at working out on my own. I won’t show up, I will put it off, I will make a million excuses, and naturally, I am super thin and have a super fast metabolism. People hate me for it, but I have to eat so much to gain weight. If I don’t work out, I will just be a bag of bones. Also, of course, there is the body dysmorphia that comes with being a gay man. We have all experienced some form of it. Whether it’s too small or too big, this or that.

I was about a month into training when I learned about Naked Boys Singing!, and I was like, thanks goodness. I have to be naked on stage, this was the perfect time. Basically, I try to work out five times a week with a trainer because otherwise I won’t do it. I know it can be expensive, but it’s an investment in myself that I needed to make because not only does it help my physical health, but it really helps with my mental health.

Everyone these days is suffering from some sort of depression or anxiety, and for me, when I do a really hard workout, my trainer kicks my ass, I always feel better after I leave. Mentally and emotionally, and I honestly think that is the most important. It only makes me want to show up the next time because I get that rush of endorphins. I want to feel that every day. When the pandemic first started and gyms were closed, everyone was trying to figure out how they were going to work out. I was just like, I don’t even want to work out, and I got really depressed. Fitness is a huge part of my mental health.

There is not enough body-positivity in the LGBTQ community. What advice can you give to those who would like to become less insecure about themselves?
To do a show naked (laughs). I know people say things like, “How is this body positivity when you look the way you do?” but it goes much more beyond that. It goes deeper than that, and it is more about being vulnerable. It’s not about the way you look, but it’s about being unapologetically yourself and being OK where you are right now. The advice that I would give anyone struggling with any body dysmorphia is, be OK with where you are now; know that as long as you live life unapologetically yourself, you are on the path to greatness. 

Honestly, that is liberation. I feel like we are haunted by the voices in our heads, and that ego is on repeat all day long telling you you’re not good enough; you’re too fat; you’re too skinny, as well as people on the internet cyber bullying and saying mean comments. It’s just having that strong sense of self in who you are. That your size or shape does not define what’s on the inside, and lead with kindness.

I would like to ask you about your OnlyFans page. What were your thoughts when the platform planned to ban sexually explicit content?
I was very disappointed. I have a lot of friends that do sex work, and I don’t know all the behind-the-scenes stuff that happened with the company, but I was disappointed because I felt like, even if OnlyFans was not intended at first to be as explicit as it is, they basically made all this money off the backs of sex workers. I actually read the terms of service that they were going to implement, and most of the stuff that I was doing would not have crossed the line of what they were planning on banning, but still, that should not be a reason for this company to make a shit ton of money off of all these people and then say, okay, you have one month to figure it out.

They were going to fuck with people’s livelihoods, especially during a pandemic when all these people quit their jobs to go to OnlyFans because they were making a good living. It’s hard work. It’s not like you just sign up, make a page, and charge $9.99 for subscribers and then it just sits there. You are making content. You are networking. You are answering messages. You are providing a service. It’s not this thing where you upload a picture and then sit back and watch the money roll in. No, it’s a job. How they reversed the ban so quickly after they got so much backlash, it’s like, come on. They should have thought this through a little bit harder. I am glad that people spoke up.

Would you have kept your page or gone somewhere else?
I didn’t really think that far ahead. I spoke to a few of my friends that said they thought it would be reversed anyway because of the backlash, but I did get a ton of messages asking if I was going to move to another platform like JustForFans. Honestly, I just started my OnlyFans about a month prior to that announcement, and it was so much work. Setting up a whole different page and figuring it out, I don’t really have the time, so I was like, I am going to put a pin on this and if the ban does get implemented, I will stand proud with my fellow sex worker friends and people in the industry. I probably would have left OnlyFans to support them.

Before we wrap up, do you have any upcoming projects after Naked Boys Singing! you would like to talk about?
Yes! I have new music coming out, which I am very excited about. I am hoping to film a music video soon if my schedule opens up more. I want to really invest in an amazing music video because I haven’t released music in five years, or maybe even longer than that. My sound has completely changed. It’s now more like Tame Impala meets Scissor Sisters and Marina and the Diamonds. A chill, funky, White Stripes vibe, and I am so excited. The type of songs will also be much more about who I am. I am not trying to fit into this pop thing anymore. It’s more of, this is who I am, and I am excited to share my new music with everyone. I don’t have a specific date yet, but it is coming very soon!

Stay up-to-date and connect with Salvatore by following him on Twitter, Instagram, and OnlyFans. Visit the Naked Boys Singing! official website for more information and to purchase tickets.

Photos Courtesy of Chris Salvatore