O-Town's Ashley Parker Angel Gets Back Into the Boy Band Game with Wicked #OutOfOz Entry
Ashley Parker Angel is the latest star to reinvent a song from the hit musical Wicked for its #OutOfOz: Wicked Studio Sessions video series, and he’s doing so with a little help from his friends.
The O-Town singer, 37, channeled his boy bands roots for the tongue-in-cheek video, covering “What Is This Feeling?” alongside fellow Wicked alums Kyle Dean Massey, Jeff Heimbrock, Daniel Quadrino, and Jeremy Thompson.
PEOPLE has the first look at the clip from the popular YouTube series — which has seen stars like Jennifer Nettles and Wicked alums like Idina Menzel, Kristin Chenoweth, Aaron Tveit, and Annaleigh Ashford take a new stab at Stephen Schwartz’s beloved score.
Forming their own Wicked boy band, the group of guys turned the tune — traditionally a duet between foes Glinda and Elphaba — into a classic late-’90s pop ballad, complete with five-part harmony and synced choreography.
There’s even a moment where Angel gives the camera a wink, a move pulled directly from the Backstreet Boys/’NSYNC playbook.
RELATED: Original Wicked Stars Kristin Chenoweth and Idina Menzel Look Back on Show’s 15th Anniversary
Wicked opened on Broadway on Oct. 30, 2003, and has gone on to become a cultural phenomenon — winning over 100 international awards (including three Tonys) and earning over $4.7 billion in global sales, with performances in over 100 cities across 16 countries around the world. Over 60 million people have seen the show worldwide.
Based on the novel by Gregory Maguire, the musical tells the story of the witches popularized in The Wizard of Oz, but from their perspective. Book writer Winnie Holzman adapted the tale, while Schwartz penned its Grammy-winning score. Songs like “Defying Gravity,” “Popular” and “For Good” have gone on to become mainstays in the musical theatre lexicon.
In October, the show celebrated its 15th year Broadway anniversary.
To honor of the milestone, original stars Kristin Chenoweth and Idina Menzel reunited to perform and host on NBC’s A Very Wicked Halloween special. A cavalcade of special guests — including Ariana Grande, Adam Lambert, Ledisi, Pentatonix and members of the past and present company of Wicked — were also on-hand for the show.
“I never thought I’d be in anything that lasted 15 years, let alone 15 seconds,” Chenoweth, 50, told PEOPLE. “Nothing lasts this long. This has lasted longer than any of my romantic relationships! It’s amazing.”
“It feels profound,” added Menzel, 47. “It’s an honor to have this opportunity to commemorate Wicked, but it also forces you to look back on your life and see what the experience has taught you, where you’ve come from, what your journey’s been like … I feel very emotional and reflective.”
RELATED VIDEO: Wicked Heading to NBC for 15th Anniversary Concert with Original Stars — and Ariana Grande!
Meanwhile, Angel has been busy on Broadway since O-Town disbanded in 2003. He joined the cast of Hairspray in 2007 as teen idol Link Larkin, and danced through life in Wicked as Fiyero from July 2017 to July 2018.
O-Town, which was formed on the first season of the MTV-produced reality television series Making the Band in 2000, had a sea of singles including “Liquid Dreams,” “All or Nothing” and “We Fit Together.”
Bandmates Erik-Michael Estrada, Trevor Penick, Jacob Underwood and Dan Miller reunited as a quartet in 2013 after Angel turned down the offer.
