Ace Young, Micah Jesse, Diana Degarmo PHOTO: Moises De Pena/WireImage (EXCLUSIVE)

Ace Young, 29, and Diana DegGarmo, 22, have more in common than being reigning American Idol alums — they are both starring in the thrilling production of HAIR on Broadway!

HAIR tells the story of a group of friends choosing to speak up and sing out in celebration of love, life and freedom. The first great rock musical, it has some of the most rousing and soulful songs ever written for the stage, including “Let the Sun Shine In,” “Easy to be Hard,” “Good Morning Starshine,” “Aquarius” and the infectious title song, “Hair.”

The show is an emotional roller-coaster, featuring exciting vocal performances, thrilling dance numbers, audience participation throughout the theater, cries of empowerment and powerlessness, drugs, sex, and nudity (yes, full nudity!)

The show schedule runs all week long (Tues-Sunday) with double shows on Wednesday and Saturday.

On Weds (Apr 14), MJ went to see the show at Hirschfeld Theater and was totally, completely, and utterly blown away! After the show, we went to dinner with the two leads, Diana (Sheila) and Ace (Berger), to talk about the show, the grueling schedule, life in The Big App, and what it takes to get on Broadway!

Micah Jesse, Ace Young, Diana Degarmo PHOTO: Moises De Pena/WireImage (EXCLUSIVE)

MJ: How do you keep your energy going for all of these shows?

“Sleep,” Degarmo says adamantly, adding “The beauty of this show is, no matter how tired you are, when you hear the [intro music], you just turn right on! The show is its own work out.” Young adds, “For me, it’s a lot of water. I drink about two gallons of water a day and I eat as much as I can, all day. I do like 10,000 calories a week! When the show is running, I see the show as a competition, because that’s all I know. This is the second time I’ve done theater in my life. I did sports. I sang… I workout every day, I lift weights every day. I wake up my body — and then I’m ready to do the show!”

MJ: How have the fans been? Do you guys get recognized everywhere you go?

Ace Young says, “It’s funny because with Hair, I feel like the fans are fans of Hair, whereas American Idol fans don’t really know what Hair is…” Diana adds, “It’s funny because sometimes I can walk around and blend in, and sometimes I get noticed everywhere I go.” Young asserts that “this is the first time two American Idols have ever been in a Broadway show… if we’re together, we’re screwed! We’ll get noticed like that!”

MJ: You both get 100% totally nude at one point in the play — tell me about that! Have you gotten criticism about that? From the fans?

“Diana and I figured out really early on that we were going to do it, because if we didn’t, we’re still those Idols that didn’t do it. We’re happy to do that part of the show. The one thing I want to say to Idol fans is that the show is a history lesson,” says Ace Young, adding, “It’s a different view. It’s the hippie movement, curing things with love and passion, being one with the Earth… it’s a beautiful thing!” Degarmo adds, “I got quite a bit of heat from Idol fans because they know me from when I was 16… but I am a firm believer that if people respect me as a person and as an artist — those fans will stick by me no matter what! I’ve actually found that a lot more have been blow away by Hair. I’ve garnered a whole new respect from people.”

MJ: What does it take to get on Broadway?

“Everything!” Diana and Ace said at the same time. Ace adds, “for me, I would put on shows for my parents’ friends. I would write songs and sing them for anyone that came over. Be comfortable in small environments, because it’s so much harder to sing for 5 people than it is for 500 or even 20,000.” Both Ace and Diana agree that you should take people’s advice, let it hit your heart, then keep working and keep learning.

[Thank you so much to Ace, Diana, the entire cast of Hair, and Molly B for hookin' up the tickets! All photos exclusive: Moises De Pena/WireImage]

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