Greg is based on a mixture of Chris Chadman and Michael Stuart, who played him. Greg is an older (32) dancer who's done it all. He's been over sexed, over-drunk, and over-drugged. He's a true hedonist, but really loves his work, because it's just playing to him. But he knows it's going to end one day, especially when he hears Sheila, who's 2 years younger than him, talk about getting 'old.'
He is kind of a grand figure, for two reasons. First, he is really into clothes. Chris Chadman said "I was the only dancer who lived on the East Side. I always dressed up. But really, I read all these magazines, and everyone who was wealthy had nice clothes. I beleived in positive thinking. I thought, 'Well maybe if I dress successful, I'll be successful.'" The funny part about his line in his monologue, is that he thinks he's going to have worse clothes as a gay man, instead of being a clothes horse, like many gay men
are.
Second, he's grand because despite his good-time tendancies, he is insecure about his looks. The original Greg was not especially attractive, and part of his grand aire (Darlings! I just take one day at a time...)was to cover up his own insecurity. Regardless, he is still probably very into drugs, disco, and leather and stuff like that.
Two scenes that were cut from the show featured Greg. One had him confronting Al about Al's homophobia. They actually got into a fist fight in the show! This really doesn't define Greg's character, but it shows his realtionship with Al. In a second scene, Zach had
momentarily left the auditioners alone. In it, Greg takes a moment to parody Zach, directing questions at the other auditioners. Greg has most likely worked with Zach before, so that may account for why he is so smart-alecky with Zach at his "name"
Greg is friends with the stage right clicque (Connie, Cassie, Sheila, Bobby) and even jokes with Bobby during his monologue. He probably knows Diana and possibly Paul as well.
Background info on Chris Chadman: He was from NYC, and used to go to summer resorts in the Catskills with his classes with all these old people, but there was this one little girl. The dance teacher put them together, choreographed a routine, and voila a dancer was born.
Chris danced ten years in competative ballroom.
Later, he went to the HS for Performing Arts, but had a really hard time. He was not very good at ballet, and the school kept him out of performances for several years, encouraging him to drop out. But he refused, saying "I didn't care, all I wanted to do was dance. I was always running into things, covered with bruises, but as long as I was dancing I was happy."
Chris became one of Bob Fosse's main dancers, and he ended up not doing ACL to do Chicago instead (he was also in Pippin) He later had the chance to play Greg, the character based on his own life. He was also friends with the actress on whom Richie was based, so Greg might be friends with Richie, too.
