As the frontman of the popular emo-infused, pop-rock band Panic! at the Disco, Brendon Urie might be expected to play it cool, a little jaded maybe. But ask about his Broadway debut in “Kinky Boots,” as the strait-laced English shoe manufacturer Charlie Price, and he doesn’t bother to hide his giggly excitement — the word “phenomenal” popped up with alarming regularity in a recent conversation.

Barely 30, Urie, who has a boyish charm and friendly energy, had a Mormon upbringing; he left the church at 17, around the time he co-founded Panic! at the Disco while still in high school. The band capped a successful decade last year with its fifth album and first chart-topper, “Death of a Bachelor.” Instead of capitalizing on that hit, Urie decided to take a break from the music industry’s album-tour cycle and leave his Los Angeles home to spend the summer at the Al Hirschfeld Theater, where he starts May 26. Here are edited excerpts from the conversation.

QUESTION: How did you land your first Broadway gig?

ANSWER: I was invited to see the show about 2 1/2 years ago — I’d only seen two other musicals before that: “The Book of Mormon” and “Wicked.” At the finale, the acceptance, the understanding, the compassion that you feel are overwhelming. There was a fire in my chest; I wanted to stand up screaming. Afterward, I met with [the producer] Hal Luftig, and he asked me if I was interested. I said: “In any capacity you want to use me on Broadway, I’m ready to jump in. I will help build sets, I will usher at the door — whatever I can do to be part of this family.”

Q: Were you a fan of Cyndi Lauper’s, who wrote the score?

A: Absolutely! She’s so iconic. “Goonies” was one of my favorite movies, and I think the first song I heard of hers was [launching into falsetto] “good enough!” I listened to the soundtrack a bunch before I saw the play, and you could hear Cyndi in each one of the songs.

Q: A lot of them are surprisingly simpatico with your band’s sound.

A: Panic! is such a theatrical band that it melded really well. Charlie’s songs, especially, have so much emotion. At rehearsal, Brian Usifer, the music director, was giving me notes like, “Think about what he’s going through — this one’s disparaging, this one’s confident.” I treat the script the same way because there’s a kind of musicality to it, especially with the British accent.

Q: Obviously you can sing, but had you thought about acting before?

A: I wanted to be an actor as a kid. My teacher in second grade had called a talent agency and had them call my house. My mom was so mad. She was like, “No, that’s not a life I’m going to put you in.” Understandably, you know — she was just trying to protect me. I fell into music, but I just needed to find the right moment to jump into acting.

Q: Did musicals pass muster with your parents?

A: They loved them. My mom was adamant about me watching musicals: “You need to be cultured.” It wasn’t a weird thing like she needed to educate me — they were just always on. That’s what I was allowed to watch all the time. I used to watch the Broadway “Les Miz” and study it.

Q: You have a tattoo of Frank Sinatra’s face on your forearm. Is he your spirit performer?

A: I fell in love with Sinatra when I was very young. There was a cartoon where they had a part with a microphone stand with a bow tie, and his face with the big ears — they were obviously making fun of how skinny he was. That was the first time he was on my radar. Then there was the Singing Sword in “Roger Rabbit.” [Starts to croon “Witchcraft.”] I wanted to sing like him so bad.

Q: Plus you grew up in Las Vegas.

A: I can’t give enough credit to Vegas. I was an eight-minute drive from the Strip, which is an interesting place, especially for me in a religious household. It wasn’t a wholesome place. We’d go and see Cirque du Soleil and Blue Man Group. We had tapes of Cirque shows at home: “Mystère,” “Saltimbanco.” There was an attraction to the theatricality of it. That was Panic! from the get-go: I wanted to dress up. So I was very much in sync with Broadway in that sense.

Q: What was it like putting on those distinctive red “kinky boots” for the first time?

A: I did the fitting a few months back, and just two days ago I finally tried them on. I was a little worried about the balance — I’ve worn heels before, but these go past the knee. I turned around and said, “I feel right.” This is where I should have been all along — it’s amazing!

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