Gossip Boy Ed Westwick Loves Show Tunes, Old Gays

Gossip Girl baddie Chuck Bass, aka actor Ed Westwick hung out last night in NYC's West Village at the lovely basement bar, Marie's Crisis on Grove Street, deep in the heart of the super-gay Christopher Street hood. Why? Here are some multiple choice options:

A.  He loves show tunes. Marie's Crisis, where Ed and his Gossip Girl bud Jessica Szohr were hanging, is known as the most legendary haunt for musical theater queens. Every night gays cram down the stairs to the below-street-level joint to sing-along as a piano player plonks out songs from Little Shop of Horrors, Les Mis and Cabaret.

B.  He loves the gays. Yep, while Marie's welcomes anybody, 95% of the clientele are gents who still get a sparkle in their eye recalling their high school production of Pippin.

C.  He loves history. Marie's Crisis is ancient. In fact, Thomas Paine (remember him from American Lit in 11th grade?) wrote one of his big scribes here. Either Common Sense or The Rights of Man or one of those. And he died in the building. Also, Bette Midler's first apartment in NYC was upstairs, too. The building just oozes austerity.

D.  He loves a drink. Yep, the hooch at Marie's is a bargain. With generous vodka-crans doled out for $4, betcha can't drink just one.

E.  All of the above.

Get the answer after the jump!

I'm going with E. And to his credit, the lovely little British Ed seemed to be having a fun and low-key time. He was chatting with regulars at the bar, enjoying the sing-along antics of all the show gays (and the brassy, stout singing waitress), and looking kinda cute in his SuperFriends T-shirt and his leather jacket.

I always figure an actor-boy who's gonna hang out 'til the wee hours with a bunch of older gays in a basement bar in the Village must be straight. If he were closeted, he'd run for the hills before setting foot in Marie's. Or maybe he'd first bust out some Fosse moves to "Mein Herr" and then flee.

I'm not sure if Ed left before I did or not. I was too wrapped up in my cocktail and belting out my stunning rendition of "I Sing The Body Electric" from Fame to notice who left first, him or me.

Evidently, Ed and all of his Gossip-y costars had been at Bowery Ballroom earlier last night for some big Ray-Ban sunglasses event. You can ogle a pic from that below.