If only the kids at school had been so supportive.

“Something happens in that summer between sixth and seventh grades where kids all of a sudden grow way the hell up or not at all,” Groban reminisced during a recent interview in Toronto.

“You have in seventh grade this half and half of mini-adults who are kissing girls and trying cigarettes, and then you’ve got people who are still literally children. I was 13 going on 10, basically. I was shy and sensitive and was not playing on the football team, so yeah, it was hard for me to make friends.

Music thought to be the ticket.

Singer Josh Groban,       Wik Cmns, C.Simon

“Music was my way of building confidence,” he added. “I made a lot of friends that way, but any time you stick your neck out and decide to be different, you’re going to have people who are going to respond to that.

“And usually if people see something they don’t understand or they’re not intelligent enough to understand, the first response is going to be negative.”

But thanks to the unwavering enthusiasm of his teachers and parents, Groban’s appreciation for musical theatre endured — and now, the Grammy nominee has celebrated his 25-year love affair with Broadway with the recently released “Stages.”

Already certified gold in Canada, the record finds the 34-year-old interpreting stage standards both broadly famous (“Over the Rainbow,” “Pure Imagination”) and not (“Finishing the Hat” from “Sunday in the Park with George,” “Anthem” from “Chess”).

Groban is hardly the first prospector to search for gold in “Rainbow,” and knowing that much of the planet was at least faintly familiar with certain selections only increased the pressure to deliver.”