Telly Leung

One of Broadway's brightest young stars, Telly Leung will perform an intimate concert of classic pop songs at Feinstein's at the Nikko, November 22 and 23. Our conversation took on more than just cabaret singing, including the cultural impact of Broadway classics, television's instant fame, and even World War II internment camps.

Thankfully, the 32-year-old Brooklyn-born talent is also a fast talker. Our discussion started with his early beginnings, as a physics student born to a traditional Chinese family. When did performing upstage science?

"I think the arts were always in my head," said Leung in a phone interview from New York City. "I'd like to think it's in all of our heads, that we are all innately born with a love of the arts. It just takes the right opportunity and a little bit of insanity to create it."

Leung's high school leap from calculus to performing arts led to his college studies at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh. But his parents at first didn't appreciate his goals. Having escaped the Maoist "cultural revolution" in South Canton province, they immigrated via Hong Kong, and settled in Brooklyn before the birth of Telly, their only child, where they worked hard to make a living.

"To my parents, being immigrants, 'success' was always something that was linked to money," said Leung. "They know the idea that to leave Communism in China, you get to keep every dollar you earn. But nowhere in there was the idea of getting to choose what you want to do. It was my choice and freedom; those were new ideas to them. I feel like I'm the other part of the American Dream that they learned from me."

Despite his success in hit Broadway shows Wicked, Rent, and the acclaimed revivals of Flower Drum Song, Pacific Overtures, and Godspell, Leung said his parents still don't exactly understand why a show closes, that "they then ask me if I'm done with show business."

Done? Not by a long shot. Along with being a featured member of the Dalton Warblers in the TV show Glee, Leung has delved into indie film production, he's recorded two CDs, and he teaches performing arts students around the country.

In part, Leung credits his training at Carnegie Mellon University, which he described as "the ultimate trade school." Switching majors was not easy, but ultimately he performed in several featured and lead roles while studying acting, singing and dance. One of the difficulties he mentioned was how students in different majors don't cross paths on campus.

"It's a very intense program, very specific, yet so concentrated that you rarely interact with others," he said. "I only got to experience the small drama field."

Because of that training, however, fans describe the actor-singer-dancer as a triple threat, but Leung is more modest, calling himself "an actor who does other things."

Those 'other things' include his cabaret show, which sold out its run at Manhattan's Below 54. I'll Cover You includes American songbook classics and even some pop favorites.

"My first love was always singing, the storytelling part," said Leung. "It's when I get to interpret a show outside of a musical character; it's me interpreting a song, reshaping a piece of music."

All for the Best

One of the Broadway roles he played, however, became more personal. For the 2011 Godspell revival, the actors (including Hunter Parrish as Jesus) received scripts with the roles simply named after the original actors.

"We play ourselves, basically," said Leung. "The show is meant to change every night, and bring in current events. We came up with our own bits. For example, the old script had a Mae West impression. By the time we did our production, it was the presidential election, right during primaries, and the Republican Party was looking for a candidate, so we had a wealth of topical material. The script is based on our talents and personalities. I'm Chinese-American, I play the piano and I do impressions. That was how I interpreted the text and the parables."

Equally intense, but more character-driven, was Leung's role as Boq in the first Chicago production of Wicked, which starred Ana Gasteyer as Elphaba.

"The entire six-week run sold out in a day," said Leung. "So the producers decided to leave the show in Chicago to meet the demands of the Midwest market. It was kind of a risk at the time. They'd never sat a show down in Chicago. The closest was a production of Joseph [and his Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat]. "

Leung said the cast was half New York imports and half Chicago performers, including Steppenwolf Theatre veterans. He recalled how Ana Gasteyer, in "redefining herself," post-Saturday Night Live, took one of the most difficult roles in musical theatre, and, he said, "She made it her own."

Leung had auditioned in New York for his role, and even composer Stephen Schwarz, a fellow Carnegie Mellon alumnus, spoke up specifically for Leung's casting. But the actor says that something else helped him snag the role.

"I talked to [director] Joe Mantello," who had not chosen him at the audition. "He said, 'I saw you in Pacific Overtures. That's why you got the job.'"

From that experience, Leung offers a bit of knowledge in his student workshops. "You never know when you're really auditioning."

When he's not teaching as an adjunct professor at the faculty of New York University's New Studio, Leung's also producing a few other performers' multi-city tours.

The Other Generation

As one of few prominently out gay male Asian actors, Leung has performed in the hit revivals of iconic musicals, and one new show about the life of another gay Asian actor.

Leung's Broadway debut in the 2002 revival of Flower Drum Song was performed with a revised book by David Henry Hwang (M Butterfly, Chinglish). The award-winning playwright, with the permission of the Rodgers & Hammerstein estate, was able to update the musical and make it more relevant.

"The original kind of skirted around the racist ideas," said Leung, "particularly about what it was like to become Americanized. That's something I absolutely relate to. I feel like I have one foot in my traditional and American upbringing. I embrace my hyphenated identity, because I'm also just an American kid. That's what Henry wanted to address head on. I think it's very important that every kind of generation is represented in that show. The revival took those stereotypes and owned them, using them in a new way. I was also proud to be in a show with an all-Asian cast."

Leung later costarred in the 2005 revival of Stephen Sondheim's Pacific Overtures, adding to his resume of classic Asian-themed shows. And, in 2012, he performed in a sold-out San Diego run of a new drama, George Takei's autobiographical Allegiance, which tells of his experience during World War II as a family among thousands of U.S. citizens placed in internment camps simply for being Asian. That show may be headed to Broadway soon.

Leung spoke highly of Takei and actor BD Wong, both of whom are openly gay, as role models.

"They have unique careers and their personal journeys," said Leung. "I don't know if I would have a career without people like that. Now that I know them on a personal level, it's just so amazing."

Of Takei and his 1960s role in Star Trek, Leung said, "He was the only recurring Asian character on TV. It was so groundbreaking; the alien story lines were made to address issues of race, but the cast was just also so diverse. It was kind of subversive."

Leung made parallels between Takei's youthful experience and his own living in New York City in 2001.

"Had we not learned a lesson from the egregious rounding up of Japanese Americans, things might have become worse after 9/11," he said. "We took away their basic civil liberties. If we had not done that to Asian Americans, it could have been much worse today."

Dealing with issues of race, racism, and racially-blind casting are aspects of Leung's life and career, who said that he's proud to play specific roles, but also those where producers are more open, as with Godspell, and in Wicked, which deals with prejudice against a person's skin color (green).

"It wasn't the token thing, either," said Leung. "It was one of those things that there is a sense of not tokening. I felt like show like Godspell was great for that as well."

Another actor Leung mentioned was John Cho, who played Takei's character Sulu in the remakes of Star Trek. With his role on the TV show Selfie, "He's sort of playing Professor Higgins from Pygmalion. Nothing is race-specific and there's finally a leading man in a network sitcom."

Gleeful

Speaking of TV, did you know that Leung was originally called to audition for the role of Blaine Anderson in the Fox musical comedy Glee ? Although the role went to Darren Criss, Leung was asked back for a role as Wes Montgomery, a senior member of the Dalton Academy Warblers.

"Darren plays it perfectly, so it's all good," said Leung who performed in eight episodes of the show from 2010-2011.

Asked about that now mega-famous first scene where Criss leads the Warblers in a choral cover of Katy Perry's "Teenage Dream," and its impact, Leung said he was both aware and surprised.

"I did know, when I got the job and got to hear Darren's version of the song, that I liked it as a fan. I'm not surprised that it took off. But I don't think anybody expected the response."

The song sold more than 200,000 downloads in its first week, and remains the bestselling single from the show's many soundtracks.

As for Leung's participation as the stern �"and straight�" chorus senior, "The producers told me I would be in one or two episodes, then I'd be done," he said. "But America kind of fell in love with this group of preppy school boys," and more episodes with scenes at Dalton Academy (actually a private estate in Pasadena) continued. Thus began Leung's frequent flying from New York to Los Angeles.

"That's the wonderful thing about TV shows like this; they write it as they go," said Leung. "I remember the day after the first Warblers episode aired. We were already shooting another episode and Darren said, "Katy Perry just tweeted me!"

Although his character is straight, Leung remains proud of his participation in on of TV's more prominent gay storylines.

"Overnight, it was what everyone was talking about," said Leung. "This teenage gay relationship was treated with so much love and respect. I'm part of something that's not just a great job."

Of his hyper-enthused fan base, who make animated gifs of shots from the show, including Leung's best moments, he remains humble.

"Doing Glee, I realized that I'm part of something bigger than the job, that will effect generations," he said. Leung said he feels the same way about such now-iconic shows as Rent, which, he noted, "changed the way everyone thought about theatre."

Leung's fandom overseas surpasses his Glee co-stardom. He described the hundreds of fans who waited outside the theatre after each night of a month-long run of Rent in Tokyo (Leung played the character Angel). He and his costars were met after each show by hundreds of adoring fans, many of whom presented handmade gifts.

"As a young theatre fan, I would stage-door all the time," said Leung. "As an actor, I know now to take the time. I never miss meeting fans. It's part of the job, especially if they've waited for you."

The Producer

Another of Leung's accomplishments is producing the short film Grind, a gay-themed tale of hook-ups gone awry.

"Actors are always at the bottom of the totem pole in creating," said Leung. "I finally decided I wanted to do the hiring. The fact that I started talking about the film, the more people said yes, because they believed in it. What I got out of it is learning how to produce and sit on the other side."

The idea for Leung's show stemmed from a lull in performing when New York City was struck by both a musicians' strike and a blizzard, which forced Flower Drum Song to close after only four months.

"I didn't feel done, and I needed an artistic outlet," said Leung, who, aided by Gary Adler, assembled a multi-talented three-piece ensemble. "I basically stole the band from Avenue Q."

Leung's regular drummer can't tour now. His Feinstein's band includes local Grammy-nominated drummer Jim Zimmerman. Leung's repertoire ranges from pop hits to classics.

"To me it's scary to do this, kind of frightening," Leung said of the intimacy of a cabaret show. "It's not me behind anybody or a character. The biggest lesson I learned is that 'you are enough,' you can trust yourself. And if I can tell a story through music and make that connection in an intimate room, it's so special. Singing songs that people know but hear in a different way; I feel like that's really important. They can learn something about me that they can't find elsewhere, they can let me share that kind of fearless generosity."

Telly Leung performs at Feinstein's at the Nikko, November 22 & 23, 7pm. $35-$50. Hotel Nikko, 222 Mason St. www.tellyleung.com www.ticketweb.com

 

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