Salina is the drag persona of Jason De Puy. De Puy is someone I first met while he was in college working on his degree in musical theater. He did book a few gigs: two runs as Don in local productions of A Chorus Line and also a role in Celebration Theater’s production of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert. The opportunity to do drag soon appealed to De Puy, though he was a bit reluctant, and thus Salina was born.

Salina is one of the cagelles in La Cage Aux Folles. That is the ensemble of queens who perform at the nightclub owned by George (Cheyenne Jackson) and Albin (Kevin Cahoon). The musical, written by Jerry Herman and Harvey Fierstein and inspired the film The Birdcage , tells the story of George’s son (Ryan J. Haddad) who has invited his girlfriend’s very conservative politician father and his wife over for dinner. In order to not destroy his shot at marrying his girlfriend, he wants all signs of homosexuality and drag queens removed, including Albin, from the dinner and their home.

A few days before opening, I spoke with Salina about her path to this show, the significance it has for her and whether being on stage in this musical is as scary as being on the runway facing down criticism from RuPaul, Michelle Visage and the judges. What follows are excerpts from our conversation that have been edited for length and clarity. To see the full interview, please go to our YouTube channel.

Q: When I first met you, you were going to drama school in Los Angeles. This was 11 plus years ago. I remember our having conversations about how much musical theater meant to you and how you wanted to really pursue that. What does it mean to you, this many years later, to be part of this production of La Cage Aux Folles? 

It’s a dream I forgot about because I started doing drag about ten years ago and that kind of took over. Drag became my own version of theater for myself. I got to self-produce, create and play any role that I wanted. Drag Race, of course, happened. The universe has brought me back into this realm of musical theater. It feels so wild to be back in the musical theater world in this way, combining drag at the same time. So it’s kind of like full circle.

For people who only know you as Salina, this truly was the dream. 

Ultimately, it really was. Being a part of this production of La Cage definitely awakened that dream in me and has opened up ideas of new dreams for me. This is actually a road I can walk down again. I’m thinking about that because people at the Pasadena Playhouse told me we’ve worked with Alaska [Thunderf*ck] before [Head Over Heels]. I was like, Whoa. Alaska’s trajectory literally brought her to Pasadena Playhouse and now she’s off-Broadway in New York City with her own musical [DRAG: The Musical at New World Stages]. The possibilities are endless, you know? 

What makes this production of La Cage compelling for you?

I absolutely am honored to be working with [director] Sam Pinkelton and Ani Taj, the choreographer. Them together are creating such a beautiful, joyful, fun, quirky rendition of the show that we’ve never seen before. Since Drag Race I’ve gotten to travel the world and visit many different drag scenes in the country and beyond. What they’re doing with this is really getting to the core of what the show is about and presenting it in a very real way that’s true to what drag is. 

You are being billed as Salina in instead of your real name. Is Salina any part of this show? Like, for instance, are we going to see Salina’s identity as part of what you bring as a cagelle?

My character’s name is Bitelle and it’s definitely inspired by Salina. Salina will be on that stage and you’ll see her pop out because there’s no denying the crazy personality that I am when I’m dressed up.

What do you think La Cage has to say about the world we live in today?

It’s wild because we had Tuesday/Election Day off from rehearsals. Wednesday we came back with the news of who had won and we are all so exhausted from rehearsing and from the chaos of the world. To have been there together with each other on that Wednesday after the election results and then to do the show; the show flourished in a very interesting way because it became a lot more real to our experience. Something shifted. Art reflects life and imitates life. Here we are putting on a production that is so much fun and so much joy, so much love, so much like chosen family, real family, love and community.

La Cage is, for me, is my version of how I would love America to be. Not even drag queens, glitter and glam, it’s more just the love and joy that we’ve created in the show is how I wish we were in the country.

Cheyenne Jackson has always been impressive in each show I’ve seen. What’s been your experience of working with him?

When I was in college and I was 18 years old they said pick a leading man on Broadway right now that you would love to model your career on. I had picked this photo of Cheyenne in his blue booty shorts and skates from Xanadu. This guy is talented, gorgeous and what I want to be like. Here I am, 20 years later, in a show with him, and it’s been so cool. He’s the sweetest and most talented and most sincere.

His take on George, the father in the show, is so funny because he’s also a father, a husband and has two kids. I used to make protein shakes for him at my gym I used to work at. Watching his father journey in real life now translated into the show where he is the ultimate father of the Cagelles…he is daddy.

Is his is still a career you’d like to see Salina have or you as Jason have? 

Yes. Part of me had let go of the musical theater dreams because I’m a drag queen performing in drag bars. But drag queens, especially from RuPaul’s Drag Race, have shown us there is endless possibility for where we will show up. Alaska is on her way there. There’s no reason why I couldn’t be there. I would love to say if there’s ever a musical of To Wong Foo, to play Chichi Rodriguez would be a dream role. I don’t know if anyone’s writing it, but that would be the perfect role for me.

If you were asked to finish the sentence, I am what I am and what I am is… What would you say?

An illusion.

Yes, but that’s the lyric.

I think I am what I am. And I’m present right now. I’m in my body. I’m experiencing what needs to be experienced. I’m showing up and I’m stepping up to the plate. As scared as I am, I’m excited. And I’m here, as Cynthia Erivo sang.

You threw a little Color Purple there. Is it more daunting getting on stage in front of an audience to do this than it is to get on stage in front of the judges at RuPaul’s Drag Race? 

They’re two very different worlds, of course. Here we’re rehearsing every single day to create a work of art. And on Drag Race you have one shot on that runway to show off something you made in two days. You’re just walking the runway in an outfit. Here I’m getting to explore and showcase every aspect of my talents from drag to my singing, my dancing and my acting. I’m very much more excited right now in this moment.

This is a bit of a RuPaul question. But if you could go back to when you had the first inklings of this is what I want to do to where you are today, if Salina today could give you advice, what would it be?

I think it would be trust the process. When I graduated musical theater college, my final performance song was Today for You, Tomorrow for Me, which is sung by Angel in Rent – who presents as the drag queen. At that time, I never thought I would be a drag queen. I did not want to be a drag queen. I was trying to be Cheyenne Jackson. To have gone today for you, tomorrow for me, as my final song, somehow the universe knew where I was headed before I did.

And look at me today. So I would say just trust the process. Step into those heels, honey. I resisted the heels for a long time. I would quit drag and go back and quit drag and go back because I’m like, no, I’m a boy who performs this way. But like, no, honey, you’re a queen, be a queen.

To watch the full interview with Salina EsTitties, please go here.

La Cage Aux Folles continues at the Pasadena Playhouse through December 15th.

Main Photo: Rhoyle Ivy King, Salina EsTitties, Sun Jade Reid and Kay Bebe Queue in La Cage Aux Folles (Photo by Jeff Lorch/Courtesy Pasadena Playhouse)

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Then there’s Pretty Woman The Musical, based on the Richard Gere/Juia Roberts hit movie from 1990 about a rich man looking for pleasure and the hooker who agrees to spend time with him. Of course they fall in love. Pascal did appear in the show as Edward (the Gere character) on Broadway, but only in two one-week stints. He wasn’t fond of so short of time in a role.

“I got to be honest with you, I didn’t enjoy it at all,” he said recently during a Zoom interview while the musical was appearing in Seattle.

“I kind of hated it because it takes a while, at least for me, to really settle into something and sort of be able to get it under my skin. With a situation like that you don’t have that.”

Pascal doesn’t have that problem now that he is touring with the show. Pretty Woman The Musical is now playing at the Dolby Theatre in Hollywood through July 3rd. It goes to the Segerstrom Center in Costa Mesa from July 5th – July 17th and continues with stops in Tucson, San Diego and Denver.

Pretty Woman The Musical ran for a year on Broadway. It wasn’t a success – neither critically or commercially. But Pascal feels there have been improvements that make the musical (written by Garry Marshall and J.F. Lawton with music and lyrics by Bryan Adams and Jim Vallance) better.

“The biggest difference between what it was on Broadway and what it is now is they made a lot of really good cuts and a lot of really good edits and a lot of good little tweaks and fixes. It’s a much more streamlined version of the show and much more enjoyable version of the show.”

Pascal goes on to say that a change in tone has also impacted the musical.

“I think we have found the right tone for the show out here on the road, which is a much more fun, comical tone. It was a little dark on Broadway.”

When asked if perhaps one reason the show wasn’t as successful on Broadway because Cinderella stories, particularly where the lead female is a hooker, don’t land as well as they might have in the 1990s, Pascal says they are doing the movie with some minor modifications.

“I think the key certainly nowadays in telling a Cinderella story is to acknowledge that Cinderella doesn’t need Prince Charming and can do it anyway. But isn’t it nice and charming and wonderful and fun when they do it together? They really took care in strengthening her character as a woman, as an individual, as a person and how she’s the one who changes. It’s not him who comes along really and saves her. She really does save herself.”

He adds that he has a challenge with the character of Edward.

“I think he’s still that same guy. He’s like a douche bag, right? He’s got that all over him. So what I’m trying to do is de-doucheify him so that he comes off as somebody that you hopefully like and root for and understand why she would be with him.”

The opening song in Pretty Woman is called Welcome to Hollywood. Within thirty seconds we learn that Vivian can’t pay her rent and the landlord is demanding immediate payment. The irony of that is not lost on Pascal.

“It’s funny and a lot of people don’t get it because it happens so quickly. It was totally unintentional, obviously. But when my character pulls up in the car you don’t see him. He’s offstage. The two girls go running together and they’re talking about paying the rent. But of course, there’s this sort of the double meaning of me being that guy.”

He’s also going to be forever known as that guy from Rent. It’s a legacy Pascal owns, but hasn’t always embraced it as fully as he does now.

“It was was the greatest and worst thing that ever happened to me. So it tainted everything. It and its tentacles extended into everything in my career and my life and it still does. But now those tentacles are warm and fuzzy and and they feel good. But for many years they didn’t always. Nothing can ever live up to that level of success. So everything is always going to be a little bit of a letdown, even if you can step back and acknowledge it from a better place. I understand nothing can be that way. The emotional part of you will still feel it.”

If time heals everything, it also provides perspective as it does for Pascal.

“It was a hard place to go from up here and then to get to like the this middle place where 27 years later I’m still having a career. You have to find that sort of bumpy middle place, you know, because you can’t live up here. Obviously, you can’t live down here either. That bumpy middle place is difficult. It’s an emotionally hard business. It’s terribly difficult to stay grounded and to not give up. Failure looks different at different times for different people. It’s a lot. But I’m so grateful for all of it. I’m so grateful that I’m here now and I get to have this amazing job that I love. It’s a fun life.”

To see the full interview with Adam Pascal, please go to our YouTube channel.

For the full tour dates for Pretty Woman The Musical, which runs through May 7, 2023, please go here.

Main Photo: Adam Pascal in Pretty Woman The Musical (Photo by Matthew Murphy for MurphyMade/Courtesy Broadway in Hollywood)

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For those of us who remember when we first heard of the show or first saw it, it seems inconceivable that it has been a quarter century since the show become a phenomenon and would go on to win the Tony Award for Best Musical and the Pulitzer Prize for Drama.

It also made stars out of Taye Diggs, Jesse L. Martin, Idina Menzel (in her Broadway debut), Adam Pascal (in his Broadway debut), Anthony Rapp and Daphne Rubin-Vega (in her Broadway debut). Rent ran for over 12 years on Broadway with a total of 5,123 performances.

To celebrate this silver anniversary, New York Theatre Workshop is holding a fundraiser called 25 Years of Rent: Measured In Love. The event will feature a reunion of numerous cast veterans from the many productions of the musical that have taken place.

Those scheduled to perform include: Gilles Chiasson (Steve and others on Broadway), Wilson Jermaine Heredia (originated the role of Angel/Tony Award), Rodney Hicks (Benny on Broadway), Christopher Jackson (Hamilton), Kristen Lee Kelly (Maureeen – Broadway), Tamika Lawrence (Mrs. Jefferson and others in the 2011 off-Broadway revival), Jesse L. Martin (originated the role of Tom Collins), Idina Menzel (originated the role of Maureen), Aiko Nakasone (Alexi Darling on Broadway), Eva Noblezada (Hadestown), Adam Pascal (originated the role of Roger), Ben Platt (Dear Evan Hansen), Billy Porter (Kinky Boots), Anthony Rapp (originated the role of Mark), Daphne Rubin-Vega (originated the role of Mimi), Ali Stroker (Oklahoma!), Tracie Thoms (Joanne on Broadway), Byron Utley (multiple roles on Broadway for the entire run), and Fredi Walker-Browne (Joanne on Broadway).

New songs from Joe Iconis (Be More Chill), The Lazours, Benj Pasek and Justin Paul (Dear Evan Hansen) and Rona Siddiqui will also be performed.

Additional participants will include: Sebastian Arcelus (Roger on Broadway), Annaleigh Ashford (Maureen in an off-Broadway revival in 2011), Assistant Director Martha Banta, Adam Chanler-Berat (Mark in the 2011 off-Broadway revival), Linda Chapman, Nicholas Christopher (Collins in the 2011 off-Broadway revival), Set Designer Paul Clay, Wilson Cruz (Angel on Broadway), Brandon Victor Dixon (Hamilton), casting director Wendy Ettinger, producer Stephen Graham, director Michael Greif, Janet Harckham, playwright Jeremy O. Harris (Slave Play), Neil Patrick Harris (Mark on tour), Victoria Leacock Hoffman (producer of tick, tick…Boom!, Mariko Kojima, Julie Larson (the composer’s sister), Telly Leung (Angel at the Hollywood Bowl), Kamilah Marshall, producer Kevin McCollum, Lin-Manuel Miranda (Hamilton), Anaïs Mitchell (Hadestown), Shakina Nayfack (Difficult People), NYTW Artistic Director James C. Nicola, playwright Dael Orlandersmith (Until the Flood), Councilmember Carlina Rivera, Jai Rodriguez (Angel on Broadway), producer Jeffrey Seller, director Leigh Silverman (Grand Horizons), Ephraim Sykes (Benny in the 2011 off-Broadway revival), casting director Bernie Telsey, producer Jennifer Ashley Tepper, director Ivo van Hove (West Side Story revival), Tom Viola (Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS), Rent Music Supervisor Tim Weil, Rent Costume Designer Angela Wendt, Rent Choreographer Marlies Yearby and more.

My personal Rent memory surrounds my first time seeing the musical in New York on December 19, 1996. I was in New York with my friend, Matthew Barry. Like everyone I knew, I, too, was fascinated about seeing this musical that was the must-see show on everyone’s list. I didn’t know much about it beyond it depicted the lives of a group of people who lived in the East Village of New York. I also knew that it was inspired by Puccini’s opera, La Bohème. That was it.

Almost the entire original cast was performing that night. The only person out for that performance was Timothy Britten Parker (who played Gordon, the man, Mr. Grey and others). He was attending his sister’s opening night in Once Upon a Mattress (his sister is Sarah Jessica Parker).

By the end of the first act I was, along with majority of theatergoers, convinced that this was a special musical. Then the second act began with the company singing Seasons of Love.

They got to the bridge with the lyrics:

In truths that she learned
Or in times that she cried
In bridges he burned
Or the way that she died

My mother had passed away three months earlier. As you can imagine, I was a mess. All I could think about was mom. I’m sure there were people around me at the Nederlander Theatre who couldn’t understand what was going on with me. I was too caught up in my emotions to care. I somehow managed to pull myself together and enjoy the second act.

After the performance was over, Matt and I left the theatre and it was lightly snowing. It felt like a sign that everything was going to be just fine. Rent, with its own story of love and loss (both on stage and off) had offered one of many forms of catharsis I would rely on to get me through that first year after my mother’s death. To this very day whenever I hear any of Larson’s songs, I always think of my mother.

What are your personal memories and experiences of seeing Rent? Leave a comment on this post.

Tickets for 25 Years of Rent: Measure in Love are $25. The show will be available for streaming through March 6th at 8:00 PM EST/5:00 PM PST.

Photo: The cast of Rent at New York Theatre Workshop (Photo by Joan Marcus)

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So this column is dedicated to anyone who might want to go on Jeopardy! one day, or anyone who wants to deepen their knowledge of musicals, musical-comedy and the men and women who have created them.

Option #1 is The Contemporary Broadway Musical being offered by the Pasadena Playhouse.

This is a ten-class series presented by Broadway producer Adam Epstein. He’s a five-time Tony Award nominee who took home the trophy for Best Musical when Hairspray won in 2003.

Here is the schedule for the ten classes:

February 22nd: High Flying Adored: Eva Peron delivers a Broadway coup de thé·â·tre; Gower Champion dies

March 1st: Michael Bennett’s Dreamgirls vs. Tommy Tune’s Nine

March 8th: The Empire Strikes Back: Andrew Lloyd Webber, Cameron Mackintosh and the “colonization” of Broadway: Cats, Les Miserables, The Phantom of the Opera and Miss Saigon

March 15th: La Cage Aux Folles and Into the Woods

March 22nd: Americans vanquish the British (again!): City of Angels, Crazy for You, and the return of the musical comedy

March 29th: Falsettos: William Finn and his Tight Knit Family move uptown

April 5th: Broadway in the 1990’s: Disney conquers Broadway; Rent and Ragtime conquer hearts

April 12th: From Celluloid to Greasepaint: The Producers, Hairspray and the changing face of Broadway in the 21st century

April 19th: Avenue Q and Wicked: a theatrical tale of David and Goliath

April 26th: Hamilton, Dear Evan Hansen, and the future of Broadway musicals

All of the dates above are the live presentation of each week’s topic. However, those who sign up for the classes can catch up even if you start halfway through the series. The classes will remain available to you beginning 24 hours after the conclusion of each live class. The 10-series course costs $179. (Members at Pasadena Playhouse receive at 20% discount).

Option #2: What Makes It Great?

Gershwin. Berlin. Arlen. Rodgers. Bernstein. You don’t need to add first names to the list of composers in this title. They are all legends whose work has catapulted them to the upper echelon of composers.

Rob Kapilow, the author of Listening For America: Inside the Great American Songbook from Gershwin to Sondheim, is conducting a five-episode series of classes called What Makes It Great? Celebrating the Great American Songbook beginning on February 23rd and running through March 30th.

Kapilow has teamed up with the Kaufman Music Center and JCC Thurnauer School of Music to lead explorations of these five men and their work. The classes stream on Tuesdays at 7:00 PM EST/4:00 PM PST and include a live Q&A afterwards. For those for whom that schedule doesn’t work, the classes will remain available through April 15th.

Here is What Makes It Great‘s line-up:

February 23rd: George Gershwin

March 2nd: Irving Berlin

March 9th: Harold Arlen

March 23rd: Richard Rodgers

March 30th: Leonard Bernstein

Tickets for the five classes are $50.

There is a bonus attraction on April 6th. Kapilow will be joined by Nikki Renée Daniels (the upcoming revival of Company) and Michael Winther (the upcoming Flying Over Sunset) for a performance called What Makes It Great? Stephen Sondheim. Tickets for that show are $15 and will allow ticket purchasers to watch the show through the middle of April.

With either or both of these classes, I assure you you’ll not just learn about musicals. You’ll also improve your trivia games, impress your friends who thought you knew nothing about the subject and more importantly you’ll know the difference between August Wilson and Stephen Sondheim when it’s your turn to play Jeopardy!

Photo: Broadway’s Shubert Alley (Photo by Christopher Firth/Courtesy New York Public Library Archives)

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As you can imagine, Broadway has been hit hard by the pandemic with shows closed for months and likely to remain so until next summer at the earliest. So how did this show come to be? The host, Tiny Fey, certainly had a lot to do with it.

Not only has she starred in two hit shows for NBC (Saturday Night Live and 30 Rock), she is also the writer of the book for the musical, Mean Girls, based on the 2004 film she wrote and starred in along with Lindsay Lohan and Rachel McAdams. The musical was still running when Broadway was shut down.

Amongst the musicals being represented in One Night Only are Ain’t Too Proud–The Life and Times of The Temptations, Chicago, Jagged Little Pill, Diana: The Musical, Jersey Boys, Mean Girls and Rent.

Diana: The Musical has yet to open on Broadway. Rent hasn’t been on Broadway since 2008. Jersey Boys is off-Broadway after concluding its Broadway run. The latter two shows remain amongst the most popular shows of all-time.

Cast members from Harry Potter and the Cursed Child will also appear.

Joining Fey in the two-hour broadcast are Annaleigh Ashford (Sunday in the Park with George), Antonio Banderas (A Chorus Line in Spain), Lance Bass (Hairspray), Kristen Bell (The Crucible), Kelly Clarkson, Brett Eldredge, Jesse Tyler Ferguson (The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee), Sutton Foster (Anything Goes), Peter Gallagher (On the Twentieth Century), Josh Groban (Natasha, Pierre and the Great Comet of 1812), Jake Gyllenhaal (Sunday in the Park with George), Sean Hayes (Promises, Promises), Ron Cephas Jones (Of Mice and Men), Patti LaBelle, Nathan Lane (The Producers), Camryn Manheim (Spring Awakening), Rob McClure (Mrs. Doubtfire), Alanis Morissette (Jagged Little Pill), Jerry O’Connell (A Soldier’s Play), Leslie Odom Jr. (Hamilton), Mary-Louise Parker (The Sound Inside), Billy Porter (Kinky Boots), John Stamos (Bye Bye Birdie), Barbra Streisand (Funny Girl), Aaron Tveit (Moulin Rouge – The Musical), Blair Underwood (A Soldier’s Play), Vanessa Williams (Into the Woods) and Susan Kelechi Watson (A Naked Girl on the Appian Way).

The show will raise funds for Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS.

One Night Only: The Best of Broadway airs at 8:00 PM local times.

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Pascal originated the role of Roger Davis, the young musician who wanted to write one great song. Rent marked his Broadway debut. He’s since gone on to appear on Broadway in Chicago, Cabaret, Aida, Memphis, Something Rotten!, Disaster! and most recently Pretty Woman.

Rent was not the Broadway debut for Rapp, who played burgeoning filmmaker Mark Cohen in Jonathan Larson’s musical. He had previously appeared in Precious Sons and Six Degrees of Separation. After Rent he appeared in You’re a Good Man Charlie Brown as the title character and later in If/Then with another alumnus of Rent, Idina Menzel. He currently plays Paul Stamets on Star Trek: Discovery.

The concert will see each gentleman sing a set of songs and that will, inevitably, lead to some duets by the duo.  Each concert has a unique opening act. On Monday, Carole J. Bufford will open. On Tuesday, Lisa Donahey is the opening act.

For tickets go here.

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In addition to his role in Hamilton, television audiences might know him from his role on the cult-series Smash. He has released two album, a self-titled debut album and a Christmas album. He’s also the author of a book entitled Failing Up: How to Take Risks, Aim Higher and Never Stop Learning.

If you attend the concert you will no doubt hear a song of two from Hamilton. You might also hear him perform songs from Rent since that was the show in which he made his Broadway debut at the age of 17. He also appeared in the ill-fated musical Leap of Faith.

On his solo album he performs such classic songs as Autumn Leaves, Look for the Silver Lining and The Party’s Over.

Matt Catingub will be leading the Pacific Symphony Orchestra in these two concerts.

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But there was a two-year gap between Godspell and Allegiance. Those were troubling times for Leung. And it is his journey through those times that form the foundation of his cabaret show, Sing Happy. Leung will be performing that show on Monday, March 18th Upstairs at Vitello’s in Studio City.

Two days after he finished his run in Aladdin we spoke about the surgery that could have ended his career, how personal his cabaret shows are and whether Broadway really is the impossible dream.

Can you talk about the surgery you had and why you had it?

There’s a surgeon coming for your vocal chords with a knife. It’s frightening. Knowing the story of Julie Andrews, it’s frightening. [The star of Mary Poppins and The Sound of Music was diagnosed with non-cancerous nodules on her vocal chords. After the surgery her gorgeous singing voice was ruined.] When you have a vocal injury you think it’s taboo and you can’t talk about it. I was sidelined for six weeks and that time allowed me to heal my voice and my life. I had never said “no.” There’s a deep-seated fear that an actor will never work again. So you just say “yes” to things without considering if this is healthy for me to do. In that six weeks I had a lot of time with my family and my husband and his family. In many ways it was the best thing that happened and the worst thing.

This surgery is fairly common. Why is it taboo in the theatre community?

You’re damaged goods. So many people that I know as singers had this exact same thing happen. And they recovered and were fine. Why are we afraid to talk about it? I felt like there was this aura of mystery around it. After I went through it I felt it shouldn’t be a mystery. When athletes hurt themselves they get sidelined and they come back. That’s what happened to me. Why can’t we talk about it when athletes can? Me telling this story has helped other people. What I do well is cabaret shows and I’m able to tell my story in a creative, fun and musical way.

You performed Sing Happy at Birdland in November. Did you make any changes in the show since that performance?

I always make changes. When I did the show at Birdland nobody knew the story. I did it for an audience that knew me, but didn’t know what had happened. Now that I talk about it, the story is different. I haven’t sung in Los Angeles since 2013. When I do a show for an LA audience I get to revisit some fun Broadway stuff I don’t have to do for New Yorkers.

I last saw your cabaret show at the Magic Castle in 2010. What have you learned about cabaret shows since then?

Oh my gosh. That was the first time I ventured out doing a one-person show like that. I’d just come off doing Rent. There’s a level of comfort I have now doing it. When audiences come to see me in a cabaret show they are coming to see me. I feel like I want to give a piece of me away at the show. That is so much easier for me to do now. The stories I’m doing now are a little harder and I have more courage.

Part of the story in that 2010 show was about your parents coming to terms with your career choice and your sexuality. I assume they are thrilled by both your career and your marriage?

If you had asked me then, “Hey Telly. You’ll be married to this person and your parents will be there and be okay with it.” I would have said, “That’s crazy.” We got married at Sardi’s. Both of our parents come from religious families, his in Indiana and my Chinese family. They did not meet until the wedding. They’ve really come a long way and I really have to give my parents the credit for evolving.

Speaking of Sardi’s, you were recently added to their gallery of Broadway stars with portraits. That must have been a special night.

It was very special. I think the folks at Sardi’s knew what that meant to me because of our marriage. To be in a big Broadway show, my seventh Broadway show, was a wonderful opportunity for me as an Asian-American actor. They felt this was the time. It was an honor. That’s your community saying “job well-done.”

There’s a lyric in the song “Sing Happy” (from the Kander & Ebb musical Flora, the Red Menace) that I’d love you to respond to:

“Tell me tomorrow’s gonna be peaches and cream
Assure me clouds are lined with a silver lining
Say how you’ve realized an impossible dream
Sing me a happy song”

That lyric refers to a dark cloudy time wondering if I was ever going to sing again. There is a time where you are mute and don’t talk and you talk to the voice inside your head. But I hoped for a silver lining. This is a crazy dream for a lot of people. There are so many who dream of being on Broadway. I am living proof that it is possible. Broadway is attainable. It may not happen when you want it to. But if you really want to be a part of this community – and it may or may not be a part of performing – there is something for you. The doors are open in theatre. Our arms are open wide for you to come and join us. I don’t think Broadway is that impossible dream.

Telly Leung will be also be performing Sing Happy at Martini’s Above Fourth in San Diego on Saturday, March 16th.

Main photo by Michael Kushner. All photos courtesy of Telly Leung.

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