By Bart Greenberg***Broadway veteran Telly Leung (Aladdin, Allegiance, Flower Drum Song) hosts Tossing Tinsel With Telly at the Lucille Lortel Theatre on Monday, December 20, 2021 at 7 PM, as part of the Tinsel: A Global Holiday Festival. The three week festival features more than a dozen individual programs reflecting a wide variety of cultures and communities holiday celebrations. Leung’s guests will include Ann Harada (Avenue Q, Shmigadoon), Michael Maliakel (Aladdin), Jaygee Macapugay (School of Rock, Here Lies Love) and Kennedy Kanagawa (Gold Mountain). Darren Lee (The King & I, Chicago) directs this entirely Asian American Pacific Islander company. Music direction by Amanda Morton on the piano (KPOP), with Arei Sekiguchi (Curvy Window) on the drums. Guest produced by Christine Toy Johnson (Come From Away).
NiteLife Exchange (NLE/BG) asks Telly Leung (TL) Six Questions:
NLE/BG: How is your program different from the other 647 holiday shows in New York this December?
TL: My show is actually different because this is something I’ve never done before. We’re going to do this in a sort of late night format. So think of me as your Chinese-American Graham Norton if you will. What I’ve decided to do is gather four friends of mine from the AAPI [“Asian American Pacific Islander”] community together and do this little experiment with me. I’m so used to doing theater and acting a character and doing my club acts and cabaret that I’ve never quite done hosting duties or late night duties before. I’ll be there to introduce my very talented friends and to keep things moving along. And maybe we’ll drink some tea and play some games. I think it will be interesting for everyone to see me in this light.
After so long of not having the opportunity to do so, to all come together and put on this evening and have it be fun and casual and hang out in person I’m really looking forward to doing it and I think audiences are looking for that sense of fun and sort of chosen family within my AAPI community. I hope that is what the audience walks away with; that they’ll feel how much we love each other and respect each other and how much we appreciate each other.
NLE/BG: Is the impressive guest list you’ve assembled all old friends, or are some of them new acquaintances?
TL: There are definitely some old friends. I would count Ann Harada and Darren Lee who is our director as old friends who I’ve done Broadway shows and several projects with. But there are some newer friends who I’m not as acquainted with. I really wanted to get to know Michael Maliakel who’s on Broadway right now as Aladdin and Jaygee Macapugay. I also wanted to feature different generations of AAIP talent and up and coming talent like Kennedy Kanagawa. For sure, I’m looking forward to getting to know them better through the show.
NLE/BG: How does it fit in with the overall theme of Tinsel?
TL: I love that the Lortel has decided to do a global perspective as to what the holidays mean for everybody. We certainly had “Chinglish” versions of holiday traditions in our family. But at the end of the day it’s all about gathering with the family you were born with or the family you create for yourself. I really want to talk to my guests myself. “What were your family traditions? Is there anything you do in your home that is tied to your culture?” That is one of the reasons I wanted to do the show this way.
NLE/BG: On a more personal basis, what were your family’s other traditions for the holidays when you were growing up?
TL: For me, I know growing up as a kid of immigrants I had a very unique perspective. My parents didn’t eat turkey for Thanksgiving and we’d end up going to a Chinese restaurant and ordering a big Peking Duck. And that was our Thanksgiving. My Dad worked Chinese restaurants his whole life so on Christmas it was a big party between the Jews and the Chinese. We cooked, we served, and the Jews came out and it was the busiest night of the year.
NLE/BG: On a very different topic, what’s it like working with Cameo.com [Cameo is a website that allows patrons to order personalized videos from the celebrity of their choice]?
TL: I enjoy Cameo actually. I’m not joking because to me, especially during Covid, it was a way to connect with people that was safe. I loved getting Cameo requests. I was able to personalize it. I really had a good time on it. I do it less now because I’m able to do things in person like Tinsel now. I certainly did it the most during the height of Covid when really we weren’t leaving our homes and I was able to sing and dance in my living room on Zoom or on Cameo. I’m certainly doing it less these days but still open to doing it. They’re fun. The technology is there; why not do it?
NLE/BG: What are you looking forward to in 2022?
TL: I’m very excited that in January, after the holidays are over, that I’m going to be doing a series of concerts at Epcot Center. Disney on Broadway alums are going to be down there with Kerry Butler, Arielle and Adam Jacobs. Ashley Brown. Josh Strickland, who was Tarzan. It will be a very good time. Other alums have been doing these concerts for years, but it’s my first time and they’ve all said you have to do this. It’s singing at Disney and I’m very excited about doing that.
I have to be honest, I think we’re all feeling nervous. I’m sure there’s lots of uncertainty as we head into 2022. I look back on the Christmas of 2020, then going into 2021 when Covid was very difficult. But with vaccines, I feel like things are on the upswing. We know more. We have better weapons. And better tools. To keep each other healthy. To keep each other safe. So I am looking forward to being together more often and I am optimistic about going into 2022. That it’s going to look better. I’m looking forward to the unknown more than being scared of it.
The Lucille Lortel Theatre is located at 121 Christopher St., New York, NY 10014. Tickets and more information on the entire series and Telly’s program are available at www.lortel.org.
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