Telly Leung plays a "Teenage Dream" on Glee as the recurring character Wes of the Dalton Academy Warblers. With a variety of musicals under his belt and a new one on the way, the future looks bright for this Brooklyn-born Broadway boy.
Windy City Times: Hi, Telly. I was researching your career and saw you were in Wicked in Chicago.
Telly Leung: I was, and in the original company.
Windy City Times: The group I work for arranged an after party and I took a picture with you when you were a flying monkey. I just found it years later!
Telly Leung: [Laughs] Oh, my goodness! That's hysterical. What a small world.
Windy City Times: I know, we drank green martinis together before. How long were you in Chicago?
Telly Leung: I started at the very beginning of the Chicago run, so July of 2006. I know the national tour was there but what happened was the six-week run sold out in a day. There was such a life for the show that they cast a sit down production with Ana Gasteyer and the Chicago local cast. They threw a company together in New York, the touring cast left, we came there and built a new show. I stayed with it for the first year through the end of my contract. I had such a blast and Chicago welcomed us with open arms. I couldn't believe the reception that we got in Chicago for this show. I am sure you remember too.
Windy City Times: It was huge.
Telly Leung: It was such an event. We all felt so lucky to be a part of it.
Windy City Times: So you lived here for a year.
Telly Leung: I did, right in the West Loop. I walked to work everyday. I kind of fell in love with Chicago.
Windy City Times: You were cast in Rent after Wicked.
Telly Leung: After I came back from Wicked that was my next Broadway show. I started in the fall of 2006 and I was with it until the very end. They filmed the final performance, released it in theatres and DVD. Then we toured with it on the road and I was with it for nine months of that.
Windy City Times: Have you met Idina Menzel?
Telly Leung: We have crossed paths a few times. We met at the Tony Awards very quickly when they reunited the original cast with the final cast. We did "Seasons of Love" recently at a big Trevor Project benefit in L.A. It is a small group of people involved in Rent. We call it "The family."
Windy City Times: Your new show, Allegiance, is not coming out until next year, correct?
Telly Leung: Correct. Well, you never know the trajectory of a new Broadway show is but the plan is to do a workshop this summer in New York and in partnership with The Old Globe in San Diego. We hope that it will premiere at The Old Globe in 2012, then a Broadway revival late 2012 or 2013. With Broadway shows things happen, it is a real estate game as well, if it's available or a right fit for the show. Many things can happen but that is the calendar of our dreams.
Windy City Times: How did you get on Glee?
Telly Leung: There is no great giant story behind it. I was living in New York at the time. New York actors are constantly sending tapes to L.A. and it was just one of the many I have put on tape. Wes was not the role they were seeking. They were reading everyone for Blaine, which is the Darren Criss role. I sang two songs on my tape, sent it off and thought nothing of it. I booked the job off of a tape, actually! They saw it and asked me to start on X date.
It just goes to show that you never know. I was telling some students that yesterday. You never know who sees what you do and it only takes one person. Wicked actually came to me that way. I auditioned and it wasn't until months later I was called to do it. I had written it off and didn't realize that they had remembered me from Pacific Overtures on Broadway and that got me the job. They didn't remember my actual audition for Wicked. It was for something else. I wonder how much that came into play for Glee. Right before that I had done Rent at the Hollywood Bowl. We got a lot of attention for that because Neil Patrick Harris was directing. It is a boring story about Glee. I put myself on tape and they asked when I could start.
Windy City Times: What is it like being on the show?
Telly Leung: I felt the same about Wicked and Rent. It is amazing to be part of a phenomenon. Kids growing up with Glee will have something that will shape their lives and their musical tastes. It is a pop culture phenomenon. To be a part of it just blows my mind. As an actor it gives you a sense of duty that millions of people watch a week. You feel a responsibility to do the best job possible. Everyone on set is super nice. It helps that it is a hit and everybody knows that. They are all riding the wave and enjoying the work. I am happy to have a little part in it.
Windy City Times: I remembered you from the "Teenage Dream" segment.
Telly Leung: [Laughs] I don't think anyone expected the success of the Warblers to be what it is. When they originally hired me they told me two or three episodes. It has become seven episodes. There is a Warbler recording now and the fans are so positive towards us. I don't think the creators of Glee expected that.
Windy City Times: With the Glee cast going on tour, then maybe the Warblers could also.
Telly Leung: Right and I think that has been talked around but nothing has been official about that. I am sure Darren is going on tour. He is pretty stellar. [Note: The Warblers will be touring with the Glee cast.]
Windy City Times: Sometimes a small character will turn into a whole storyline.
Telly Leung: The Heather Morris story is always amazing to me. She was brought on to teach the football team the "Single Ladies" combination. She was a dancer for Beyonce. They needed an extra girl and threw her in costume. Now she is the funniest thing on the show.
Windy City Times: That's true. You also have an EP called Getaway.
Telly Leung: It was really a labor of love. I was doing a lot of theatre and met Randy Witherspoon, my co-producer and writer. He was my dresser at Flower Drum Song. He has a studio in Brooklyn. We just got together and made this EP. We put it out there and it was my living out my pop-star Justin Timberlake dreams!
For lots more on Leung visit www.tellyonline.net and show your Allegiance by following the future production at www.allegiancemusical.com .