Telly Leung: Sing Happy

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Telly Leung

Sing Happy

Birdland, NYC, November 19, 2018

Reviewed by Bart Greenberg for Cabaret Scenes

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jpg” alt=”” width=”212″ height=”212″ /> Telly Leung
Photo: Lesley Bohm

A fine singer, an accomplished storyteller, a detailed actor, and an all-around entertainer walked onto the stage of Birdland, and they were all named Telly Leung. The Broadway star shared many aspects of his life, each one logically tied to the songs that he offered. This was the perfect merger of performer and program—logical, smooth, and thoroughly entertaining.

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The handsome Chinese-American artist told stories of his growing up (while his proud parents looked on from the audience), ranging from where his unusual first name came from (his father was a huge fan of Kojak) to his discovery of Whitney Houston at five (not that he understood some of the lyrics), to his being forced to learn the piano and his dislike for Mozart and Chopin because they didn’t write “songs.” Such memories led naturally to songs connected with Whitney (“How Will I Know”), Stevie Wonder (“Knocks Me Off My Feet”), and updated disco (“I Will Survive”) in a jazz-swing arrangement that brought out new meanings in the lyrics.

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More recent adventures with his husband included a business trip to Hawaii (“Can’t Help Falling in Love” with ukulele accompaniment), the demands of show-business travel (“Leaving On a Jet Plane”), and the devastating loss of good friends (“Learn to Live Without,” in a tremendously moving delivery). Interestingly, although a veteran of musical theater, the songs he chose from that genre are not those he had performed on stage, including a lightning fast mash-up of “Broadway Baby” and “There’s No Business Like Show Business” as well as the fervent “Sing Happy.”

Backing him up was a notable group of musicians, including pianist/music director Gary Adler, bassist Mary Ann McSweeney, guitarist Brian Koonin, violist J.J. Johnson, and drummer Michael Croiter, with kudos also to director Alan Muraoka.

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Bart Greenberg

Bart Greenberg first discovered cabaret a few weeks after arriving in New York City by seeing Julie Wilson and William Roy performing Stephen Sondheim and Cole Porter outdoors at Rockefeller Center. It was instant love for both Ms. Wilson and the art form. Some years later, he was given the opportunity to create his own series of cabaret shows while working at Tower Records. "Any Wednesday" was born, a weekly half-hour performance by a singer promoting a new CD release. Ann Hampton Callaway launched the series. When Tower shut down, Bart was lucky to move the program across the street to Barnes & Noble, where it thrived under the generous support of the company. The series received both The MAC Board of Directors Award and The Bistro Award. Some of the performers who took part in "Any Wednesday" include Barbara Fasano and Eric Comstock, Tony Desare, Andrea Marcovicci, Carole Bufford, the Karens, Akers, Mason and Oberlin, and Julie Wilson. Privately, Greenberg is happily married to writer/photographer Mark Wallis, who as a performance artist in his native England gathered a major following as "I Am Cereal Killer."