What's New, Telly Leung? Starring in Musicalized 'My Best Friend's Wedding' in Ogunquit

EDGE:Do you draw inspiration from Everett's performance in the movie?

Telly Leung: Of course. How can you not? It's such an iconic role in the world of cinema. I saw the film when I was a teenager in high school. The film – and, of course, [Everett] – influenced me.

EDGE: The show features iconic pop songs written by the legendary Burt Bacharach and Hal David. Do you have a favorite one?

Telly Leung: My favorite song is one I don't sing in the show, "A House Is Not A Home." Most will remember Dionne Warwick's version, but I love Luther Vandross's version. It was epic and eight minutes long, and he had his silky-smooth vocals. The theater person in me responded to the storytelling of that song and its vulnerability. I think Burt and Hal did a brilliant job with pop songs, but this song has emotional complexity and specificity, making it a great theater song. It is a great story song.

I get some delicious songs, as well. I get to sing "Raindrops Keep Fallin' on My Head." It is such an iconic Burt Bacharach and Hal David song. In our version, it's a giant "Singin' in the Rain"-inspired MGM musical number. That is my second favorite, if I had to pick one.

EDGE: Would that be the scene and number you're excited to perform in the show?

Telly Leung: Yes, because it's not every day that you get to have three-time Tony Award winner Kathleen Marshall choreograph a big Broadway-style number. It is so much fun to do this show every single night with our incredible ensemble and with Krystal, and it's a blast.

EDGE: Can you discuss the differences between the play and the film?

Telly Leung: When you watch the movie now, it feels very period and slightly like a time capsule. It's very 1997. Kathleen has done a brilliant job of making the show for today. I do believe the movie was ahead of its time. In saying that, I think for so many years the tropes of what love is, especially what monogamous heterosexual love is, in the heteronormative terms of you get married, it's monogamous. Today, in 2024, we talk about all kinds of love. We talk about polyamory; we talk about how sometimes you have friends with benefits, where you are friends but you have a sexual relationship. That's become more commonplace now. Most people now don't judge that kind of love anymore. To me, it is wonderful because it shows our evolution as human beings and how we understand that love can exist in many ways, not just in the way that society's systems have told us what love should be. I hope we continue to break down many of those misconceptions and systemic ideas about love.

Kathleen has updated our show. You're going to see a very diverse cast on stage, not only in terms of racial diversity but also of body type and gender identity. She has envisioned our very diverse world on stage, and she knows that as audience members watch, they will have a broadened concept of what the world should be, which is an open, accepting, and diverse world outside the theater. I love what she has done. Besides that, we have not changed many lines or [the] storyline that much. The representation that's happening on stage has not been lost on me. I am a Chinese American actor who plays a role made famous by a British actor. I asked Kathleen if she wanted me to do the British accent, and she said, "Yes, it's part of the fun of who George is; he is posh, and being posh is not mutually exclusive to white people. You can do this. There are posh British Chinese people."

I also think it's important to see that we have a leading lady who is nothing like Julia Roberts. I love how she's stayed true to the source material but brought it into 2024.

EDGE: Who do you think will connect most with this play?

Telly Leung: If you've ever been confused by love, you will connect to this play. The emotion of love is so big and so complex. I will misquote this line from the show: "Love is not a straight line or something." It's a quote that the character Walter, played by Mark Lotito, says in the show. I don't have my script, so I can't directly quote it, but love isn't a straight line. Things happen where you think you love somebody for years, and that love sometimes evolves. Maybe you fall out of love with that person, or perhaps you break up with that person, and then, ten years later, you fall back in love. That is what the show deals with love in a very realistic way, and the way we deal with in the real world. This show is the anti-romcom because it's not the version of love that we're sold in Hollywood, and I think if you've ever been baffled by love, which I think is probably 99% of the world, I think you'll connect to the show.

EDGE: Tell us about your best friend?

Telly Leung: I have a wonderful best friend from college. His name is Leo Ash Evens. We both went to Carnegie Mellon University and studied musical theater together. He's also an incredible Broadway performer. He was in "Jesus Christ Superstar" and "School of Rock" on Broadway. He's also a brilliant theater educator who coaches high school students for their college conservatory auditions. He's been my best Judy. We met in 1998, and it's been a fabulous two and a half, almost three, decades of friendship. We make great travel buddies. A best friend knows you and who you were, and they evolve with you. They also push you because they see the best in you and your potential for who you can be. That is the mark of a wonderful best friend, and that is what Leo does for me.

EDGE: Is there anything that you would like to promote?

Telly Leung: Not at the moment. We've just opened the show, so I've only been thinking about it. I can't necessarily talk about anything yet that's coming until I've signed on the dotted line. I'm very proud of this show, and I'm very proud of not only my work in it but the work of my cast mates and my company members. The Ogunquit Playhouse is one of America's top regional theaters, and they know how to put on a show. I am really proud of what we've created here, and I certainly hope the show has a life beyond this.

Telly Leung continues in "My Best Friend's Wedding" through October 27 at the Ogunquit Playhouse, 100 Main Street, Ogunquit, ME. For more information, see the theater's website.

For more on Telly Leung, visit his website.