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[0:05] Jan Svendsen: Welcome to the Broadway Gives Back Podcast.

[0:07] Jan Svendsen: I'm your host, Jan Svendsen.

[0:10] Jan Svendsen: This podcast spotlights Broadway actors, shows, and organizations in their pursuit of social impact and philanthropy.

[0:17] Jan Svendsen: Join us as some of the brightest lights on Broadway share their stories about their favorite charities and how they got involved and the people on the causes who benefited from these philanthropic efforts.

[0:33] Jan Svendsen: This podcast is launching a new series called The United Nations Global Goals, where we talk about tackling the world's to-do list and making our planet a better place.

[0:43] Jan Svendsen: I'm joined by my passionate co-host, Anika Larsen, who was a guest on this podcast last year and introduced me to the Global Goals.

[0:51] Jan Svendsen: Anika is an amazing actor, a Tony Award nominee, and an activist, putting her time and energy into her social impact work.

[0:58] Jan Svendsen: We decided to work together on this series and bring in guests to talk about the ways in which we can make small changes for the greater good.

[1:06] Anika Larsen: Yes, Jan, I like that.

[1:08] Anika Larsen: Small changes for the greater good, the next great thing.

[1:11] Jan Svendsen: And our special guest today is Telly Leung, who consistently impresses me with his acting and his activism.

[1:18] Jan Svendsen: He was born and raised in New York City, so the world of theater and art has always been a part of his life.

[1:24] Jan Svendsen: Telly has been in so many Broadway shows, including Flower Drum Song, Pacific Overtures, Rent, Aladdin, in Transit, and of course, Allegiance.

[1:34] Jan Svendsen: Telly also produces and directs shows and is a proud graduate of Carnegie Mellon University.

[1:39] Jan Svendsen: He passionately believes in the power of paying it forward, and he works to help young performers and support arts education programs.

[1:47] Jan Svendsen: Welcome, Telly, to the Broadway Gives Back Podcast, special edition United Nations Global Goals.

[1:52] Telly Leung: Hi, Jan. Hi, Anika. I'm thrilled to be here with you all.

[1:55] Telly Leung: It's super late where you are. You're so nice to be with us.

[2:00] Telly Leung: So FYI, it is 11 o'clock my time. I am in London, five hours ahead because I am here performing in the UK premiere of Allegiance, a musical that I got to work on for many years and premiere on Broadway in 2015 at the Long Anchor Theater.

[2:16] Telly Leung: Seven years later, we're doing it again here in London because our wonderful leading man and star, George Takei, who inspired our story that we're telling about the Japanese American internment, he says, "Well, I've never played London. I would love to play London."

[2:34] Telly Leung: So I said, "Well, if you're going to London, can I come to London? I've never played. I've done seven Broadway shows. I've never done London. Can I come?" He was like, "Sure." So here we are.

[2:46] Anika Larsen: Can you do this whole podcast as George Takei?

[2:49] Telly Leung: Oh, that's so good. Would that be weird to you?

[2:51] Anika Larsen: I mean, it's just an idea.

[2:53] Telly Leung: Only weird if Telly thinks it's weird.

[2:56] Telly Leung: I think George might think it's weird.

[2:59] Anika Larsen: Fair enough. Fair enough. Bad idea.

[3:02] Jan Svendsen: You have done so much, but a lot of our listeners may not know you as well as we do. So we thought we'd play a little icebreaker game with you and just ask you a few questions. Um, no pressure. Um, so everybody gets to know you a little bit.

[3:15] Jan Svendsen: Um, so I'm gonna start. What is the best piece of advice you ever received from anyone?

[3:22] Telly Leung: Uh, the best piece of advice I ever received from anybody was my high school drama teacher. His name is Vinny Grasso, Mr. Grosso. He volunteered his time to direct the musicals after school. And he told me that in the theater, nobody's job is more important than somebody else's job. That it doesn't matter if you're the star of the show with your name in lights, or if it is your job to sweep the stage every night, and that is your job, that everybody's job in the theater is important.

[3:52] Anika Larsen: Mm-hmm. Good advice.

[3:54] Jan Svendsen: And that, I think that sort of, you know, is, um, applies to not outside the theater as well, which I think has served me well in my life.

[4:03] Anika Larsen: Yeah. Oh, lovely. Hey Telly, would you rather be the smartest or the funniest person in the room?

[4:09] Telly Leung: I think they're so tied together. I don't think funny people, I don't think like you can be funny without being smart. Or maybe that's just my kind of comedy that I like. So I agree, but I do think you can be smart without being funny.

[4:24] Anika Larsen: Fair enough.

[4:26] Jan Svendsen: What is your most used emoji?

[4:31] Telly Leung: Believe it or not, it's the nom nom nom emoji. It's the one where he's like, he's drooling a little bit because usually I'm texting about food. So usually it's like I'm really hungry for, you know, whatever. Like here in London, like today, somebody I saw a post about Popeye's fried chicken, and I was like, I did the drooly emoji today a lot.

[4:56] Anika Larsen: I love it.

[4:58] Jan Svendsen: Hey, Telly, what's your superpower?

[5:01] Telly Leung: Um, I think my superpower is listening. I think that's my superpower. I think I'm really good at sitting across from somebody and hearing them.

[5:17] Anika Larsen: I agree with that. Being friends, I've known each other almost 20 years, and I agree with that as a friend, but also like that's so valuable as an actor, right? You can't be a good actor if you're not a good listener. So it's also why you're such a good actor.

[5:28] Telly Leung: Well, thank you. I appreciate that.

[5:29] Jan Svendsen: So if you could hang out with any fictional Broadway character from any show, who would you want to hang out with?

[5:38] Telly Leung: Oh, that's a really good one. I think I would love to hang out with the Phantom of the Opera in his lair and like jam. Just like jam out.

[5:51] Anika Larsen: Maybe he'd let you paddle the boat.

[5:55] Telly Leung: Yeah. Just like I want to have to shame. I want to get that dude. I feel like he's like super misunderstood and he just needs a friend. So I'll be his friend.

[6:05] Jan Svendsen: Telly, you'll listen to him. You'll just listen.

[6:08] Telly Leung: Yeah, man. Play me that song you've been working on. That sounds great, man.

[6:15] Jan Svendsen: Um, Telly, if you could only have one album or cast recording to listen to, which would it be?

[6:21] Telly Leung: How dare you? These are really hard questions. You said no pressure. Um, and then you asked me the desert island album questions. Um, okay, so album. Um, I have to say it has to be a Whitney Houston album of some kind. I think I need that voice. Yes. That's so, and maybe it's the bodyguard soundtrack, you know? So maybe that's the one that I take with me to a desert island cast recording. Um, I think the cast recording that I would have to take with me is, um, and this is gonna be like a deep cut here. I think it's the Actors' Fund recording of Dreamgirls.

[7:04] Anika Larsen: Yes!

[7:05] Telly Leung: With Audra and Billy Porter and Lilius White, because it's the whole show, book scenes and all, and it definitely through many a car ride. And thank you, Seth Rudetsky, for doing that, like doing that concert and recording it. Because I've left that on for many a car ride. Um, and long road trip, and it like has saved me.

[7:29] Jan Svendsen: No, now I just have to, so I segue for a second. Anika, how would you answer that question?

[7:34] Anika Larsen: Oh gosh, I was actually sitting here thinking I'm so glad that I wouldn't have to. Do you know what? Honestly, because it's first thought and no judgment and no shutting yourself down, is that um last night we all got a preview of the Almost Famous album, which comes out in April, and I listened and I wept. Um, because it is so good, and the music is so good, and everyone sounds so good in it, and the group numbers and the orchestrations, and sitting next to my husband who's a musician who he does not, he doesn't really like musicals, and he does not compliment stuff unless he really means it, and he hears the world in ways that I don't even understand. And just he just sat there, and the both of us just cried and we couldn't understand why the show's not open. So um, so yeah, so I honestly for now I would listen to that all day, every day and weep. But you're catching me at a very vulnerable moment.

[8:25] Jan Svendsen: Okay.

[8:27] Jan Svendsen: Um, Telly, let's just pretend that a meteor is gonna hit this planet. What would your last meal be?

[8:34] Telly Leung: Oh, yeah, I've had this one a lot. Because now you're I hear you like the food thing. Because I've got the little emoji in my own. So picture me as a drooly emoji right now. Okay, it is, and this isn't the most sustainable meal, but it's my last meal on earth. It would be like a ribeye steak, medium rare with fresh horseradish.

[8:56] Anika Larsen: Wow, that's specific.

[8:58] Telly Leung: Yeah, yeah. Like just uh, just I just want to dive into a steak and have the meat sweats afterwards.

[9:04] Jan Svendsen: Wow.

[9:05] Jan Svendsen: Okay. Hey, Telly, what do you most give a damn about today?

[9:11] Telly Leung: Um, let me just say the world is so messed up and there's so many things to give a damn about. But like at this moment, yeah.

[9:19] Telly Leung: What crossed your mind today? What crossed my mind, what I today, and again, I think you're right, it changes every day. What crossed my mind today is that I think it's really important for different generations to not just block each other out. So, you know, I keenly feel as somebody who's in his forties, that you know, and does a lot of teaching of university kids and teaches a lot of kids who are 18, 19, 20, who are the future, but also has now parents who are in their 70s, right? Um, and were taught and trained by those people of a different generation. You know, I feel passionately about I think we, I'm the bridge. I think we are the bridge. People my age group are the folks that will make the two understand each other, you know.

It's like, you know, so that we can't have the grown-ups going, "Oh, these kids, they just want to burn it all down." And I think, and we also can't also the kids also can't say, "You adults, you ruined it for us," and not even know how hard we've worked actually to make the world the way it is, how hard we fought in our own way when we were kids and we were young to make the world so that they can be so loud about all the things that they're angry about, right? So I think that's, I think, um, which I think plays into my superpower of listening. I think it's sort of my job to like tie the two together.

[10:54] Jan Svendsen: Wow, Telly, that was an unexpected and beautiful answer.

[10:57] Telly Leung: Oh thanks.

[10:58] Jan Svendsen: Thank you.

[10:59] Jan Svendsen: And I love how it all ties together. But you know, it's interesting when thinking about you, Telly. I, you know, think about your work, but also thinking about your philanthropy, your activism, and it really does all tie together. And that whole idea of paying it forward, you know. Again, you just talked about generations that is about paying it forward. And um, and even the show, you know, that you're in right now, Allegiance, it's, you know, you're sort of looking at the legacy of what was, right? And um, so I feel like there's just a really nice sort of full circle thing here.

[11:34] Jan Svendsen: Um, speaking of which, so I just want to mention a few of the things that you do before we get into the global goal conversation. Um, the Jimmy Awards, which are um sponsored by the Broadway League, and it's for it's a high school sort of talent competition, if you will. High schools all around the country compete, and they send kids to New York, and then there's a sort of I guess a male and a female winner. Um, and um they do a little mini award ceremony. It's really sweet. And these kids, some of them are so insanely talented. But um, Telly's been involved with that as a coach and as a judge and a mentor.

[12:11] Jan Svendsen: Um, you teach classes, you're an adjunct professor and a guest teacher, and you do master classes. You also do social justice work, and you've also been very vocal about some of the voice surgery, vocal issues, and things which a lot of people are afraid to talk about. So I feel like you're very outspoken, and you're also, you know, you sort of put your money where your mouth is, um, and um you do the work. And so I just wanted to talk about that.

[12:40] Jan Svendsen: And I wondered, um, where does this come from? Like, is this something?

[12:43] Telly Leung: No, really, because not everybody does that, you know, some people are just in their own little space. But is this something were you raised this way? Did you see somebody model it for you? Did it come to you later?

[12:55] Telly Leung: That's a great question.

[12:56] Anika Larsen: Well, I chime in before you answer Telly. I would love to chime in just because when Jan and I were talking about prepping for this, um, I just I told her he is just a person that I think of who when you ask him for help, he shows up.

[13:11] Telly Leung: There's that, yeah.

[13:20] Anika Larsen: Um, there are people who tell you they love you, and there are people who show up. And it's just you are one of the people who, when called upon, you show up. Like the whole history of our relationship, and not just I don't mean just as a friend, I mean literally, like when my friend April Nichols said, let's start a theater company to serve New York City and go into schools and go into old folks' homes. We call, I asked around my actor friends who would become members, like commit to being a member who commits to doing a certain amount of outreach every month. And you were immediately a hard yes. And then, you know, like just asking you to do this podcast and this vlog, or last year when I said please come sing for the gala for New York City Children's Theater, it's just you always say yes.

And and I uh and it's just it's so it's because you are heart. You just when I think of Telly, I think of love, and I guess maybe that does tie into the listening because listening is such an act of love. But um, but yes, so um, as you were formulating an answer to that question, I wanted to chime in and say that I agree, it's gotta come from somewhere and it must be your parents.

[14:21] Telly Leung: Um, you know, it's interesting. I uh uh well, first of all, thank you for all of that. Like, and you know, uh Anika and I, we have known each other for almost two decades now. So it's we our friendship goes way back. And I think part of that is, you know, I my my mom is one of five. My dad is actually number 15 of 17 brothers and sisters, so giant families, right? Um I always joke that like with my Chinese family that like my family is single-handedly responsible for the one child policy in China because we overdid it, you know. Um but uh but uh but you know, because they had such a big families, I'm an only child, right? So it was such a big shift. So I think in many ways, me being involved in theater, um, me really was because a as a little kid, uh I grew up by myself.

You know, I grew up by myself and I and I had a lot of imaginary friends and so I had an active imagination, right? I like to play play pretend by myself. But also anytime I went to school, I was one of those people that actually really liked school because it was instant brothers and sisters. It was instant community. It wasn't me at home anymore. It was me as a part of something bigger, whether that was a classroom or and now as I grow up, it it's no so it's actually now looking back on it and going, where did that come from? I go, Oh right. It probably came from the fact that I was a little kid who grew up a bit lonely with a big imagination and like, but I liked people. Like I liked being with other people, making things with other people, doing things with other people.

So once I, you know, it's interesting, my casts that I've been a part of, they're professional relationships, of course, but I actually call them my Rent family, my Godspell family, my Allegiance family. You know what I mean? And I, and I know it sounds hokey sometimes when people say that, but it is true. I know in the theater we toss around the word family a lot, we toss around the word community a lot, but it is actually, I think, at the core of why I do all the things that I do, and I do say yes, you know, when when Anika, my sister, says of 20 years, right? My show sister, not my blood sister, but my show sister says, I need you for something. I am gonna try my best to show up. Because I also feel like those people would probably do the same for me if I ever needed that, right?

So, and you do, and for me, you know, I think in my early 20s, all I wanted to do was perform, right? Get to the next show, perform, work with incredible artists, all of that. And then somewhere in my 30s, that shifted as I had 10 years in the business, and I went, you know what? Why do I, why do I keep doing this? This is really hard. Show business is really hard. Eight shows a week is really hard. But the reason why I like I like it is because I like showing up and seeing all of those people at half hour and like seeing them on stage. And I realized that it really was the community aspect of it that that was at the core of why I did what I did. The show could be terrible. And yet, and yet, when you if you're doing it with a really great group of people, there it's there's still a good experience to be had by that. So it's all about to me. I always say, why do you do this? And I go, Oh, it's the hang. Because there's nothing like theater people, it's the hang, right?

[17:31] Anika Larsen: And do you think that's the same that feeling of community is what motivates you to give back?

[17:37] Telly Leung: I think so. I mean, I think that's a huge motivator. If Anika is passionate about something, an organization that I don't know anything about, and she goes, come and sing at this gala. I go, Oh, that's great. Yeah, if she cares about it, I want to care about it too, because I care about Anika, right? So, and that extends to so many of my friends where that's happened. I also think that, you know, an organization that is amazing for the Broadway community is Broadway Cares Equity Fights AIDS. And of course, they do all of that incredible work with with the hundreds of thousands of dollars that they give away to all these different charities and and all of that. But the thing that they that they really do is make make us Broadway people in the community feel like we are doing something outside of that little bubble of Midtown that we all live in, or outside, or that that the things that we do that we get together into, and that it doesn't necessarily have to be a monetary donation.

It could be a donation of your voice, your talent, your time, your physical presence holding a bucket. But that but it just it they have created a way for us to go, you know what, we're gonna do something that is outside of ourselves, outside of our jobs that we get paid for, but that we all get to like do together. And isn't that fun to be able to do that? The friendships I've made backstage at an Easter bonnet, you know what I mean, or and the bonds I've made, you know, recording Carols for Cure, like those are lasting relationships and friendships, you know.

[19:03] Anika Larsen: Yeah. I have often thought how well named Broadway Cares is. It's just it's so true, it's so apt.

[19:09] Telly Leung: Yeah.

[19:11] Anika Larsen: Broadway really does care. And you know, not to not to be dismissive of Hollywood or anything, but and and certainly Hollywood, you know, is philanthropic and and and there's activism, but it's different in Broadway. In the Broadway space, it's just it's so authentic and it's so everybody you're right, Telly, to your point, like everybody is part of it. And and there is that sense of community.

[19:34] Telly Leung: Yeah, Broadway people also show up. Like if we say we're gonna show up to something we actually do, like I have I found that to be very true, you know, for the most part. And I think that is because we've all from from an early time of us entering this business in this community, we had to show up for things like Broadway Cares, you know. They've made those opportunities for us to show up.

[19:58] Anika Larsen: Yeah, absolutely. I also I wonder how much of that, and this I honestly I've never talked or thought about this before, but how much of that is that we really we have a place where we all are, you know, like Midtown Manhattan um is a place where you just know if you're walking down Ninth Avenue, if it's at least more than two blocks, then you're gonna see somebody that you know. If you're in any of the studios anywhere, you're gonna bump into people that you know that there is a way to that makes you continue to feel like you're a community. Also, that I I think just the nature of the work is different. When you go to your Broadway show, there are at least a hundred people there you see every day that you interact with every day, as opposed to I I don't do TV and film, but it just seems like you you're in your trailer, there's certain people you see, but there's not the same kind of a family can't be created. Also, you know, long-running shows that it's just the amount of time that you spend with each other. So that it really it lends itself to community building, just the nature of theater.

[20:57] Telly Leung: Yeah, absolutely. And the feeling of collaboration. Um New York and New York City, you know. I'm I'm bi-coastal, so I go back and forth between New York and LA, and I think of it as my kids, you know, sort of I love them equally but differently, but um New York, I mean, it's it is like there's just a sense of community. Even there's so much diversity, there's still a sense of community. Which kind of brings us around to talk about this idea of sustainable cities. And you being a city kid, um, Telly, born and raised in New York City. We thought you'd be a perfect person to talk about this notion of what makes a sustainable city. And it's not just about the um, you know, in environmental things, it's about all of the other things that make a city um sustainable and livable.

So we thought that we would start with you and talk about some of that. And Anika, I'm gonna I'm gonna throw to you for the sort of Yeah, talking I know it, and I know you did you guys worked on a vlog together. So I thought maybe we could, I thought maybe we could talk about that too.

[22:02] Anika Larsen: Absolutely. Absolutely, because um, of course, this is all part of the larger programming for Earth Month. And so uh Jan was the one who came up with the brilliant idea of doing the crossover guests. So the guests that I'm co-hosting with here are also all gonna be on my vlog, my 17-part vlog, each one is for a different global goal, which is of course this amazing framework to understand how to take action, and the idea that all of our world's problems are intersectional, interdependent, intertwined, entrenched in each other, and that in the good news isn't that in helping solve any of them, you are helping to solve all of them. But it's the idea that it's it it isn't sustainable to be polluting the the oceans or the air or the land, but you it is also not sustainable if people don't have access to decent work or clean water or education or equality based on their gender or their race or their income levels.

So um, that's why I get super nerdy for the global goals. It's because I just think there's so elegantly. GlobalGoals.org, you guys, is just they're so elegantly broken down. It's so heartening to think some people have really done great thinking about the world's to-do list, as they call it, um, and how to solve our problems, and it makes it all feel much more manageable. So Telly came to talk about global goal number 11, which is sustainable cities and communities, because he is a city boy born and raised, and um he gets it. So yeah, Telly, tell the folks why.

[23:25] Telly Leung: Yeah, I I'm a I'm a New Yorker, native New Yorker, born and bred. My parents still live in Brooklyn. So I have an incredible uh amount of pride as a New Yorker, and I'm and I and I love my city. Global Goals 11, which is sustainable cities and communities. This goal is it says that the world's population is constantly increasing. So to accommodate that increase of population, we've got to build modern and sustainable cities. For all of us to survive and prosper, we need new intelligent urban planning that creates safe, affordable, and resilient cities with green and culturally inspiring living conditions.

[24:07] Anika Larsen: Yes, and I love that this is the global goal, right? It's the global goal that talks about how it's it's not sustainable to if you don't have cultural inspiration, if you don't have strong cultural institutions, because of course that is what we do. We're biased, but everybody knows that how how critical that is to a thriving society.

[24:26] Telly Leung: Yeah, you know, when people think about you know, environmental global initiatives. They usually think about making cities sustainable with recycling or public transportation and all of that. But it but it also has to involve protecting and supporting those cult cultural institutions. It's through culture and art, things like museums and theaters that we care for the place that we live, that we feel pride, that we feel love, that we want to take care of not only the place where we live, which we call home, but that we have to take care of each other, right? So I I think this this is um it sort of gets really to the to the root of it, I think, which is awesome.

[25:06] Anika Larsen: Yeah. Yes, Telly. Breach, tell it, telly. Um so tell I I have a question for both of you. Um let's just take New York City as an example. Do you think that how where do you rate New York City in terms of being a sustainable city? Um what do you think New York City does well? What do you think still needs improvement? Um, or or are they any other cities in the world that you think are, you know, something that we should look to and model.

[25:35] Telly Leung: Um I think that, well, I I I very much think that it's good for us in America to be looking elsewhere to remember to because people are often doing things better other places. And so it is always smart to see what everybody else is doing and what you can learn and how you can improve. Um, some a fun fact I recently learned that I um really dig is that uh New Yorkers have one-third of the carbon footprint of people who live in rural or suburban areas. One third. That is something I actually think we're not proud enough about. I don’t I and I I’ve started part of my mission is to make sure New York City kids know it. Um, that they are just by living, and it's mainly because of public transportation and high density housing, um, that really that New Yorkers are crushing it on the sustainability front in that way.

And you know, there are more and more initiatives. This new composting thing, it's such a big deal, and it's really exciting, and everybody get your brown composting bin. Because composting is I just I thought it was just for hippies and farmers, but it turns out it actually really matters. New York spends 400 million dollars every year to take uh trash to other places as far away as South Carolina and put them in landfills.

[26:43] Telly Leung: A third of that is food that could be composted. When it ends up in landfills, it produces methane, which is one of the worst greenhouse gases. If we keep it in New York and we put them in those brown composting bins, then it gets turned into compost, which then beautifies our parks. People can take it, they can get it for free and put it in their own backyards. And also rats, because rats can get into the food stuff that's in your trash bags, but rats cannot get into the brown composting bins. So humans win like a thousand ways because of composting, and the only one who loses is the rats. That was not how I expected to answer that question when you first asked it. And rats is definitely something New York does not do well for sure.

So I'll put that on the list. But as a New Yorker, I am very proud of our public transportation. I know that we moan and complain about the subway on a daily basis, but what you know, as somebody who's working internationally right now, I have to say the tube is amazing. The New York City subway system runs longer and actually more frequently and has an even wider reach and is also more cost-effective than the tube is here. Something that I think London does very well is that London has really reduced plastic use. So even when you go to Pret or something and you get a salad, all of your utensils are made from wood now.

[32:07] Anika Larsen: I don't know if it's legislated; we might have to have somebody over there fact-check this for us, but I know that I have not used a plastic utensil since I've been here. And also grocery shopping, I carry, you know, everybody sort of carries their own grocery bag now around with them. So it's just become a thing. And I know New York is very good at that as well because I know that when I go grocery shopping, I carry extra bags with me. And it is the little things that really do add up to big things, especially in big dense places like London and New York.

[32:07] Telly Leung: Yeah. I love the idea of the little things because I feel like I was very overwhelmed, and then I went to, I forgot the name of the concert, but it was Al Gore's concert for the earth. This was like whatever, 15, 20 years ago, and I realized, oh, it is the little things that add up. I remember going home and unplugging things that were charging but that were done charging, and I remember changing my light bulbs. I remember thinking it's the little things that add up, and I feel like I'd like to know more hacks, sort of more what are more little things that we can do that, if we all do it, make a really big difference. As a performer who travels a lot and spends a lot of time in airports, I almost never buy a bottle of water anymore.

That's just not something I do anymore because it's, and I guess I didn't realize how often performers, we do need to stay hydrated. I'm sucking down a coconut water as we speak. But you know, I think that was my thing. I have a real conscience. It really hurts my conscience when I go, okay, I have like I'm buying this plastic bottle of water, knowing that it's gonna probably take a long time for it to go away.

[32:07] Anika Larsen: Plastic is a really big problem, and single-use plastics, particularly the ones you buy, and then I think two percent of plastics that are made every year are actually recycled. The system isn't working currently. I think that a lot of the time it's literally about just flipping the switch in your mind. There are going to be times where you have to buy plastics; there just are. It's not avoidable now. Hopefully, we'll start getting better at it. Legislation helps so that it becomes illegal to throw plastic at us in the ways that we can so much now. But really, it's about, I just the other day, it occurred to me that we have a wood-burning stove here in my house, and I buy and put them in my husband's stockings for stocking stuffer lighters with the extra long things so we can reach it in.

But I looked at it and I was like, this is so much plastic for so little ultimate purpose, and this will sit now in a landfill forever. I could just be using matches. And why aren't we just using matches? It's no inconvenience and actually cheaper. I bought the really super long matches. I had such a fond memory of them from my childhood. So that's one of the things where people start to feel like, oh, but it's so hard to be. Actually, sometimes it's easier and better to be. You just didn't think.

[32:07] Anika Larsen: The other thing that I really think that people, it's a plastics issue that I think people just don't know about and is actually a really heartening, exciting, easy fix is our laundry. Doing our laundry in more efficient ways that are so, yes, Telly's freaking out; you can't hear that, but you can see he's freaking out because a lot of washing machines are so good nowadays that you don't have to use hot water. You really always can wash on cold, and detergent is so good, and particularly if you buy eco-friendly detergent, that's always great. But you can wash on cold, you can wash for short washes, you don't need to do the extra long wash. Drying your clothes on low instead of high is actually better for your clothes.

And also, it helps to solve the problem of, I don't know if you guys have heard of microfibers, but it's all of the clothing that's not cotton, that's made of like rayon or polyester. Polyester is the worst one, acrylic, spandex. All of those, when you wash them, shed these microscopic, you can't see them fibers. I know, Telly, I know. And immediately, like, you know, oh no, not another problem. It is 30% of the plastics that are in the ocean are microfibers that are in the fish, they're in the sharks, they're in the animals. They might be in us now; they're microscopic. But here's the thing: you can stop it where it starts in your laundry. You can either get a filter and put it on the back of your washing machine that stops it, and we should legislate that washing machines should not be made without these filters anymore.

It's a no-brainer; they're doing it in Europe, of course. But you can put a filter, Filtral is the name of a company that makes filters that you can put on the back of your washing machine. If you're not able, if you go to laundromats, mine, we can't reach the back of our filter because of the way it's wedged into a little closet. You can buy a bag. Mine, the brand is Guppy Friend, but you can buy a bag and you can put those particular, just the stuff that's polyester or whatever, into that bag, and then you wash it in that bag with your other laundry, and then you take it out and you dry it regularly. But literally, you can't stop pollution from coming out of your car and capture it and throw it away responsibly.

You can stop microfibers from leaving your house and throw them away responsibly. It's a problem that we can all fix if we just knew about it. And so that's one of the things that's actually a bummer to know of another problem we didn't know about, but one that's so easily solved is exciting because it's rarely so simple as that that we have control over it.

[33:48] Telly Leung: I have two things. I love that. I have no idea. I have two thoughts on that. A, what you said about it being cheaper. So listen, we all know when we go to airports and we buy that bottle of water that costs a bazillion dollars. But that empty water bottle that I have that is plastic, but I'm using it over and over and over and over again, right? It's not a single-use plastic; it's great. It's saving me so much money at the airport when I can fill up my bottle and keep reusing it, right?

[34:18] Anika Larsen: Yes, that's why people are loving LED lights, is because they ultimately save you so much money in electricity and it's so much better. All the Broadway marquees now are LED lights. Did you know that?

[34:28] Telly Leung: I love that.

[34:28] Anika Larsen: I did know that actually. Two-tenths of the amount of power every year, two-tenths of the power that it used to take to light those Broadway marquees because they're LED lights now. But landlords love it because it's cheaper. So when that's always how we're gonna win those battles.

[34:45] Telly Leung: You had another thought.

[34:46] Anika Larsen: I got so excited when you started talking about laundry because I switched. So the giant, when you go and you buy, you know, Tide, and it comes in that giant plastic jug. So when it's all gone, you throw that jug out and you recycle the jug. But again, we talked about how only 2% of it is actually recyclable, right? I've started using the dissolvable sheets.

[35:08] Telly Leung: The sheets.

[35:08] Anika Larsen: Yes, they're paper, right? I love them because so much of laundry detergent is just water. Well, we get water from the washing machine. So there are, and you get like a box of like 250 or 500 sheets that dissolve in your laundry. So no more buying giant tubs that you're schlepping from the Costco or whatever, and no more like pods even. I'm not even using pods anymore because most of that pod is just water anyway when all of your detergent could be in a dissolvable sheet, and it's just as good, and I'm obsessed. I actually brought dissolvable sheets with me to London because they're in my suitcase, and it was easy because I just put them in a Ziploc bag and I put them in my suitcase, and I have laundry detergent. I've not bought laundry detergent here, which is so great because I brought my sheets with me, and it ended up being cheaper actually.

[36:09] Telly Leung: Okay, I have now learned so much about laundry. I'm gonna go up and do a few of those here completely differently than what I used to do.

[36:15] Anika Larsen: No, but seriously, that's exactly what I was looking for, like what are these hacks? And that's so helpful. You know, the other thing about the whole idea that you were talking about before, Telly, was we need cities that have intelligent urban planning and that are safe, that are affordable, that are, I think you said resilient, but also have the culture. So like what are examples of things that are happening in cities now, whether it be New York City or other places that are examples of that? Just to take like urban planning or, you know, obviously safety is, well, that's a bigger issue on so many levels.

[36:49] Telly Leung: You know, it's so funny that you asked that today because today was sort of a rainy day in London. I always try to find vocally healthy things to do that don't require a lot of talking when I'm here doing Allegiance. So I went to the Tate today, which is the modern art museum here in London. And it is free. So here in London, you know, most museums here, they ask for a donation if you can afford it, but it's accessible to anybody. Right now it's half term, which is sort of what they call spring break here. So many kids in the museum checking out modern art. How cool is that? I also think the public spaces, right? The Tate happens to be right along the Thames. Well, you can walk along the Thames on the North Bank or the South Bank, and it's a beautiful view, and it's completely accessible, and it's also just great exercise.

So like all of those, the beautifying of those public spaces that are free and accessible to people, and places like cultural centers like museums that are free and accessible to people, those are all things that we can take great pride in, you know. And New York has those spaces too. I mean, I'm a West Side person, so I for sure walk along the West Side a lot. I go to, you know, Little Island is brand new, which I love that's there for me, and I love all of our parks. Thank God for parks during the pandemic when we had to be outside. So New York definitely has that as well, and I think we need to really take care of those spaces.

[38:22] Anika Larsen: Yeah, I agree. Public spaces, green public spaces, and New York has phenomenal ones. The High Line is another great example. I've also heard that the new Battery Park is like unbelievable for a thousand reasons that we should all go down to the bottom of Manhattan and check it out. And then something that I love too is that because we can't always control city property, right? But that people have started really building green spaces on tops of buildings, and like the people who are like, I don't know, you don't grow bees. What do you do?

[38:51] Telly Leung: You keep bees.

[38:54] Anika Larsen: You keep bees. Well done, Jan. They are keeping bees, but like the stuff that with the ways that people, that's always the most exciting thing is the sort of ingenuity or the innovation is when people are making like just really problem-solving in ways that are just so clever. And that's what's heartening is so when you see all of the ways that so many different people are problem-solving so smartly, that's how you know we're gonna be able to do this.

[39:20] Telly Leung: Yeah.

[39:21] Anika Larsen: But it starts with loving your home and your community and having pride in it is really what it is.

[39:30] Telly Leung: Yeah. There's a, I forget the name of the organization now, I think it's in Chicago, but they started with, it was too big to think about working, you know, doing something national, and it was too big to think about doing it for a state or city or even, you know, a neighborhood. So they started with what can we do on this block?

[39:53] Anika Larsen: Yeah, and I love the concept of that because it's so local, it's so micro-local, you know.

[39:58] Telly Leung: Yeah, and they've each block has formed these, you know, these sort of groups, small communities to make small improvements on their block, and then it sort of expands out, and I love that idea.

[40:12] Telly Leung: Um, that reminds me of, oh, there's this really cool initiative. Um, I'm not gonna think of the name of it either, but it's basically it's the largest conservation effort across like lots of different people, which is it's the idea of letting your backyards go wild, and that that's like one large sort of conservation effort, um, which I was thrilled about because I cannot keep up with my yard. So when I realized that like in a second my inability to care for it turned into an act of conservation, so thrilled. Now it's a choice. I am choosing to not mow my lawn, thank you very much. Well, the one I'm gonna adopt now is, um, instead of I'm gonna wear the same dress to every event that I go to because, you know, I'm gonna make that as a statement about, you know, sustainability and conservation. Um, it's the best thing you can do fashion-wise is repeat outfits, buy something that's meant to last and wear it, wear it, wear it.

[41:11] Anika Larsen: Yep, absolutely.

[41:11] Telly Leung: Yeah. Um, and then it's true, you talked also about the cultural, and I feel like obviously that's the spot where we all intersect. And, um, you know, a sustainable city has to have that culture. And you talked about museums and obviously there's theater both in London and in, um, in New York, but also like so many places. And I just wondered, are there any examples that you can think of of ways that culture is being brought to, um, to everyone, making it more accessible to your point? Um, are there any other cities that are doing it sort of in a way that's just wow, this is so forward-thinking? Um, I know that for Broadway back in the day, we did we started Broadway on Broadway because we felt like that was a cool way to bring Broadway to everybody.

And then we did Broadway in the boroughs, so we were bringing Broadway to all the boroughs, and I just wondered if there's any other examples that you could give about how culture is so key to, um, the sustainability of a city.

[42:10] Telly Leung: Yeah, being in London right now, I am keenly aware of the differences between being in London and being in New York as an American in London, where so much of theater and arts is subsidized here, which means that there is actual government support here that then brings the ticket prices down in a way where it is accessible. You can see Allegiance for 25 pounds. You can do that. You can see a play at the National for 20 pounds. Do you mean now there's other issues there that come into play, you know, as far as like here, labor unions are not as strong as they are in the United States if you're an artist or a performer or working performing arts professional, right? So that is different here. But I will say that because of the subsidies to arts, because of them even having a national theater, you know, that, um, where the purpose of it, the mission of it is to is it is we this is our identity.

Part of our identity is this theater. There's a statue of Sir Lawrence Olivier outside of it, who was one of the founding members of the theater. Like they're so proud of it. Do you mean this institution? Um, and they make sure that it is accessible, that there are, you know, tickets that are at an affordable price, that they make sure they bring young people in, you know. Um, I think we could really learn from that a lot. You know, I know that there are initiatives happening on Broadway, but I think with Broadway and with theater in America, there is much more emphasis on like profit than there is about the impact.

[43:50] Anika Larsen: Yeah.

[43:51] Telly Leung: And you can't take you can you can't take risks as easily then when it's about product. You can't they they can take risks more in England because it doesn't have to.

[44:01] Anika Larsen: Yeah, the word success means something different there.

[44:04] Telly Leung: That's right. That's right. I agree. But the fact is the government helps. You know, so a lot of a lot of theater is subsidized. And we I don't know if we have that. We really don't have that. You know, we have a non-for-profit theater models here in America. Right. But like we we don't really have that national sense of hey, our tax dollars are are going to help that. Should go to the correct. Yeah. Do you mean and the recognition and that it benefits our future generations, that that is the way we get the next generation, your kids are my students to be more empathetic human beings is to is to have things like that. So that they so that you know what I mean? It's it's it is as important as math and science and literacy. It is just as important.

[44:52] Anika Larsen: Yeah, I um, STEAM all the way. Not STEM.

[44:58] Telly Leung: Yeah. I often think about how, um, theaters and churches have basically the same architecture. And it's because their purpose at the end of the day, I think is quite the same, which is communion. It's coming together to know we're not alone, to share our values, to share our experiences, to help to understand ourselves, to get help, to get support. They do the same things. Um, and um, there's yeah, it's there's I mean, there's a reason there's music in both of them, right? Like that it's so so vital to both of them. Um, yeah, that it is so cr the arts are just so critical to to a healthy, thriving society.

[45:35] Anika Larsen: Um, yeah, I agree, Telly. Preach.

[45:37] Telly Leung: Let's legislate that.

[45:38] Anika Larsen: Yeah, I mean, the, the you know, we worked on Godspell together, and so so you and I are are keenly aware of sort of the similarities and and the uh of between you know that that is what Godspell is about, right? It's it's sort of is about how the theater is just as sacred as a church, you know, as far as bringing people together and the kind of positive change that it can create. I think about that often, you know. I I know you you and I, Anika, like we do eight shows a week, and by that Sunday matinee, you're exhausted. But you know, the thing that keeps us going is knowing that someone in that for somebody in that audience, it's either their first Broadway show. For somebody in that audience, it could be a life-changing experience.

And we know that because it was that for us at some point that made us now decide to do this as a profession, right? So like I I think when I do feel exhausted and completely knackered, as they say here in in London, um, that that I go, you know what, but I owe it to somebody in that audience, and probably, you know, probably little Telly who's sitting out there, to like to to give it my 100% to to have so that I I have no idea what sort of impact I'm gonna have on them, right? And it's the same thing with churches, you know, they people will sit. That sermon might not make sense in that moment, and then something can happen in your life five minutes, five years, you know, five decades later, and you go, Oh my gosh, now it clicks and it makes sense.

And you're right, it's all about people not feeling alone. I think that's part of taking pride too, is going, oh, right, I share this space, this planet, this city with other people. And and and we uh we do have to care for each other, and in a subliminal way, the theater and the church sort of reminds us of that.

[47:27] Telly Leung: It is so much about the connecting.

[47:29] Anika Larsen: And as someone who's not a performer, but someone who's a fan, somebody who's a theater-goer, and somebody who grew up going to synagogue as a sort of an atheist kind of Jew or cultural Jew, I guess. Um, but there's something there is you're right. I never really thought about that comparison between the religion and the theater. But when I walk into a temple, and again, I'm not religious, but something comes over me, and I just want I get tears in my eyes. And it happens to me in the theater too, especially those moments right before the show starts, when you're just holding your playbill and you're just kind of sitting there with the anticipation. I just get all, as we would say in Yiddish, for Klempt, you know, like I just get very emotional. And and I do think it's that exchange of energy in that room, that connection.

[48:21] Telly Leung: Um for me, anyway.

[48:23] Anika Larsen: And it's also the act. I mean, we talked about showing up, like a thousand people decided to show up and share an experience together. That is moving actually to me, that they these thousand people that are sitting at the Broadhurst Theater could have been doing anything else with their lives, anything else. And yet, what they chose to do is sit in that theater and share an experience with other human beings, strangers, people they don't know, right? With more people they don't know up on a stage, like so, and that and it's the same thing. You go to synagogue, you go to temple, you go to church, same thing. Those people choose every Friday, Saturday, whatever that is, Sunday, to like share that space together when really the alternative is they could be doing anything else.

[49:05] Telly Leung: Yeah, you know, yeah.

[49:07] Anika Larsen: And um, and sing together.

[49:09] Telly Leung: Um, I was just telling my little boys the other day, we call them our beautiful boys because they only exist because of beautiful the Carol King musical, because my husband and I were set up on a blind date by my dresser. And so it had never come up before, but that the day that Carol King surprised us all, which you can if you just put Carol King's surprise into YouTube, you can find it. Um, and she surprised us all, um, as we were collecting for Broadway Cares. Um, and um, and she started and say, and so people in the audience were like, Sing for us, Carol! And so she said, 'I'll sing if you give money.' So three different people gave ten thousand dollars on the spot, and so she started singing you've got a friend, but then she said, 'You sing it.'

And this was why I showed the video to my boys, was I said, 'You don't understand what it feels like to have a thousand people singing you've got a friend' to you. This it was the one of the most moving things that's ever happened to me was to have these people singing back at us, and it felt like church. It really did.

[50:02] Anika Larsen: Yeah.

[50:05] Telly Leung: What advice would you give people listening to this podcast about being, uh, an activist, a philanthropist, being giving back, you know, there's so many different ways to, you know, talk about what it is you do, social impact. Um, what advice would you give to people, um, about getting more involved?

[50:27] Telly Leung: You know, it's so it's uh that a great question. I I honestly think, and it's you you all brought it up, which uh is show up actually, like show up for show up for the people you care about and the things you care about, right? Show up, show up at the ballot box and vote, like show just just show up, really. Because if you don't, the alternative to not showing up is apathy and right is is like not caring and not doing anything. Whereas if you do show up, the possibilities are endless about what could happen. Showing up means you could find a a new collaboration, a new friend, a new connection, a new community to join, right? So I I just think that every time I've said yes and shown up to something, even when I didn't know what I was getting into sometimes, but but the person, but the person that asked me to show up was somebody I trusted and loved.

I and I and I was like, I don't know what this is about, but I'm gonna show up for this person because I care about this person. You know, the same thing happened with our little theater company, Jared. We had no idea what that was gonna be about. We just we named it just a room of artists doing outreach and theater because that was the mission. We just showed up, we showed up, Jared. That's what it stands for. We had no sort of grand plan. That's literally what it is an acronym for what it was gonna be, but we just showed up for each other, and it became something because we showed up for one another, and it also became lasting friendships and connections that I would have not had had I not shown up because Anika asked me to, right? So um and so I I don't know, show up, I guess is the is the advice.

[52:07] Anika Larsen: I think that's a great last word for this podcast.

[52:11] Telly Leung: Show up.

[52:13] Jan Svendsen: Thank you both so much for being part of this. Thank you, Anika, for co-hosting with me for the series. It's so great. And Telly, thank you for staying up late and being part of this and for being an amazing role model and for showing up.

[52:15] Telly Leung: Thank you.

[52:30] Jan Svendsen: Thanks for listening to this episode of the Broadway Gives Back Podcast. If you like what you hear, please subscribe and rate Broadway Gives Back wherever you stream your podcasts. You can also follow me on Facebook at Jan Friedlanderweiss and on Instagram at Janforgood. Broadway Gives Back is part of the Broadway Podcast Network, produced by Dori Berinstein, Alan Seales, Kimberlee Garris, along with their team of amazing collaborators and wonderful humans. To learn more about this podcast and other Broadway podcasts, visit bpn.fm slash Broadway Gives Back.