{"id":26228,"date":"2017-02-01T12:31:53","date_gmt":"2017-02-01T04:31:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/glutenfreepleasure.com\/__proxy_domain\/www.wildrice.com.sg\/?p=26228"},"modified":"2021-04-09T14:17:30","modified_gmt":"2021-04-09T06:17:30","slug":"all-the-worlds-a-stage-hossan-leong","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/glutenfreepleasure.com\/__proxy_domain\/www.wildrice.com.sg\/all-the-worlds-a-stage-hossan-leong\/","title":{"rendered":"All The World\u2019s A Stage: Hossan Leong"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

I\u2019ve been performing since<\/span><\/strong>\u00a0the age of six! Ever since I could play the piano, I would be shoved on stage at church and for family parties. I was so short I had to sit on hymn books to reach the keyboard!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The first time I set foot on stage was<\/span><\/strong>\u00a0in September 1993 for the first-ever production of\u00a0Off Centre<\/em>\u00a0by The Necessary Stage. I hear they may be re-staging it soon \u2013 I\u2019m very excited about that!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The theatre experience that changed my life was<\/span><\/strong>\u00a0A Chorus Line<\/em>, when it first came to the Kallang Theatre decades ago. I was 18 at the time. And I knew that I wanted to be a performer after watching it. I said to myself: \u201cThat\u2019s where I want to be \u2013 on stage.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In one of my most memorable on-stage mishaps<\/span><\/strong>, I ran on stage without my costume on! I was hungry backstage and had been told not to eat in my costume. So I didn\u2019t lor! But, as I was eating, I suddenly realised, \u201cOh s**t, it\u2019s my cue!\u201d So I ran out in just my singlet! You could see the horror on everyone\u2019s faces, and Chua Enlai couldn\u2019t help laughing at me on stage!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Three of my favourite shows are<\/span><\/strong>:\u00a0RENT<\/em>\u00a0\u2013 I saw the original Broadway cast perform it in London, and I was moved to tears. It was raw and real, nothing like the Andrew Lloyd Webber and Cameron Mackintosh musicals that were big at the time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

W!LD RICE\u2019s The Importance of Being Earnest<\/em> also stands out as a great production. I grew a lot as an actor with this show, and it was so nice to see audiences really respond to a Singaporean cast performing an Oscar Wilde classic when we took it on tour to various festivals in Australia and Macau!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Broadway revival of Stephen Sondheim\u2019s Company<\/em>, starring Raul Esparza, blew my mind too, because all the actors played an instrument on stage and I\u2019d never seen anything like that before. Actually, I fell in love with the show and songs many years before that, when I first listened to the original London cast recording. I wanted to stage Company<\/em> in Singapore even then, and I\u2019m glad I had the chance to do so with Dream Academy in 2012!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Hossan (pictured here with Gavin Yap as Cecily) steps out of his comfort zone
with his role as Miss Prism in The Importance of Being Earnest<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The role that challenged me the most was<\/span><\/strong>\u00a0Miss Prism in\u00a0The Importance of Being Earnest<\/em>! It was a very difficult role for me. I was completely nervous about doing it, because I\u2019m not a very good text-based actor. I had to be conscious about speaking clearly and making myself understood. Also, I was so used to doing Singapore shows and stand-up comedy in my own persona, as Hossan Leong. So I had to work on keeping myself in character as Miss Prism, to ensure she was believable, and not turn her into a caricature. That\u2019s another reason I\u2019m grateful we toured: people don\u2019t know me in Australia or Macau, so there were no pre-conceptions of who I am as an entertainer.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

If I could give some advice to my younger self, I would say<\/span><\/strong>: Listen more. Be more patient. And I received some great advice myself that I always pass on to others who are keen to work in the theatre: \u201cRespect everyone. Know your work. And never be late!\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

If I weren\u2019t working in the theatre, I would be<\/span><\/strong>\u00a0DEAD!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In this brand-new regular feature, Singapore\u2019s theatre-makers \u2013 starting with Singapore Boy Hossan Leong \u2013 chat with us about their careers in theatre: from the first time they set foot on stage to the best advice they\u2019ve ever received.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":26229,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"none","_seopress_titles_title":"","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"default","ast-site-content-layout":"","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"default","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"default","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[58,268],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/glutenfreepleasure.com\/__proxy_domain\/www.wildrice.com.sg\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26228"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/glutenfreepleasure.com\/__proxy_domain\/www.wildrice.com.sg\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/glutenfreepleasure.com\/__proxy_domain\/www.wildrice.com.sg\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/glutenfreepleasure.com\/__proxy_domain\/www.wildrice.com.sg\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/10"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/glutenfreepleasure.com\/__proxy_domain\/www.wildrice.com.sg\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=26228"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/glutenfreepleasure.com\/__proxy_domain\/www.wildrice.com.sg\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26228\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/glutenfreepleasure.com\/__proxy_domain\/www.wildrice.com.sg\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/26229"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/glutenfreepleasure.com\/__proxy_domain\/www.wildrice.com.sg\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=26228"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/glutenfreepleasure.com\/__proxy_domain\/www.wildrice.com.sg\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=26228"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/glutenfreepleasure.com\/__proxy_domain\/www.wildrice.com.sg\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=26228"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}