By Wayman Wong
06 Sep 2006

'ALL SHOOK UP' HUNK IS NO ORDINARY JOE
As the boyish new star of the Elvis Presley musical All Shook Up, Joe Mandragona will be the King of the road in the show's national 30-city tour, which begins Sept. 12 in Milwaukee. This 5-foot-11 "hunka hunka burnin' love" from Berkeley, CA, will play Chad and swivel his hips in Boston, Houston, Seattle, Philadelphia, Memphis, San Diego and many more cities. That's a-whole lotta shakin' going on, and "That's All Right" with Mandragona: "The show's a lotta fun, and it's a very joyful company. Jenny Fellner is cute as a button [as Natalie], and Susan Anton [as Miss Sandra] is a hunk of a woman and a beauty with such star power. I never saw the original cast, but I recently met Cheyenne Jackson, and he's a really nice guy, and omigod, he's built like a statue. I also love the music. The first Elvis song I ever heard was 'Jailhouse Rock.' I was five or six. Our family would go to Mel's Diner in Berkeley, and they had jukeboxes on the tables. I always wanted to hear that song, so doing this show is a dream."

Christopher Ashley, who shepherded this joyous jukebox musical by Joe DiPietro to Broadway, is also directing the tour: "There's an electricity to Joe. He's sexy and an excellent actor. When he auditioned, the first thing he did was his lip crept up and he started to snarl. It was endearing and hilarious. Cheyenne was extraordinary in this role, but Joe's special in his own way, and has made me kinda reconceive this show." "Jailhouse Rock" used to be a fantasy number that the mayor had about Chad in Act II, but Mandragona says, "Now it opens the show and has Chad getting out of jail from the previous town. And there's three times as much dancing [choreographed by Sergio Trujillo]." Also, Natalie used to change into her alter ego, "Ed," offstage, but now the audience will watch her disguise herself to the tune of "Love Me Tender."

All Shook Up won't be the first time that Mandragona, 25, played a 1950s swivel-hipped hipster with sideburns. In June he starred in a staged reading of Cry-Baby, a new musical based on John Waters' 1990 movie with Johnny Depp. He hopes to re-create that role when the show goes to Broadway. "John is so cool and down-to-earth. He was so supportive and such a fan. I was also familiar with Hairspray because my girlfriend [Donna Vivino] is in it; I've seen it 15 times."

Mandragona got his BA from U.C. Berkeley and interned at California Shakespeare Theatre. He found a home at San Francisco's Magic Theatre and was in Chris Smith's 13 Hallucinations of Julio Rivera. "I played a trashy drag queen named Felony Joyride. I wore big platform-heeled boots and a purple mini-skirt, and had a blast." Then he was a punk kid in Douglas J. Cohen and Robert Jess Roth's The Opposite of Sex. And in February he was in Nero (Another Golden Rome) by Steven Sater and Duncan Sheik (Spring Awakening). "I played two parts: a Spanish slave boy and Brittanicus, Nero's brother who tap-dances himself to death."

San Francisco was also where the All Shook Up star couldn't "help falling in love" with Vivino, who was in The Opposite of Sex. He says, "Donna's so talented, and she makes me laugh. She can do impressions of Sarah Jessica Parker and Drew Barrymore, and her Celine Dion is uncanny." Vivino adds, "Joe's a great boyfriend. When I was on the road, he went all over San Francisco to find these wheat-free brownies I love, and sent them to my hotel, which was sweet. Now that he's on the road, I'll have to send him CARE packages. He loves gummy bears." Mandragona admits he's "a sugar addict," so when he gets those packages, you can be sure there's one thing this Elvis fan won't write on them: "Return to Sender."

For more information, visit www.allshookup.com.

TELLY'S NEXT JAM: 'GODSPELL' AT PAPER MILL
Currently in rehearsals for Stephen Schwartz and John-Michael Tebelak's Godspell, Telly Leung is taking things "Day by Day" before making his Paper Mill Playhouse debut on Sept. 20 in Millburn, N.J. Directed by Daniel Goldstein, the fresh-faced cast will include Dan Kohler as Jesus and Joshua Henry as Judas. "I'm incredibly excited," says Leung, who'll get to sing "All Good Gifts" in his thrilling tenor voice. "Our set is a theatre that's been torn down and is being reconstructed; there's scaffolding all around. It's been raining, so we all come in wet, looking for shelter. And like the theatre, we're all rebuilding, but with our relationships to each other, and with humanity. We're from all walks of life. I'm this street kid with baggy pants. Our director has let us play and improv, so it's organic and really feels like our show."

About five years ago, the 5-foot-8 Chinese-American from Brooklyn first met Schwartz at Carnegie Mellon. He recalls, "It's Stephen's alma mater, so he came to coach, and I was so bold that I sang his song 'Lost in the Wilderness.' He said, 'That's very brave of you to sing my song for me. I know where all the pitfalls and traps are.' Stephen then gave me some wonderful notes about song styling and riffing, and said I had to justify it as an actor, and I've never approached singing the same way again."

To quote Godspell, Leung "learned his lessons well." Schwartz says, "Telly has been in several of my shows and readings, and he never fails to come through. He's just one of those solid, all-around performers: an excellent singer, a good actor and an attractive stage personality. I'm delighted he's doing another one of my shows."

Since Carnegie Mellon, Leung has appeared on Broadway in Flower Drum Song and Pacific Overtures. Plus, he scored two nontraditional casting coups: Last month, he played Toby in Sweeney Todd at the Four Seasons Theatre in Madison, WI. And before that, he played Boq in the Chicago staging of Wicked. Leung, 26, gushes, "I'm very blessed. As an Asian-American actor, I know the reality is my bread-and-butter shows will be The King and I and Miss Saigon. But it meant so much to me to be the first Asian-American in a principal role in Wicked. Joe Mantello told me, 'I cast you because you captured the right energy.'"

Leung's energy is contagious. When he auditioned for Stephen Sondheim for Pacific Overtures, "I was so nervous. I started to sing 'There Is No Other Way' and I got to the bridge, and he cut me off. I gasped and started sweating. Then he said, 'That was gorgeous! I don't need to hear any more.' What a relief. I thought, 'I don't even need a resume anymore.' I'll just write: 'Gorgeous!' — Stephen Sondheim." [Laughs.]

Next, Leung is working on a cabaret act called "To Stephen …," which will feature "cool arrangements of songs by Schwartz and Sondheim, and sometimes I'll meld the two, like 'For Good' and 'Old Friends' — two songs about friendship." Directed by Alan Muraoka, it also will be a tribute to Leung's father, who's named Stephen. "The first two Stephens validated my love for theatre, and in between songs, I'll talk about my father and how that's been kind of a roadblock for him." Though it's not traditional for Asians to go into theatre, Leung's still Chinese to his core: "In college, I didn't go anywhere without my wok. I stir-fry everything. I even make French toast with chopsticks!"

For more info, visit www.papermill.org and www.tellyonline.net.

WHERE THE GUYS ARE
There's so much to see in New York: At the top of the list is the New York Musical Theatre Festival (Sept. 10-Oct. 1), which will premiere over 30 new musicals and 100 special events. Among the "Leading Men" featured will be: Michael Arden (The Musicology of Ben Folds), Stephen Bogardus and Jonathan Groff (Illyria), Hunter Foster (Party Come Here), Michael Hunsaker (The Tragic and Horrible Life of the Singing Nun), Deven May (Warrior), Reed Prescott (Oedipus for Kids), Jonathan Rayson (The Children) and Max von Essen (Desperate Measures). And then there's Darius de Haas in Michael Wartofsky and Thomas F. DeFrantz's new R&B drama The Man in My Head. The openly gay Broadway actor will play all the characters in this one-man show, including the lead; the two guys he's dating; his nephew; a male nurse; and a sister on a mission to find a husband. Throw in de Haas' vibrant vocals and it sounds like a sure tour de force. For more info, visit www.nymf.org.

Got comments or questions? E-mail me at waymanwong@hotmail.com.

Until next month, let's hear it for the "boys"!

Wayman Wong edits entertainment for The New York Daily News. He has been a movie and theatre critic for The San Francisco Examiner, a writer for The Sondheim Review and a Drama-Logue Award-winning playwright.