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| Wang Luoyong, first Chinese mainland Broadway singer. Over the past six years, wang has performed "Miss Saigon” nearly 2,500 times. |
First Chinese mainland Broadway singer seeks change in TV performance
BROADWAY singer Wang Luoyong has been busy. He is casting a TV series "The Home of Paradise Bird" in Shanghai.
"I have nothing to do, so I shoot a TV series," the singer explained.
Born and raised in Central China's Hubei Province, Wang learned Peking Opera at the age of 11 in Hubei Experimental Peking Opera School.
"Peking opera gave me rigid training in body art," he said. "It is no less rigid than the training for Broadway musicals."
It has always been Wang's dream to become a performer. He remembers the day he was admitted to the Department of Performance at the Shanghai Theatre Academy in the early 1980s.
"Excited, I was prepared to become a great actor," he recalled.
The road to stardom was never smooth because in his class he was not considered good-looking and was the wrong height.
"I was not tall enough and was not handsome enough," he said.
He was the most hard-working student in his class. Every day, he got up early and read tongue-twisters aloud to improve his diction and develop his facial muscles.
Every night, after rehearsing his role, he would read his English textbook, even though English was not important in art schools at that time.
"Wang Luoyong was diligent and his English was the best in his class," said Shen Xinru, a teacher who knew him well. "Because of his English, he got the opportunity to study abroad."
Wang went to the United States in 1987 with great confidence because of his English proficiency. But when he started acting classes at Boston University, he was frustrated by the rapid English of his professor.
"I couldn't understand a single word of English," he said. "I wondered if it was the same language I learned at home."
His professor advised him to practise his pronunciation daily.
"I read aloud every morning to train the muscles around the mouth. Sometimes, I pronounce one word hundreds of times," he said. "In half a year I succeeded, and my pronunciation became standard."
In 1989, he earned a master of fine arts degree from the School for the Arts at Boston University and started job hunting.
'Mr Saigon'
In 1992, after being rejected eight times, he found his first role as thet engineer in the first national tour of Miss Saigon.
"It was all by accident that I got the role," he recalled. When he visited the producer's office seeking an audition, a secretary mistook him for someone delivering an airline ticket and sent him directly to the producer's office.
"The first thing the producer asked me was where the ticket was, as he intended to travel to China," Wang recalled. "I realized that it was a good chance to show myself, and I introduced myself to him."
The producer invited Wang to sing a song, but laughed at his first choice of Elvis Presley's "Love Me Tender."
"I was determined to impress him, so I sang one song after another until I was told I should stop and wait to hear from him the next week."
Wang was accepted as an understudy. It was the first time a singer from the Chinese mainland had been cast in a Broadway musical.
Chance smiled on him when one of the cast fell ill.
"I was notified that I would perform that night, and I felt very nervous," Wang said. But he became famous overnight as audiences began to know a Chinese man who sang on Broadway.
At this time, Wang got an offer from Boston University, giving him a teaching assistantship. After careful consideration, he decided to give up his acting.
"I had always wanted the scholarship. I felt it a mission to accept it."
Returning to the school gave him the chance for more practice and improvement. In 1995, he was invited to play the lead male role in "Miss Saigon."
According to Wang, over the past six years, he has performed "Miss Saigon" nearly 2,500 times. "I felt tired - every night I had to concentrate on the show. I want to have a change," he said.
In addition to casting a TV series and movies in China, Wang intended to promote Broadway musicals in Shanghai.
"Shanghai has a great potential for excellent shows," he said.
He does not have a lot of spare time, but when he does, he heads for the kitchen.
"I am a good cook. I can cook all kinds of food. I find great similarity between food and music. Both are attractive and entertaining," he said.
