The beloved Broadway musical Funny Girl is making its National Tour across America, and before Austin’s stop, I caught up with Kyle de la Cruz Laing, a member of the ensemble who is making his national tour debut. We spoke about the pros and cons of tour life, as well as his acting journey and his amazing advice for those looking to pursue a career in the arts. Please enjoy my conversation with Kyle de la Cruz Laing.
So you are making your National Broadway Tour debut in the ensemble for Funny Girl. What was it like when you got the call?
Oh, gosh, it was insane. [Laing laughs]. It’s funny, I was in a unique situation. I was an emergency replacement for this show.
Oh, wow.
So my casting was a little bit non-traditional. I had just a random audition. I think they were just trying to get people in the little casting pool in case they needed anybody. It happened at the beginning of August, I want to say the end of July, and I had a full day with the team. It was really lovely. I danced, I sang, I did all of this stuff, [Laing laughs], and I didn’t hear anything for a month. And I said, oh, these people have completely forgotten about me. This means nothing. I happened to be on vacation with my best friends in Puerto Rico of all places. And I’m quite literally laying down for a power nap and I get an email from my agent that said, Hey, so I think this is yours. And I said, I have to go to sleep. I can’t say awake and be wired about this. I’ll deal with this later. So then we woke up from our power naps. I told my friends about it and we partied in a club in Puerto Rico.
As you should. I mean, that’s the best way to ring in good news. Getting your National Broadway Tour debut. That’s huge.
Thank you!
So has acting always been something you wanted to pursue?
Yes, it has. There hasn’t really been much else for me. My parents put me in children’s theater when I was really young. And I just loved it and I spent all of my time doing it. And I got to high school and I started doing theater in high school and my sophomore year of high school, I was approached by my high school choreographer at the time and she said, so just so you know, you’re good at this and this is a real job if you want to do it for the rest of your life. You have to do a lot of work and a lot of prep and catch up, but, you can do it. Which was so encouraging.
That’s not everyone’s experience. That’s amazing. So you’ve been on the road for a moment now. What has been the hardest part and your favorite part about adjusting to time on the road?
Oh gosh. Okay. My favorite part for sure I can tell you is just getting to see places and experience cities across America that I truly would’ve never gotten to go to for any reason. Especially not for the amount of time and flexibility that I have on tour, which is just so wonderful.
For me, I can’t even imagine living on the road. That to me is my nightmare [Dejesus laughs].
It’s not too bad, but I’m kind of a nomad! I’m a vegan. Okay, veganism on the road is so hard. In fact, because you end up spending two months in the Midwest of Madison, Wisconsin, and Cincinnati and they’re like we’ve never heard of a vegetable [Laing and Dejesus laugh], we have steak or milk straight from a cow. That’s all we got here. So that would be the hardest part.
There you go! Okay, so obviously you’re on Funny Girl. Were you familiar with it growing up in its iconic nature?
Yes, to a certain extent. I was like Barbara Streisand, love the Diva. Saw the movie. It was great. But honestly, I think I saw the movie when I was a kid, but as horrible as it sounds my main reference point is–
Is it Glee?
It is, it’s horrible. [both laugh]
No, it’s mine too!
When I’m 13 all I can picture is Lea Michelle bursting into a choir room and singing “Don’t Rain On My Parade”. When I got cast, I was like, okay, let me watch this movie once more and not walk in here on the first day. Like, so Lea Michelle [Liang Laughs].
Little a known actress, dunno if you’ve heard of her.
Yeah, this really indie girl. Nobody’s ever heard of her. She also did not just finish leading the show on Broadway [the pair laugh].
That’s so funny. No, but hey, their versions of it were great. Okay, I’m curious, is there a particular scene in Funny Girl that you look forward to doing every night?
I have two if that’s all right. My own little selfish moment is I have a little solo in the show, which is very fun to sing. And it’s a nice comedic moment and I get to interact with Fannie and it’s really fun. It’s a part of the big Zigfield Bride number. So it’s really cool and it’s really fun to get to really sing and show off some comedic chops and stuff.
But my other favorite part is the top of Act Two. It’s one of the only times the entire company is on stage together. We do the opening of Act Two, it’s called “Sadie, Sadie”. And we’re all just running around talking to each other and dancing and singing and it’s so fun to get everybody together and all of the energy in one place doing the exact same thing.
That’s so amazing, I will look out for those! I’m curious, how has your cultural background shaped your career in entertainment?
I’ve been really fortunate that I have gotten to do three Latin-centric shows In The Heights, Avita, On Your Feet? Yes. Those are the ones, missing West Side, but we’ll get her, we have time. I remember In The Heights was the first time I was ever in a cast of all Latin people. Rehearsals were kind of bilingual. I had an abuela in the cast who would to bring us bustelo every morning. I really felt like I was in a family… I grew up in Florida as well, but more towards the white part of Florida, towards Boca. So 90 to 80% of the time I was always the little brown boy in the room, but my parents were so wonderful and lovely, they never let me feel different or weird about that…We bring mariachi bands to our house on Saturday nights and dance on tables and what other kids decide to do with their own time is what they do.
That’s really so fortunate that was your experience. A lot of times that answer is dark, so I’m very happy that you had a beautiful time and really owned your culture.
Yes, I am very lucky. I have a great set of parents. I really do.
That’s beautiful. What advice would you give to our Latino students or Latino kids everywhere about pursuing a career in entertainment?
Oh gosh. Just do it. [Laing laughs] I think similar to what I was just saying, it’s just you don’t see a spot there for yourself. Cool. That means it’s your spot to be making for yourself.
Ooh, that’s good.
I do a lot of teaching for high schoolers and college prep for musical theater. And I always try to tell my students you’re the solution. You’re walking in the door as a solution to a problem. You’re not the problem that they’re trying to make into a solution. You’re there to fix their problem, not to create more problems for them that they have to then change you to fix you into their solution.
You are the fix. So I think I would just tell them that what makes you special right now is that you’re Latin, it’s that you’re bringing your unique set of experiences and circumstances that surround your life to the room. And only you are presenting the material in your scope. Nobody else can do that. And that’s probably what they’re looking for is that special solution that only you possess and you, with the background of what you have and where you’ve come from, can bring that to the table in an authentic way that’s gonna translate.
That’s, that was so good! I feel inspired. I feel like I could be an actor.
Oh my gosh, do it. Get on stage.
Okay, last question. Kind of a fun question. What is your go-to karaoke song?
I don’t do much karaoke if I’m being so honest with you.
I’m shocked.
I know. I’m gonna do like Sandy from Greece or something. Honestly, “Dancing Queen”. Friday nights when the lights are low, looking out for a place to go. I’m off-book for it at this point. [the pair laugh]
For tickets to Funny Girl’s National Tour, you can click here, and make sure to see Kyle de la Cruz Laing in person!
