Arts
Following his passion for singing and acting
Music is a sensory form of entertainment. It has to be felt by the audience and if the pieces are interpreted correctly, regardless of whatever language the song is performed in, the audience would still feel the magic. This is just the secret behind what talented singer/actor Gehan Cooray has achieved over the years.
Gehan Cooray: Home for Christmas and right, on stage
We sit down for a conversation with Gehan at Jetwing Colombo Seven, where he is set to stage his next performance titled ‘A Classical Christmas Fantasy’ together with soprano Dhanushi Wijeyakulasuriya on December 19.
Gehan began his musical journey at the St Bridget’s Montessori, where he played the lead in the musical ‘Annie’. This gave him a much needed confidence boost and it was inevitable that he would go down a musical path.
A proud product of St Joseph’s College, Gehan recalls being guided by the choir’s choral director Francis de Almeida. Gehan also trained under well-known teacher Menaka de Fonseka Sahabandu, who encouraged him to sing more operatic pieces.
“Between aunty Menaka, my own interests in Broadway musicals and Mr. de Almeida, who was very big on Latin sacred music, I think I had a very good foundation,” he reflects.
His talent however wasn’t limited to singing alone. Gehan also loved the theatre. One of the reasons he got into acting was his love of language and the possibilities of language, which he finds most modern scripts lack.
Back in school, Gehan took part in the annual Shakespeare Drama Competition and also acted in a few productions directed by Indu Dharmasena after he left school.
Gehan had always wanted to pursue acting and music, rather than the family business in the hospitality industry. “I knew I wouldn’t really feel fulfilled if I didn’t pursue acting and singing,” he says. Soon, he got the chance to study at the University of Southern California, which fuelled his passion for film as well.
He chose a double major in Drama and Psychology. While Gehan did find psychology to be academically fulfilling, and in fact considered reading for a PhD as well, he ultimately followed his passion for the arts.
Since then, he has appeared in many plays and musicals in the States. He has also produced some short films that got into film festivals in Los Angeles and Palm Springs. Just last year, Gehan produced and starred in his first feature film titled ‘The Billionaire’, a gender-switched adaptation of George Bernard Shaw’s The Millionairess’.
Gehan in the short film ‘The Land of Oz’
The movie is currently in post-production and is slated to come out next year in a limited release. Gehan portrays the title character – young billionaire Victor Ognisanti di Parerga, and describes the experience as his biggest achievement to date as an actor.
Art shouldn’t just mirror reality, it should try to elevate it, he believes and hence he favours representational acting which is a classical style that represents a character in a more aesthetically heightened and artistic way, as opposed to presentational acting which presents reality as it is. “It’s like painting a portrait versus taking a candid.”
When it comes to music, Gehan believes an excellent singer should not just have a good voice but must also have the flexibility and agility to do ‘musical ornaments’, or ‘vocal gymnastics’, without just singing straight lines.”
“I try to do pieces where musical ornamentation is stylistically appropriate because so many people have a good voice but the real skill is being able to enrich the music,” he says.
Gehan adds that a good singer should be able to sing anything, or at least a couple of different genres. “If you can only sing one genre, it doesn’t speak to your skill and flexibility and you can only reach a very limited audience.”
As a three-year-old, he was fascinated by ‘My Fair Lady’ and ‘The Sound of Music’. “Even as a child, I really liked that sound- that fundamentally classical vocal style and texture which Julie Andrews applies and her proper style of acting,” he says, citing it as one of his biggest inspirations.
Building himself up in a competitive industry is no easy task, Gehan admits. “It was about finding my niche. Not spreading myself too thin, being selective about what I do.” This is because if you’re doing what you’re doing really well, then the industry giants would eventually take notice of you.
He also adds that “you can’t wait for other people to give you opportunities. You have to start small and produce your own work.”
Moving forward, he sees himself based in the US but he would like to come back whenever possible and do productions here, in collaboration with other international artists. “I want to try and elevate the standards here in both acting and singing.”
He explains, there’s a tendency in Sri Lanka where you either do local productions or you import foreign casts. Gehan hopes to bridge the gulf between local and foreign productions by encouraging collaboration and harnessing the immense talent in the country.
With this goal, he hopes to stage a full length opera in Sri Lanka next year with both foreign and local performers. Gehan is also currently halfway through recording an album, which will have a range of operatic pieces and more contemporary music. He hopes to release it next year both in Sri Lanka and in the US.
As a final thought, Gehan reveals he doesn’t look at his work from a commercial point of view. Rather, he does it simply for the love of art. “Most people come to LA in search of a better life, whereas I actually left a very privileged life here to do this on my own,” because that’s what he felt would fulfil him. And fulfil him it has.
Tickets for ‘A Classical Christmas Fantasy’ on December 19 are available at Jetwing Colombo Seven, priced at Rs. 6,000 inclusive of a five course menu and a glass of wine. Contact Mahinda on +94 76 3110979 to book.
You could also catch Gehan at the Lionel Wendt on January 9, where he will be performing operatic and classical pieces as well as Broadway and popular numbers.