Lea 30 years after Miss Saigon
This year marks Lea Salonga’s 30th anniversary as Miss Saigon. The musical by Claude-Michel Schonberg and Alain Boublil opened in London’s West End on Sept. 20, 1989 with the then 18-yearold actress in the leading role of Kim. Lea won both the Tony and the Laurence Olivier award for her work and in the process opened up previously unheard of opportunities in the theater for Filipino performers. Remember how we used to dream of having Pinoys shine as stars in Hollywood? That finally happened with Lea, she just took another route.
Three decades later with hundreds of local talents having followed in her wake, she remains dedicated to her craft, a star of international magnitude that we are all proud of. And just like any actress dedicated to the theater, she is now deep in rehearsals for her latest show. This is the Tony and Olivier award-winning Sweeney Todd, where she plays the quirky Mrs. Lovett, who bakes strange but tasty meat pies. And I say how fitting. Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street is one of the masterpieces by the august Stephen Sondheim and he created Mrs. Lovett as a role that great actresses would aspire for. Angela Lansbury originated the part and Helena Bonham-Carter did it in the movie version. Other Mrs. Lovetts were Imelda Staunton, Emma Thompson, Patty Lupone, Elaine Paige, Christine Baranski and now Lea, who also has very good credentials as an actress has her hands on the role.
Sweeney Todd is the latest addition to Lea’s list of memorable musicals from the past 30 years. Among these are Les Miserables, Annie, The King and I, Allegiance, Flower Drum Song, Ragtime, Cats, Rodgers and Hammerstein’s Cinderella, Once On This Island, Grease, Into The Woods, My Fair Lady and Cats. Because of her success as Miss Saigon, Lea also became a Disney Princess and sang for Jasmine in Aladdin and Fa Mulan in MuIan. She has also acted in serious drama, Fun Home, TV soap, As The World Turns, in films, Redwood Curtain and toured in concert.
And this is not to mention the many albums she has recorded, the coaching in The Voice, the films she appeared in and her many concerts here in the Philippines. Lea has had a truly stellar career and it is amazing how her success has brought attention to Filipino talents all over the world. That I think is her greatest accomplishment, the one for which we should all be grateful.
I think we should also say thank you, too, to that unknown angel who cued Cameron MacKintosh on the wealth of performing talent that the Philippines possesses. Can you just imagine what would have happened had he passed up on the Philippines in his search for his Kim? More thanks should also go out to Cameron who had the daring to cast Asian actors in traditionally white roles and broke the age-old taboo. Did you know that Lea was rejected for the part of Eliza Doolittle in My
Fair Lady and the reason why was because she was Asian? But after she did Eponine and Fantine in Les
Miserables, there was no stopping the Asians anymore.
But of course, despite Cameron’s openminded approach to production and his willingness to take risks with casting, none of those doors would have opened had Lea not lived up to his expectations. She took down the bar and then set it up again but at a very, very high level. And how wonderful to find Filipino talents reaching up to those bars to scale new heights in theater work all these past 30 years.
And now back to Sweeney Todd. Directed by Bobby Garcia, the musical thriller by Stephen and Hugh Wheeler is part of the 20th anniversary presentation of Atlantis Theatricals. It plays at The Theatre in Solaire starting tonight, Oct. 11 up to Oct. 27. The cast includes Jett Pangan as Sweeney Todd; Ima Castro as the Beggar Woman; Andrew Fernando as Judge Turpin; Gerald Santos as Anthony Hope; Nyoy Volante as Adolfo Pirelli; Mikkie Bradshaw-Volante as Johanna; Luigi Quesada as Tobias; Arman Ferrer as Beadle and Dean Rosen as Jonas Fogg.