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Lea Salonga:

The Voice of a

PrincessW

hen the original production of Miss Saigon opened

on Broadway 25 years ago, the critic Frank Rich, not

known for gushing, wrote in The New York Times that

20-year-old Lea Salonga, a newcomer from the Philippines, “has the

audience all but worshiping her from her first appearance as Kim”

and praised her “clarion, emotionally naked delivery” of the score. She

went on to win the 1991 Tony Award for Best Actress in a Musical, and

a Broadway star was born.

Since then, Salonga has appeared in Les Misérables, starred in a

revival of Flower Drum Song and appeared with George Takei—Star

Trek’s legendary Sulu—in Allegiance, a musical inspired by his family’s

relocation and incarceration in an American camp during WWII. She

was also the singing voice of Jasmine in Disney’s Aladdin, in which

she introduced the Oscar-winning song “A Whole New World” with

Brad Kane, and was the singing voice of the title character in Disney’s

Mulan.

On April 5, Salonga brings her golden voice to the Renée and

Henry Segerstrom Concert Hall, presenting a program that will

feature the expected and the unexpected. “There are certain things I

always need to include,” she says. “There always has to be something

from Miss Saigon, Les Misérables, Mulan and Aladdin. I round out the

program with songs that I want to do, which usually means a little bit

of everything—songs from other musicals, standards, jazz and pop. I

try to make the evening accessible and fun for everybody; for me, for

the band and for the audience.”

As well known as Salonga is in this country, her fame pales in

comparison to the magnitude of her celebrity in the Philippines,

where, she concedes with a laugh, “It’s kind of crazy. There are places

my husband and I can’t go because of it.”

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Boat, Porgy and Bess, Pacific Overtures and Allegiance, that are race

specific and need to be adhered to. And that’s totally fine. But there are

so many more shows where race isn’t an issue—or shouldn’t be. But

usually, it still is.”

Only Cameron Mackintosh has been willing to cast her on

Broadway in roles created by a white actress. In 1993, he chose her to

play Eponine in Les Miz. In 2007, she played Fantine. “By the time I

did Fantine, the entire cast was truly racially diverse,” says Salonga.

“But when he cast me as Eponine, I don’t know that any other

producer would have taken the risk. Sure, I had a Tony and had proven

my worth as a performer, but this was a role that traditionally was

only given to Caucasian actresses. I felt the pressure. I knew that there

were going to be many judgmental eyes, I knew there was going to be

a lot of attention from the press. So I just wanted to make sure I gave a

really good performance. And I think it worked.”

When Allegiance opened on Broadway, Charles Isherwood wrote

in The New York Times that Salonga’s voice “retains its plush beauty.”

Now, audiences here will get to experience that voice up close and

personal.

She was a major star at home long before anyone in the West had

ever heard of her. She made her professional stage debut in Manila

when she was only 7 years old, had a gold record at 10 and hosted her

own television show when she was a teenager. It all began because

she sang at a family party. “One of my cousins was active in musical

theater at the time, and the company she was with was going to do The

King and I,” Salonga says. “She told my mom that I should audition.

So my mom brought me to the audition, I got hired, and I kept getting

hired for other musicals with the same company. Then they thought I

was ready for Annie, so they cast me in that, red wig and all. And I just

kept going from there.”

But Salonga did not envision a career in show business. She had

started college when word came that producer Cameron Mackintosh

was conducting an international search for the leading role of Kim

in an upcoming West End musical, Miss Saigon, written by Claude-

Michel Schönberg and Alain Boublil. “The president of our singers’

union called my mother and suggested that I audition,” Salonga says.

“My mother was very skeptical. She said, ‘Are these guys fly-by-night

producers who take advantage of young girls and leave?’ And the

president of the union said, ‘No, we’ve vetted them; we know who they

are, and what they’ve done.’

“So I come home from university, and my mom tells me about

this phone call. And I had concerns. At 17 years old, I had made these

plans for myself. I was going to finish college and go on to med school.

My mother just looked at me and said, ‘You don’t have the role yet.

Audition for it first, and if you get it we’ll talk about it.’”

She got it, of course, but remained conflicted. “Cameron

remembers me as being very stoic,” she says. “I didn’t scream or

jump up and down, which I’m sure is what they expected. They were

offering me this West End opportunity, and the only thing I could say

was, ‘OK.’ When I came back and told my friends, they said, ‘This is a

once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. If you do not do this, you are insane.

Go and do your year, the school will still be here, and we’ll be waiting

for you.’ All the excitement I hadn’t displayed, they displayed for me.

They were incredibly supportive friends, and we’re still good friends

now.”

Salonga won the Olivier Award (the British Tony), then repeated

her success in New York. With a start like that, she should have been

in demand on Broadway. But she wasn’t. In Manila and other Asian

cities, she was appearing in a range of great roles, including Sandy

in Grease, Sonia in They’re Playing Our Song, The Witch in Into the

Woods, Lizzie in Baby, Eliza Doolittle in My Fair Lady, and the title

role in Cinderella.

“Broadway wasn’t ready for somebody who looked like me,” she

says. “Most of the shows I’ve done in the Philippines, I’d never get cast

in here. There are certain shows, like Miss Saigon, The King and I, Show

LEA SALONGARENÉE AND HENRY SEGERSTROM CONCERT HALLDate: April 5Tickets: $49 and up

For tickets and information, visit SCFTA.org or call (714) 556-2787 Group services: (714) 755-0236