From a Vietnamese bargirl to a mythical goddess, Lea Salonga has played the many faces of a woman. And every time she embodies and expresses a character’s heart and soul, a part of herself bathes in the spotlight
Thespians of today’s generation share the same dream—to be part of a production with the Lea Salonga. When she became the first Filipina and Asian to receive the prestigious Laurence Olivier Award after the debut of Miss Saigon at West End and a Tony for its Broadway production, Salonga opened the doors for innumerable possibilities to local Filipino talents and even second-generation kids.
Salonga did set the benchmark for future generations of Filipino performers, as well as mixed-race Asians. For our May 2017 art deco-themed cover, she shared that there is a difference between artists and entertainers. “As performers, part of our job is to step into another person’s shoes and see what it must be like to live a lifetime in them in the span of a couple of hours. The characters we play allow our audience to see things through someone else’s eyes—and hopefully, help trigger a change.”
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This quote stuck out to me when we were conceptualising the photo shoot for this exclusive cover story for our website. It’s Women’s Month, Miss Saigon’s return to Manila is fast approaching, and we’ve scheduled the photo shoot around Salonga’s birthday week. Perhaps it’s time to look back, relive the moments, and understand how her longevity in the industry gifted her with timeless beauty.
After she got settled at the Theatre at Solaire, we showed her the dresses she would be wearing for the shoot, reminding her of the concept of revisiting five of her iconic roles on stage under the masterful eye of photographer Joseph Pascual. She looked at them intently and loved every piece of it, especially that local fashion designers had made them. Of course, excitement was in the air as the dresses were not literal renders of the costumes she once wore but a glimpse of the chapters of her life weaved into them.
The heat was on when Lea Salonga stepped onto the stage
When Miss Saigon came out in 1989, the inimitable breakout star achieved overnight stardom with the role of Kim. However, Salonga revealed to Tatler Philippines editor-in-chief Anton San Diego during our Tatler Talks episode (March 2021) how she got homesick when she started carving her life path abroad.
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