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Nobody doubted that Lea Salonga could sing.
She had won a Tony Award at the age of 20 for her breakout role as the besotted Vietnamese teen Kim in “Miss Saigon,” and sung her heart out as Éponine, and later Fantine, in Broadway productions of “Les Misérables.” She provided the crystalline vocals of not one but two Disney princesses: the warrior heroine of 1998’s “Mulan” and the magic carpet-riding Princess Jasmine in 1992’s “Aladdin.”
Some of it’s hard, Salonga admitted.
But she is doing all that and more in “Stephen Sondheim’s Old Friends,” currently playing at the Ahmanson Theater here in Los Angeles after a 16-week run in London’s West End.
Lea Salonga has a combination of artistic and commercial success on Broadway that is rare, said David Henry Hwang, who cast her in 2001 revival of the Rodgers and Hammerstein musical “Flower Drum Song.”
Salonga’s career has been a combination of breakout performances (the first Asian Éponine and Fantine on Broadway) and leaps of faith, like “Flower Drum Song” and her recent role in “Here Lies Love,” which recast the tale of Imelda Marcos as a disco musical.
“I never thought I’d see that story on Broadway,” Salonga said.
In the process, she’s opened doors for others in the theater, as both an advocate, speaking out against racial discrimination in Hollywood and on Broadway, and as an example.
On a recent morning, Salonga was in a restaurant overlooking the Ahmanson Theater, talking about some of her earliest days as a child star in her native Philippines, her breakout roles on Broadway, and her reunion with Cameron Mackintosh for “Old Friends.”
Salonga also came under fire from the Actors’ Equity Association, which felt that the part of Kim should go to an Asian American.
In the end, Salonga and Pryce were brought over for the Broadway run, both winning Tonys in the process. Salonga became the first Asian actress to win the award. “I was on cloud nine that night,” she said.
Salonga played a Filipino on Broadway for the first time in “Here Lies Love,” which recast the tale of Imelda Marcos as a disco musical. “I’ve played Vietnamese, Japanese, Chinese, French twice,” she said. “Never Filipino. Our stories never made it to Broadway until then.”
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