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[0:01] Lea Salonga: My name is Lea Salonga, and you're listening to Eleven, the Official Theatre Podcast.

[0:17] William J Connolly: Hello and welcome to Eleven, the official theatre podcast that brings the biggest stars and creatives together in one place to discuss life in the arts.

[0:25] William J Connolly: She's the Tony and Olivier award-winning stage superstar that's created and originated some of the biggest and most iconic roles in theatre history. From Miss Saigon on stage to the original Aladdin cartoon on screen, all the way to making history in Les Misérables, she's cited by many as the voice and the name to watch.

[0:44] William J Connolly: And now she's returning to the country which launched her international stage career with a new tour that's heading to nine cities across the UK, including a performance at the iconic Royal Albert Hall. So here, in an exclusive conversation, we discuss returning to our shores for her Dream Again UK tour and what we can all expect and why there will be rather a lot of surprise entries from one of the world's most instantly recognizable voices.

[1:10] William J Connolly: Plus, we talk life as a two-time Disney princess, 30 years of A Whole New World, the gift of Miss Saigon, and what it was like returning for one night upon its reopening in London again. Plus, we discuss making history and why she will forever be proud to have given a voice to fellow Asian performers in the industry. Plus, she reveals the voices and stars in the world of musical theatre that will forever remain her personal favourite. It's the legendary Lea Salonga.

[1:37] William J Connolly: Here now on this, the next episode of Eleven, the official theatre podcast. To ensure the safety of all involved in this episode of Eleven, Lea and I connected for this conversation digitally, so please forgive any brief moments while we wait for the internet to catch up. Enjoy.

[2:01] William J Connolly: She's one of the greatest stage performers and vocalists of all time. So please help me welcome to this, the next episode of Eleven, the Olivier and Tony award-winning queen, Lea Salonga. Hello, Lea Salonga, how are you?

[2:12] Lea Salonga: Hi.

[2:13] Lea Salonga: Thanks for having me.

[2:15] William J Connolly: Thank you so much for being here. I was literally just a second ago telling you how grateful I am that you've given me some of your time. And I want to make sure that that's on record. I'm so, so, so thankful. So thank you a million times. I'm really looking forward to this and getting the ability to be able to tell you basically how much of a superstar talent that you are.

[2:30] Lea Salonga: I can see you're already laughing. That's a good start because you're not like, "He's a complete weirdo." Let's dive straight into this and see how much fun we can have.

[2:37] Lea Salonga: Oh, we're gonna have all the fun. I always feel like something good has to come from something bad. And I believe this is one of the amazing things that's happened to the performing arts world alongside all the terrible things. The good thing is that we're coming roaring back, and it means that we're all getting the opportunity to connect again, and it means that we're all getting to go and hopefully connect with some of our favorite people, and you certainly are one of mine.

[2:56] William J Connolly: And you're coming to the UK, a place that started it all off for you, which we'll talk about in a second, for your Dream Again tour. So could you just talk me through before we talk about specifics? Why now? Why did you want to come to the UK? And most importantly, are you excited?

[3:09] Lea Salonga: I'm very excited. Um, as for the why, I mean, why not? The last time I was there was three years ago to tour the UK, and it included a stop at the London Palladium for two performances in one day. And that was hard, but it was ultimately so much fun. So much fun to do. I was asked really nicely, and our friends at Cuff and Taylor, you know, and Live Nation are making this happen and making it all possible. And so we're just really happy that we're able to get back to performance venues and do what it is we love to do. Um, and by we, I mean me and my manager and my musical director and the musicians I get to work with. And then audiences are able to come and just have what I'm assuming was a good time, if their reactions are any indication. So I'm hoping for the same over there. So I'm really looking forward to it. I'm looking forward to driving through the English countryside and, you know, being able to perform at some really wonderful venues for wonderful people.

[4:23] William J Connolly: Bless you for being modest. You think they had a good time. I can guarantee you that they definitely did. Very modest arts. Some people, when they do tours like this, are like, "Absolutely not. I don't want to have to go through my career, certain songs, perform certain things." How does it play out for you? Are you the sort of person that loves the fact you have a legacy? Or are you like some people which they go, "Oh, hold on a second, I like talking about the now." How does it play out for you?

[4:47] Lea Salonga: Um, I kind of live in the present as much as possible, but we, you know, we do have ways of revisiting the past, but we don't dwell. Let's just let me just put it that way. The set list is composed mostly of material that I had never performed before until we started the North American leg of the tour. Um, of course, by the time we get over there, I have sung these songs at least 20, 30 times, and it'll feel like old hat at this point. But yeah, we do find ways of looking back, but for the most part, we live in the present moment and I guess look towards the future a little bit. Yeah. But I think it's more of appreciating what you have right this second.

[5:35] William J Connolly: And I think what's exciting, and it's full of like I'm sort of being negative towards the past, but like obviously there's things we want to hear, but it feels exciting for us as an audience and as fans of yours that we get to hear new things. And I can imagine for you it's also equally exciting to be able to show new things.

[5:49] Lea Salonga: Yes, absolutely. It's a lot of fun to be able to, you know, answer the question, "What will this song sound like in my voice?" And then present it to an audience, um, of course, after enough rehearsal and preparation. But yeah, I mean, there were songs, you know, that were suggested that I had never heard until I started to learn them for the tour. And then there were songs that, oh my gosh, this is an amazing song that I had never sung, maybe outside of a, like not even in karaoke, you know, which is kind of where I will sing the stuff that I normally don't ever. But yeah, here is music that an audience would probably not even expect to hear coming out of my mouth, which is exciting, which is exciting and which is a lot of fun for me.

[6:41] William J Connolly: Absolutely. And I imagine it also creates these lovely moments of you getting to hear what people enjoy that perhaps you might not expect. So I imagine it sort of works both ways, and we're like, "Oh gosh, I've never heard you sing that before. That's amazing." And I imagine the reaction back to you is like, of course, this is sort of, it feels like a two-way thing.

[6:56] Lea Salonga: Yeah, and so far the audiences I think have been digging the set list. So I'm hoping for the audiences in the UK to, you know, to dig it as well.

[7:07] William J Connolly: When you do come to the UK, and I know of course you've been here very many times and spent a lot of time here in your career, do you get that very British thing? And I feel like I should always apologize to anyone from anywhere else that's not British that does this, where British people just come up and basically just tell you everything they love about you. Feels like a very British thing with that. I love this song, I love this about you, I love this moment in your career. Do you like those fan interactions or are they quite strange?

[7:30] Lea Salonga: I don't think that's ever happened.

[7:32] William J Connolly: I mean, really?

[7:34] Lea Salonga: Really? I'm either that or maybe it's something that I don't realize is very British. I don't know. I don't think I've ever had somebody come up to me to say that in the way that you just described.

[7:50] William J Connolly: I don't think so. I don't think it's ever—well, you never know. There's a first time for everything, so maybe that's gonna happen on this tour.

[7:56] Lea Salonga: I feel like we're definitely setting a precedent now that somebody's gonna come up to you and just list all of their sort of Spotify playlists of your songs they love about you, and it's gonna be like, "Damn, that man on that podcast started this off."

[8:07] William J Connolly: I'm sure people have catching ideas in people's heads.

[8:10] Lea Salonga: Yeah, never—never. Um, but I'm sure people do come up and tell you some of the amazing ways in which your music and your voice has changed their life. I've read some amazing comments online of interviews that you've done and fan comments, particularly I remember coming to the 25th Saigon and people around me just talking about you and how incredible your voice is and how it changed their life. And I imagine for you it's sort of the other side of being an artist, isn't it? Where your material lives beyond the stage.

[8:35] Lea Salonga: Yeah, and it's always a wonderful thing to hear how what you've done may have affected them. And sometimes it'll affect them in ways that you don't expect. I mean, someone just told me that they listen to my music when they're going through chemotherapy. Like someone just said that to me because they said hearing your voice helps me to relax while I'm going through this. And I was just kind of, I was just kind of taken aback. I was floored hearing that because wow, that's real life. And that's someone going through something very painful and uncertain. And so for someone to reach out and say, "This is what you have been able to do for me," it's something that it's like wow, you know, I don't always realize that that's what I'm also able to do, you know, as an artist.

[9:38] Lea Salonga: And it's, you know, and I guess art provides access to someone's emotions and someone's feelings. And it's, you know, it's not about painting pretty pictures. Sometimes it's a, you know, it reflects something darker and something more sad and contemplative and solemn. And for someone else, it's getting them through something difficult.

[10:00] William J Connolly: It's interesting how the voice almost has this completely other different world. And I imagine with you, when your voice is so recognizable, people probably do mention that to you because I think, and I was sort of joking with my friend that you actually have, I think, one of, if not the most recognizable voice in the world of musical theatre. I think it's instantly recognizable. Do you acknowledge the fact that people are really obsessed with that voice of yours?

[10:25] Lea Salonga: Um, I don't know if I've actually come to terms with that, but I guess there are people who hear my voice and instantly connect to it. But you know, art is a really subjective thing. There are going to be fans of musical theater who'll be like, yeah, she's all right. And then there will be other fans of musical theater who will be like, Oh my gosh, that is like that is my world, that is my everything. I mean, one of I mean, a couple of the most perfect voices for me as far as musical theater. Um, one is Elaine Page, the other one is Judy Kune. There's a clarity and incredible technique, clear as day storytelling. And yeah, so you know, that's what I latch on to. It everything is just so crystal clear.

And, you know, you don't have to guess, you know, as far as what their intention is um when they're interpreting a song. I mean, I saw, I think the first time I saw Elaine was she was playing Reno Sweeney in Anything Goes, and she's this tiny thing, she's tiny. I mean, I'm not tall, but she's smaller than me. And I couldn't believe it when I first met her. I'm like, oh my gosh, this is, you know, she's little. Um, but that voice just fills a space. And with Judy, I mean, first time I heard her voice was someone else's story in Chess, and it was just one of the most perfect things I'd ever heard. And I actually got to work with her, which is a thrill for me as a fan of her voice. Um, you know, just being just a few feet away from her as she was singing in my life.

I was like, and I can die now. Just listening to this perfection, 10 feet away from me, and it sucks that I have to sing after her. But yeah, she's just incredible. Just incredible, so gifted, and she still sounds the same. It's crazy, but it's testament to her training and her technique and how well she takes care of herself.

[12:30] William J Connolly: To be fair, you also sound exactly the same.

[12:32] Lea Salonga: Exactly. I mean, since Miss Saigon, my voice has undergone changes, but that's just life and puberty and, you know, doing this for years and years and years. But I do pride myself on having taken care of myself quite well. So I won't be humble about that part.

[12:49] William J Connolly: Definitely never be humble. Also, I love the fact you just described yourself as all right. I was like, no, nobody's ever used Lea Salonga and all right in the same sentence.

[12:56] Lea Salonga: But again, Ice for Lea Salonga.

[12:58] William J Connolly: Except for Leah.

[12:59] Lea Salonga: Okay, all right, you can have that one. That's fine.

[13:03] William J Connolly: Am I also right in saying that this Dream Again tour is also marking a 30th anniversary for a certain Disney song?

[13:09] Lea Salonga: Yes, it is. It actually marks the 30th anniversary of the film Aladdin. It was released in late 1992. So it was Thanksgiving, which is around the third week of November. So um I think that's around when Aladdin opened here in the US. Yeah, so A Whole New World is around 30 years old because I recorded it in February of 1992. So yeah, it's the gift that keeps on giving. I can't complain.

[13:41] William J Connolly: Do you want to play a game of guess how old William was when that song came out? Or is that a bad idea?

[13:45] Lea Salonga: Were you even born?

[13:46] William J Connolly: Or I was, but just I mean less than a year old.

[13:50] Lea Salonga: Sorry.

[13:50] William J Connolly: Oh sorry.

[13:52] Lea Salonga: You're like right. Because you look like you're just out of high school.

[13:55] William J Connolly: I mean, you look really, really young.

[13:58] Lea Salonga: Bless you. That'll definitely be making the edit that part. We just looped out at the start. Just made high school.

[14:01] William J Connolly: Do you hear that? All the people that criticize just made left high school.

[14:05] Lea Salonga: Bless you. Yeah, seriously. You look like you're in your first year at uni.

[14:09] William J Connolly: You're too kind.

[14:10] Lea Salonga: Okay, now you are a good liar. Well done. That's good.

[14:13] Lea Salonga: Um, you and I actually, apart from all the lovely compliments that you're sharing me with, actually have met before, and it's in a very unconventional way. But if anybody watches the Miss Saigon live recording that they did, the moment at the end when you came out at the very end and it was that extraordinary moment, I'm actually the person that screamed, I love you, Lea. And you very kindly said it back. So nice to see you again. And they put it on the DVD. I was like, Cheers, guys. I really appreciate that really embarrassing, over-exciting moment where you're not.

[14:39] Lea Salonga: Hey, you know what? You can't in a moment like that, and I think they had been serving champagne just before that moment. So I think people were a little bit, you know, tipsy, bubbly or whatever, and carried away by the emotions of the occasion. I mean, you've had people from the original company coming back to be in this special little snippet of a performance at the end of the show. And I just remember having a wonderful time and hanging out in one of the dressing rooms at the Prince Edward with Simon Bowman and shooting the breeze and just catching up and you know, getting to see old friends that I hadn't seen in a while. It was an extraordinary night, and I think it was the hat that did it. It was just the casual hat tilt, very sort of like Titanic, you know, and she gets off when he looked upwards. I was like, there we go. The gays will scream at anything.

[15:28] William J Connolly: I'm so sorry. Um you're gonna have to put that on loop. The gays will scream at anything.

[15:35] Lea Salonga: That’s really sweet. I was talking to Frances Mailey McCann, who plays the lead in Bonnie and Clyde, who is the first woman of Asian heritage to play that role, and we had quite a big detailed conversation about representation, and your name came up multiple times as somebody who's personally inspired her to feel like there is a possible place in the industry for someone of Asian descent. And I wondered, are you aware? I mean, I say as a queer person, we don't get up every day and to be able to sort of make history and be a first. It just comes with the territory of existing authentically. But I wondered, is that a conversation that people have with you about how you've impacted their life?

[16:08] Lea Salonga: I was backstage at the Tony Awards last year, and Adrian Warren had just won her Tony for playing Tina Turner. And I was presenting, I was presenting John Legend, I was introducing him, and then I came and I then I was backstage just hanging out because I mean there's Jake Gyllenhaal, there's Annalie Ashford, and like, yeah, sure, why not? So here's Adrian. And then she, you know, I got to meet her, I got to say hi to her. And then she launched into one of the sweetest things. And, you know, she was saying how, you know, as a young performer of color that she had looked up to me and, you know, appreciated my work and what I had represented to her. And I was, I was just kind of floored that here's someone that just, you know, is riding high on, you know, on the success of her portrayal and, you know, winning her Tony, but then stopping me and being able to say, This is what you have meant to me.

And I was like, oh my gosh. Number one, I am old. Number two, I thought it was a really, really sweet thing for her to actually do. And, you know, I think of the times that I saw that I've met Julie Andrews, who was like that for me. That was it was her voice that I listened to as a six-year-old, you know, as someone who was just starting in musical theater. It was like her and The Sound of Music, that voice was just in my head. And when I finally got to meet her, I think I, you know, I think my soul left my body and then came back and then left again and then came back. And how I marveled at her kindness and her generosity, at her work ethic, at her commitment, at just everything. I'm like, oh my God, she is Maria Von Trapp in real life.

She is Mary Poppins in real life, she is everything. You know, they say don't meet your heroes, but I've been very fortunate, you know, that people I looked up to and people I admired and people whose names I was hearing. These were people with, you know, who had good hearts and kindness, and you know, and it made me feel so lucky to be alive and have the work that I will have been able to do.

[18:26] William J Connolly: And you are a hero to a significant amount of people, and I hope you feel that love because it's incredibly important that that love comes to you. So I hope that you do feel that.

[18:33] Lea Salonga: I do, thank you. I do.

[18:35] William J Connolly: Amazing. My very final quick question for you because I know we're very short on time. And I should prefix this question by saying, whenever I ask it to anybody of icon status, of which you most certainly are, they always say to me, You make me feel really old. Not the aim of the game, but hopefully you'll understand why I'm asking this. And that is when we think about your legacy and the impact that you've had in the world of musical theater, movie musicals, and performing arts. What do you hope people think of you?

[18:55] Lea Salonga: Hmm. Oh, that's actually a really good question. And no, it doesn't make me feel old. My gosh, you're making me think now. Um, I would like to be thought of as someone who always tried to do her best and was able to do her best work. And that's pretty much it. I want to be remembered for my voice, for the roles I've gotten to play, um, maybe for being the first person of color to do certain things, which opened doors for other people. I mean, these are things that I look back on as someone who's now 51 and getting to look back on the things that I've been able to do. And now I'm like, whoa, okay, that happened. Um, and that was fantastic. And I'm hoping that in some way it, you know, opened the door a little bit for someone else that came after me. That's really all I care about. And that she was bloody good at her job. That's really what I want people to remember me for.

[19:58] William J Connolly: Bloody good at your job is an understatement. You just said a second ago when speaking about Julie Andrews, and they say, don't meet your heroes, don't meet your idols. I just met mine, and it's been an absolute pleasure. So thank you so so much. You are forever one of my favorite voices ever, and I mean that incredibly genuinely. So thank you so much for your time today. And most importantly, I will see you in the UK at the Royal Albert Hall very soon.

[20:19] Lea Salonga: Yes! And please do that scream again, then I'll know you're there.

[20:23] William J Connolly: Amazing. Lea Salonga, thank you so much. Enjoy the rest of your day, and I'll see you very, very soon.

[20:27] Lea Salonga: Bye.

[20:30] William J Connolly: You've been listening to Eleven, the official theater podcast. Find out more about Eleven at elevenpodcast.com or via the Broadway Podcast Network.