Lea Salonga Set to Star in Short Film Prequel to Middle-Grade Novel THE VALE

Tony-winner Lea Salonga will star in The Vale - Origins, a new animation/live-action hybrid short film that is tied to a middle-grade novel by Abigail Hing Wen. Deadline reports that the film will serve as a prequel to The Vale, which hits shelves on September 16. Wen penned and directed the film as well, which has Pixar's Neil Blevins as the animated designer. A release date for the film has not been set.

According to the official description, the novel follows thirteen-year-old Bran Joseph Lee who has spent half his life building the Vale, an immersive, AI-generated, virtual-reality environment using technology created by his inventor parents. Eager to bring his creations to the real world, he attempts to make this a reality but runs into trouble when things in the Vale begin to go wrong due to some unknown force.

The short film follows the Lee family before the events of the novel, shifting between live-action and animated worlds as they find healing through the world he has created. Lea will appear in the film alongside Robert Palmer Watkins, Egan Xander, and Janet Hsieh.

Lea Salonga is best known for her Tony Award-winning role in Miss Saigon. In addition to Tony, she has won the Olivier, Drama Desk, Outer Critics Circle, Theater World Awards, Time100 Impact Award from Time Magazine, and the Gold Legend Award from Gold House. Most recently, Lea starred in the West End production of Stephen Sondheim’s musical revue, Old Friends, and as Aurora in Here Lies Love on Broadway, which she also produced. She will soon appear in the Broadway transfer of Old Friends, beginning March 25.