Tony Winner Lea Salonga Details Recent Broadway Show Visits to the Philippine - Part Two

Tony winner Lea Salonga is currently in Honolulu, Hawaii to conclude her 2009 U.S. and Canada concert tour dubbed "Inspired." While engaged in her tour, she made a recent visit to New York City, and caught a number of Broadway shows.

She recently wrote about SOUTH PACIFIC revival, and NEXT TO NORMAL in BACKSTORY, her weekly column in the Philippine Daily Inquirer.

"What I loved about this production (South Pacific) was how the music in its original splendor was preserved. Nothing cut down, truncated, reduced or abridged, just the original orchestrations to this wonderful Rodgers and Hammerstein musical. During the overture, the stage floor pulled back to reveal 30 musicians in tuxedos playing wonderful music. My heart skipped a beat when I saw this. I knew I would be in for a wonderful evening.

Laura Marie Duncan would play Nellie Forbush, and the amazing Tony Award-winning Paulo Szot was Emile de Becque (that baritone could melt butter). There was chemistry between the two and their team-up made for a great night, although I would have loved to see Kelli O'Hara (she would return to the production the following week)…

This show truly deserved the Tony Award for Best Revival of a Musical. I wanted to start a standing ovation ... but the elderly lady seated behind me told me to sit down. Party pooper."

"Watching Diana (Alice Ripley in NEXT TO NORMAL) struggle through her illness (during a manic episode, she makes sandwiches for her family, laying down the slices of bread on the floor) and seeing how all the people around her (both real and imagined) help her through it makes for an incredible musical. I cried from start to finish and left the theater completely spent, but energized at the hope with which this cast of characters moves forward into the future.

I'm scheduled to return to New York in the late winter for some work. You can bet that I'll be seeing many more shows. It's inspiring to watch some of the most talented performers in the world do what they do best."

You can read the rest of the article HERE.

Salonga is set to return to Manila to get ready for her major concert entitled Lea Salonga…YOUR SONGS at the Philippine International Convention Center (PICC) on December 11 and 12, 2009.  

She will also star as Grizabella in the upcoming international touring production of Andrew Lloyd Webber's musical CATS at the Cultural Center of the Philippines (CCP) starting July 24, 2010.

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