Show People with Paul Wontorek: "Miss Saigon" Broadway Legend Lea Salonga

[Music] twenty years ago today's guests burst on the Broadway scene with the performance that still burns in my mind today the role was Kim and Miss Saigon and the actress was of course the fabulous Lea Salonga welcome Leia how are you well thank you very much it's good to see you in New York that's good to see me so I want to start right off the bat it occurred to me while I was getting ready for you coming here that 20 years ago this Tony Award was just a little over 20 years ago he opened at the Broadway theater where sister act is now playing right we opened to the Broadway Theatre on April 11 2009 April 11 1991 and some 20 Tony Awards ago yeah you won and I won so did you watch this year's Tony's series - yeah of course I did I mean come on you can't you can't be in New York and miss out on what is like the Super Bowl for theatres like you have your you have your you have your junk food in front of you you've got your friends and we're screaming and we're clapping at the performances were awesome but this is the last a longer review like delay us a longer Broadway document like the blow-by-blow account I love Neil Patrick Harris yeah I love how he started it he's like good evening this is teen heartthrob Neil Patrick Harris and I love the opening song it's not just for gays anymore right oh my god it's tough we just I was just I think I spent most of that opening number laughing my head off and then just when you think it couldn't get better than that it does the moment Hugh Jackman appears yeah great do it one I love Hugh Jackman when he's not in Wolverine mode I mean I love him as Wolverine but when he's not Wolverine I love him even more when he's being the musical theater charming and some masculine leading man and when he gets up there and sings in a tux and he dances and he launches and he and Neil launch into Chorus Line choreography it's like yeah it's like a Super Bowl in my house you're a superfan you're a brother a super fan I'm a Broadway super fan I'm a Tony Awards Broadway super fan so it's like screaming and fist pumps and and that kind of thing that happens in my living room that normally happened when a bunch of guys get around the TV for Super Bowl I have me some girlfriends gay friends come over and it's and we are fist pumping at the Tony Awards it's it's it's awesome this is our Super Bowl so looking back on the 20 year ago 20 years ago a moment which I just watched on YouTube right before you got here I reminded myself and saw the very poised 20 year old girl except way more serious than than I am now I think I'm growing up backwards it's funny because I used to think of you as extremely serious then whenever I've had an interaction with you you're not no not people people have this perception of you I guess it's because you were so poised and young and taking on this monster role at such a young age and a dramatic role it's a dramatic role but I think the poise probably comes from the fact that if you think about it I had been doing that role for nearly two years at by the time we finally opened on Broadway but what was that like when they called your name and you went up there and it was it was crazy and and I think because of the climate in which Miss igon you know came out and there was a whole big backlash there were so many rallies and demonstrations mercy against the show and there was so much controversy surrounding Jonathan prices casting and so when it finally did come and you know we we all kind of knew that it wasn't going to be a major you know Awards baby it was a very popular hit and then with a huge box-office advance however I think a lot of us had this feeling of it's not gonna win Best Musical at the Tony Awards it's not gonna win all of these other things that we might expect a musical of that kind right to to just you know kind of get by default and you know kind of like this year oh yeah because Mormons gonna win oh yeah this is gonna be this this person's gonna get that and in our case I don't think it was and we just we just really didn't know we hope for the best but we were expecting the worst they went with the all-american Will Rogers follows yes they did right but you did win and very well deserved I mean yeah incredible performance the many times I've seen you do it how many times did you see I probably saw you do it four or five times oh I think I saw that the final week on Broadway yes one oh that's right yeah that was a month before we close the show was a month before I turned 30 and I promised myself okay once I turn 30 there's absolutely no way that I will be ever doing that I will ever do this role again I mean I opened it at 18 closed it at 29 so that you know what I got to leave it it is time to let it go and you recently just turned 40 yeah how'd that go what'd you do on your birthday my husband surprised me with a party oh nice I know it was a really nice party too and he planned it with a couple of my best friends who are also theatre actors and directors and your husband's a businessman my husband is actually in media so he's kind of in the business but not in the business so we don't compete we're not in the same field right he's not an actor yeah hey you been down that road I've been down that road and now you're on a different Road yes but yeah so he held a party and a lot of my friends were there and I did not expect this so you know and I walk in and there's balloons and then there's a cake and then there's all this food laid out and here's like a lot of people who are close to me is any surprise and I looked a mess and I looked at the photograph like if I had known I would have put makeup on and but it was it was really really fun so your goal for your 30s was to not do miss saigon anymore what we should go for your forties um just I guess I think one to still be able to actually sing to score because whenever I do concerts it is a request - yeah you saying I'd give my life to you or you give my life for you right and that's still part of your show at the Carlyle no actually there's no missing gone there is no liam is in my show well this time there is some Flower Drum Song though okay so there's a couple of the songs but kind of not in the way expect it well love look aways pretty much sung straight you're just just saying though just one go around and that's it I enjoy being a girl though it's kind of mashed up with with a not so well-known song from a Disney live-action film and I can't remember what the name was but they had summer in the title and Hayley Mills was starring in it and it's called femininity so it's okay okay oh it's pretty interesting it's one of my favorite numbers in the show so you're appearing at cafe Carlyle June 25th 25th right and this is a return engagement I was there in March of 2010 and now I'm here in June and and it's called New York and June and I do sing the song from which that line right comes from so it's you obviously know how to fill very large theatres with your voice what's it like playing a really small room it actually takes a bit of the pressure off you don't have to slam your voice to the back wall yeah you know and in a big venue it's there's a little bit of pressure to try and fill as much as you can and you're basically very naked up in a room like that where you have about 75 80 90 people very very close to you it's like performing a magic trick where everybody can see how the magic is happening and your your task is how to make it still be magical and for the audience so it's an interesting I've never heard it described like that that's that's really interesting yeah so I mean everybody can they can see you singing there's there's you know there's no smoke and mirrors they can see everything so how do you make it still be an experience that they can take home and and hopefully remember and you've done a lot of concerts you do a lot of concerts I do a lot of concerts every year yeah I saw you at a concert maybe well a couple years ago in Tarrytown yeah and you sang and I loved when you pulled up some from the audience for a whole new world yeah that was like one of your things you all loved doing that because you just never know what you're gonna get with each one sometimes you'll get somebody who sounds like he could be a professional singer on Broadway yeah that's what I got I got someone who is very very you know together and then you can get people who have absolutely no business being up on the stage and you'll have somebody who's just so off-key I mean you'll be in Manhattan their voices in Jersey it's it can be that bad but sometimes even when it's so bad it is so good like really hilarious oh yeah there was one guy in Bay I did a concert it was my first concert out in Vegas my husband and members other members of my family came to see it and my husband was sitting in the balcony or pretty much in the back of the orchestra section this guy was so nervous my husband in the back could be like honey he was so nervous the paper was shaking you know because I give them a lyric sheet sometimes they need it sometimes they don't but this guy was visibly just and and I think he started off in the wrong key he started an octave higher than he should have it just made for a very very funny evening and I think it's the bad ones I tend to remember the most is it fun not to sing with your fans like that it is it's a lot of fun and there are a lot of people that know that it's gonna happen and there are people that actually come prepared yeah in the Philippines you've done a lot of great roles I mean your theatre resume it makes me very jealous that I haven't been there to see a lot of what are some of the what are some of the roles you're sort of most proud of that you've done over there um quite a bit there's having done my fair lady over there having done into the woods in Singapore having done they're playing our song and and doing the kind of stuff that I normally would not be even thought of that's what it's right here do you do you feel like you have a hard time getting people to see you for things like that here um unless you're Cameron Mackintosh the answer would be yes yeah and I mean I mean I've not gotten seen because I'm Asian I mean I've gotten the agent will call me on the phone and said to them they're not gonna see you because you're Asian and they can't see you and you know doing this role are doing that role and it's it's kind of sad you know because there's a lot of people of so many different ethnicities who have these big bombastic perfect for Broadway voices but are not given a break right simply because well you don't fit the role so to be cast as éponine de Lima's and then later on his Fantine I'm grateful because in another universe I don't think I would be seen for that if it wasn't Cameron producing it and if he didn't have as much faith as he did let's say that we're gonna drop you into a show on Broadway what role would you like to do I mean I don't tap-dance but I'd love to learn how just to do that part and I think the thrill of flying above an audience every day that must be wild that must be crazy wild all right so let's do Mary Poppins I would love that maybe I'll wait until my daughter is old enough to play Jane maybe well you've talked in the past about because I've read it in the Filipina newspapers and they're alive there's a lot of stories about you and your daughter but I read about you said if your daughter wanted to perform I wouldn't stop her so you would stop her you know but I'm not gonna drag her into this business simply because she's my daughter and that's an unfair expectation to put upon her that said though if she wants to do this and if she really has something special then I'm not gonna stop her if this is her destiny of this is what she truly wants to do then great but if she wants to be a painter if she wants to be in visual arts if she wants to be a dancer if she wants to be a doctor I mean I can only steer her in the direction where her aptitude is is telling me to steer her into right yeah that's that's all I can do you know is that what happened with you and your mom I think yeah I think I was displaying something and that's kind of where I got steered into so I'm grateful that you know my mom didn't try to dissuade me from doing this that it turned out to be the best decision to say yes to doing Miss Saigon and and you know because the world all of a sudden opened up to all these opportunities right I want to ask you sort of a random question what do you think of Charisse she's wonderful she's nice she's from the Philippines she's from the Philippines and yes we proudly own her we will proudly own her and and you know obviously none of us can take any credit for for her talent and for her ability and for her skill that's really just hers and her moms and her families and everybody that's trained her and taught her to do what she does but you have an entire country who is just proud of this of this young woman I mean she's been on Glee I mean she's doing concerts she's toured the country with DES foster I mean she's got the whole world open to her when you were that age I mean you were good yeah I was that age better oh yeah and we've actually son together a couple times oh it's amazing amazing singer an amazing musicality so she has no problems getting to where she wants to go so she'll do just fine so maybe you should I play her mom on Glee or something well that's really up to the people at Glee that works I think that works it works for me it's not up to me are you likely I would I love glee yeah well there's a half Filipino in the show who is who has just kind of burst out Darren Criss yeah I adore him and I door his character I'm a huge clean fan I'm a huge claim uh-huh you know I'm just big on those on that on that pair yeah we're all waiting for Darren Criss to come to Broadway oh yeah that would be nice this would be nice for him to do yeah yeah I think he's doing the singer-songwriter thing though so but he's done he's written musicals so he may just he may get to Broadway as a writer as a writer not as a baby should be your Burt in Mary Poppins that'll be fine does he tap I don't know that he does you can learn together I'll be fun and he's such a lovely lovely young man and we email each other and tweet each other from time to time and just just nice and a good guy and incredibly joyful and grateful for the opportunities you know that come his way hopefully we will see you on Broadway very soon and a new musical called allegiance which I know that you've been working on for a few years and weddings and and I hear it's a beautiful beautiful so a lot of the music is just gorgeous what I know about it is that it's set it said in World War Two in the 40s and it's about a Japanese camp right it's about a Japanese internment camp called Hart mountain in Wyoming and it really starts out with this Japanese family before the bombing of Pearl Harbor on December 7 1941 everything changes for the japanese-american community and everyone is basically rounded up and placed in different concentration camps in all over the west coast just the history I knew very little about right and it's a history a lot of people know very little of unless of course you are a descendant of one of these families that was interned in George Takei who has been part of this project from the very very beginning and everybody knows him is a Hikaru Sulu and start oh my he's got that voice I know Brice Howard Stern shop and from the Howard Stern Show and he's he was himself an attorney at a young age and his father was sent to tule Lake and I think his father was one of the ones who was dissenting are showing signs of rebellion against you know against what was going on in the camps and it's interesting there was there was also the 442nd which is an all japanese unit in world war ii where they go in the most dangerous missions practically suicidal there were those who volunteered for the 442nd readily and there were a lot of those young men who who were going against it saying well you've taken our rights as Americans away why should we enlist in a unit you're forcing us to do this as Americans when we no longer have our rights as American so you see this family where here's the one son that signs up and here's another one who is for this movement and but the father is like well our rights have been taken away so he's with the underground movement you know trying to you know trying to change the minds of people in the camp so it's very interesting and how do you fit into it I fit in because I am George has a younger self which is Pooh's played by telly Leung who was also on Glee and telly is one of the most ridiculously talented young artists to ever grace Broadway I was around for his Broadway debut actually we did flower drums on the air so he was fresh out of college and in a Broadway show he's one of the Warblers he was one of the Warblers Darren Criss so that was always his real friend me to see Talley on Glee so yeah so I play his characters Japanese tutor and it's and I also play the character that falls in love with his older brother and in this workshop he's gonna be played by Jose Lana so I get I get I get a real pair with Jose Lana again after kind of a nice little reunion yeah we'll see it on Broadway I'm hoping I mean it's it's produced by the Old Globe so I think it hits to the Old Globe Theater in San Diego first okay and after that production then all goes well she'll definitely be doing at the Old Globe mm-hmm great you know barring all unforeseen circumstances I will be at the old wonderful so I have to ask you something I recently I heard your video game freak oh yeah written about before I just bought my first video game station I bought a PlayStation 3 okay so I need to know which games I should be I have an xbox oh so yeah that was a good no no however there are a lot of games that are available for both right um so what do you like what do you I was a cute I was huge on Final Fantasy 13 which should be available for ps3 um Heavenly Sword is really good do you you go around shoot up people and no this is like this is like a sword play okay so you cut people up you cut people up but it's bloody and is awesome Bioshock Bioshock 2 if I don't know what other games are available if that's available for ps3 then get those but do not play them at night why what happened it's pretty scary because things just jump out at you like all of a sudden here's like a zombie right behind you and you can hear that it's behind you and if you have surround sound that'll creep you out even more because then you're surrounded by you were in a city that's underwater here's a thing wielding a wrench ready to hit you say have to turn around real quick and you gotta hit him first or you shoot him down with a machine gun or a revolver or a shotgun and it's I love I love to give you an anomaly that was extremely therapeutic when I was doing lame is this Fantine because sometimes you just can't get a lot of those dark thoughts out of your head and I'll be sitting there in my apartment in bed at 3 o'clock in the morning and I'm like you know what I gotta kill something right now I turn on my videogame and I turn on the TV and by 5:00 a.m. I'm like yeah I'm good turn everything off like that's awesome go to sleep yeah so to the creators of Bioshock thank you so much you have made my life so much better thank feeling zombie by yeah my Chili's splicer but yeah that's great maybe you should do a videogame musical maybe there's some sort of adaptation I know Bioshock the musical that would be funny now I don't think it it won't be done in our minds well until we get to see that pulled off starring Lea Salonga we will concentrate on your cafe Carlyle gay yes 25th and everybody should go check it out because it's one of those days two days to two shows on Saturday we're dark Sunday were dark Monday well you are one of my favorite talents yeah I hope we see you on Broadway very soon for Mary Poppins or killing zombie button yeah totally thank you so much for coming late oh great to see you thank you for watching we'll see you next time [Music] you [Music]

Channel: Broadwaycom

Views: 264,034

Rating: 4.9483104 out of 5

Keywords: darren, criss, glee, charice, musicals, diva, broadway, tony, awards, miss, saigon, Lea Salonga

Id: lgx5MsEcEEY

Length: 21min 19sec (1279 seconds)

Published: Fri Jun 17 2011