ALLEGIANCE's Lea Salonga, HAMILTON's Phillipa Soo On Broadway's Cultural Perceptions Of Asians

Since winning a Best Actress in a Musical Tony Award for her Broadway debut in MISS SAIGON nearly 25 years ago, Lea Salonga has originated starring roles in only two Broadway productions; the 2002 revival of FLOWER DRUM SONG and her current stint in the new musical ALLEGIANCE; both times playing a woman written to be of Asian descent.

Phillipa Soo is making her Broadway debut as HAMILTON's Eliza Schuyler Hamilton, a character based on a woman who was white in real life, but was written with diversity in mind by Lin-Manuel Miranda.

While Broadway celebrates a sharp increase in diversity this season, these two leading lights spoke with The Hollywood Reporter about their experiences as women dealing with the cultural and casting perceptions of their industry.

In a show about America's Founding Fathers, Soo says the amazing thing about her role is the discovery of how much of an impact her character had on history.

"As a woman, it's nice to hear people at the stage door say, 'I didn't even know! She's a woman, and that's the most amazing thing.' And I say, 'But isn't it crazy that you're so surprised?'"

Salonga says it took script revisions before her ALLEGIANCE character, a 1940s Japanese-American woman imprisoned by the U.S. government in an internment camp, developed a strong voice.

"When this role was first developed, there was a whole lot of none of that! Then [co-writer] Marc Acito came into the picture and streamlined the script - killed off the mother and an older brother, and gave their arcs to me, which made for a really rich experience. Even in the San Diego production where Kei was introduced, she was still not this instigating force that she is now."

"It's refreshing that this is a specifically Asian-American story that shows the uglier, seedier side of American history, and how relevant it is today" notes Salonga. "For example, with so many discussions about immigrants in this country today, and with what's been happening around the world with the terrorist bombings in Beirut and Paris. The lens is now closing on Muslims and the Muslim-American community, and I feel sick to my stomach, hearing the politicians talk and seeing which states will not allow [Syrian] refugees in."

"I'm half-Chinese and half white," says Soo, "and it wasn't until being part of this show - even though I've been in other mixed race casts - that I have been considered an actor of color. Up until now, I haven't been talking about being an Asian-American woman! I don't know why, but clearly it has something to do with the statement that we're making in our show... I was in NATASHA PIERRE & THE GREAT COMET OF 1812, a Russian story based on Tolstoy and with a mixed race cast. But it wasn't a mixed race cast playing Russian people; it was just us telling the story. Because of who I was playing opposite, I think people assumed I was white. It depends on the frame that highlights different things."

The two agree that the presence of a more diverse range of performers in live theatre, playing a variety of roles, will help open up younger generations to more possibilities for themselves.

"With ON YOUR FEET! And THE COLOR PURPLE, it's an incredible season of shows," says Solanga. "It's quite groundbreaking, and it just shows what's possible. It's possible for any ten-year-old of any background to look up at the stage and say, 'Mommy, that's what I want to do,' and then for that mom to say, 'Well then go for it. I'm right behind you.' It's nice to be able to have a hand in that, instead of saying, 'There's nobody like you onstage, where are you gonna fit?' But we're fitting quite nicely, eight shows a week."

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From the creative team behind the Tony Award-winning In The Heights comes a wildly inventive new musical about the scrappy young immigrant who forever changed America: AlexanderHamilton. Tony and Grammy Award winnerLin-Manuel Miranda wields his pen and takes the stage as the unlikely founding father determined to make his mark on a new nation as hungry and ambitious as he is.

From bastard orphan to Washington's right hand man, rebel to war hero, loving husband caught in the country's first sex scandal to Treasury head who made an untrusting world believe in the American economy, Hamilton is an exploration of a political mastermind. George Washington,Thomas Jefferson, Eliza Hamilton, and lifelong Hamilton friend and foe,Aaron Burr, all attend this revolutionary tale of America's fiery past told through the sounds of the ever-changing nation we've become. Tony Award nominee Thomas Kail directs this new musical about taking your shot, speaking your mind, and turning the world upside down.

The new American musical Allegiance at the Longacre Theatre (220 West 48th Street, stars Tony and Olivier Award winner Lea Salonga (Miss Saigon, Les Miserables) in her long-awaited return to Broadway, "Star Trek" icon George Takei in his Broadway debut at age 78, and Broadway and "Glee" star Telly Leung. Allegiance is the vibrant and unforgettable story of one family's resilience in the face of seemingly-insurmountable odds, inspired by Takei's real-life experience as a Japanese American during World War II.

Allegiance illuminates one of American history's lesser known chapters as it tells the story of Sam Kimura (Takei), transported back nearly six decades to when his younger self (Leung) and his sister Kei (Salonga) fought to stay connected to their heritage, their family, and themselves after Japanese Americans were wrongfully imprisoned during World War II. An epic story told with great intimacy,Allegiance explores the ties that bind us, the struggle to persevere, and the overwhelming power of forgiveness and, most especially, love.

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