Salonga to Sing National Anthem at Padres Game, 8/28

Tony Award winner Lea Salonga is set to perform the National Anthem and at the 7th Inning Stretch for the San Diego Padres game against the Philadelphia Phillies on Saturday, August 28th for Filipino Cultural Night.  The game will be broadcast on FOX.

Lea Salonga is a singer and actress who is best known for her Tony Award winning role in Miss Saigon. She is recognized for having won, in addition to the Tony, the Olivier, Drama Desk, Outer Critics Circle and Theatre World Awards, in the field of musical theatre. She was also the first Asian to play Eponine in the musical Les Misérables on Broadway and returned to the beloved show as Fantine in the 2006 revival.

Lea will next be seen as the hauntingly tragic Grizabella in a limited run of CATS in her hometown of Manila at the CCP Main Theater from July 24th to August 8th, 2010.

Most recently, Lea made her debut into the world of Cabaret, performing a sold out, three week engagement at the Café Carlyle in New York City. She has since performed her 'Heart and Soul' concert with legendary Grammy winner Patti Austin to rave reviews.

Salonga's big breakthrough came when she was selected to play Kim in the megahit musical Miss Saigon in 1989.  For her performance as Kim, Salonga won the Olivier for Best Performance by an Actress in a Musical for the 1989/1990 season. Miss Saigon moved from its original London home, to Broadway in April 1991.  Salonga subsequently garnered the Tony, Drama Desk, Outer Critics Circle, and the Theatre World Awards for the same role.  In 1999, she was invited back to London to close the musical, and in 2001, at the age of 29 and after doing the Manila run of the musical, Salonga returned to Broadway to close the Broadway production.

Upon completion of her initial stint as Kim on Broadway, Salonga played the role of street waif Eponine in the Broadway production of Les Misérables.

After Miss Saigon's closing on Broadway in 2001, Salonga recreated the role of Lien Hughes originally played by Ming-Na Wen in the soap opera "As The World Turns." (After completing her contract that year, she was asked to return to the role in 2003.) She also guested on Russell Watson's The Voice concert, narrated for the television special "My America: A Poetry Atlas of the United States," and appeared on the Christmas episode of the TV medical drama "E.R.," playing the role of a patient with lymphoma.

In 2002, Salonga returned to Broadway to play the role of a Chinese immigrant in a reinterpretation of Rodgers and Hammerstein's Flower Drum Song opposite Jose Llana. This was after the reinvented musical had a very successful run at the Mark Taper Forum in Los Angeles in 2001, with Salonga playing the lead role the show garnering multiple wins and nominations, including Lead Actress in a Musical for Salonga, from the Theatre Los Angeles Ovation Awards.  The Salonga-led Broadway revival cast album was also a top contender at the 2003 Grammy Awards for Best Musical Show Album.