Lea Salonga News

Happy Birthday Claude-Michel Schonberg! Schonberg is best known for his collaborations with the lyricist Alain Boublil. Thier stage musical version of Victor Hugo's Les Miserables, which opened at the Palais de Sports in Paris in 1980, opened to acclaim in London in 1985 and on Broadway in 1987. In 1989, their success continued with the musical Miss Saigon, which starred Lea Salonga and Jonathan Pryce. Schonberg's next project with Boublil was The Pirate Queen, a musical about the 16th century Irish pirate, chieftain and adventuress Grace O'Malley, which opened on Broadway on April 5 2007.

The Old Globe presents the West Coast premiere of Paul Gordon's delightfully romantic new musical SENSE AND SENSIBILITY, developed with Rick Boynton and presented in association with Chicago Shakespeare Theater, where it was commissioned and had its world premiere in April 2015.

Bay Area Cabaret, now in its 13th season of presenting world-renowned Broadway, pop and jazz vocalists, announces the 2016-2017 season of shows at San Francisco's most elegant and historic showroom, the Fairmont Venetian Room (950 Mason Street atop Nob Hill).

Oh, say can you see... all the Broadway stars who have sung this song? Well now you can! It's America's birthday, and what better way to celebrate than with some of Broadway's best renditions of our national anthem. Which version is your favorite?

Nickel Mines, a new musical, will begin performances on July 27th (8 pm) at the Duke on 42nd Street (229 West 42nd Street).  Performance times vary, check the schedule on www.nymf.org.

After a sold-out engagement in April 2016, Lea Salonga returns to Feinstein's/54 Below with an encore of the show that Stephen Holden of The New York Times called 'one of the year's most satisfying cabaret shows." Due to popular demand, Lea Salonga will now play a record-breaking 15 performances from May 9 to 22, 2017 - the most in a single run to ever play Feinstein's/54 Below. 

Jhett Tolentino, three-time Tony Award-winning producer and Deputy Chapter Commander of The Order of the Knights of Rizal-N.Y., a nonprofit that upholds the ideologies of the Philippines' National Hero, Jose Rizal, held a fundraiser last Friday, June 24, which simultaneously celebrated Filipino-American (FilAm) Broadway actress Ali Ewoldt's recent career milestone: becoming the first woman of color to play the coveted role of Christine Daae in THE PHANTOM OF THE OPERA, Broadway's longest-running musical.

The Old Globe has announced the complete cast and creative team for the West Coast premiere of Paul Gordon's delightfully romantic new musical SENSE AND SENSIBILITY, developed with Rick Boynton and presented in association with Chicago Shakespeare Theater, where it was commissioned and had its world premiere in April 2015.

 Multi-platinum-selling country artist Sara Evans, ukulele phenomenon Jake Shimabukuro, Grammy-nominated folk singer-songwriter Iris DeMent, Blues Hall of Famer Robert Cray, and the Nashville assemblage of high-dollar studio musicians The Time Jumpers, featuring Vince Gill, Kenny Sears, Ranger Doug Green, and Paul Franklin, are just a few of the artists set to appear at the Lisa Smith Wengler Center for the Arts at Pepperdine University during its 2016-2017 season.

Jason Fernandez, a 26-year-old former lead vocalist of pop rock band Rivermaya and former "The Voice" Philippine edition contestant, is set to make his musical theater debut in AMERICAN IDIOT.

It's that time of year, and I can't help but wonder if your CD collection and iPod are Tonys ready. It's just a handful of hours until the 70th annual Tony Awards, and New York City and theatre fans across the world are excitedly buzzing about this year's ceremonies which will be broadcast live on Sunday, June 12, 2016 at 8/7c on CBS. This Broadway season has some exciting contenders in the musical categories, and to get you ready for the big night, I'm recapping the albums you should be listening to (or at least pre-ordering).

¿Sabes cuales son los musicales finalistas para Tony? ¡En BroadwayWorld Spain hacemos un repaso de la temporada de Broadway!

The people have spoken! The votes have been tallied and the results are in. That's right- voting has concluded for the 2016 BroadwayWorld.com Awards and we have our winners.

This past Sunday Lea Salonga, who played ANNIE in Manila in 1980 had a chance to duet on 'Maybe' with upcoming ANNIE in Manila star Krystal Brimner.

'23 years later to my amazement and pride, it has become the world's longest running musical, I tell you why --- because we are getting older, but it looks like the show is never aging. It is kind of getting younger' Alain Boublil says, lightening up the mood before the preview opened with a rousing performance of the LES MISERABLES anthems THE BARRICADE, followed by ON MY OWN, BRING HIM HOME, and ONE DAY MORE. 'Because all the people playing the show now were not even born when Claude Michel and I were writing it!' Boublil says in deadpan humor, much to the amusement of the Singaporean press.

Sing for Hope will celebrate the fifth anniversary of its legendary community arts program, The Sing for Hope Pianos, with a public unveiling of all 50 pianos on June 6(th) at 28 Liberty Plaza in New York City. The event will feature Tony Award-winning actress Lea Salonga, Tony Award- and Drama Desk-nominee Daphne Rubin-Vega, former Late Night with David Letterman bandleader Paul Shaffer, the dynamic Anderson & Roe Piano Duo, cast members from On Site Opera's acclaimed Figaro Trilogy, saxophonist/composer Ted Nash, singer/songwriter Pete Muller, and other stars of the New York music scene, along with student musicians from Sing for Hope's programs.

Once again last year, hundreds of thousands of theatregoers and fans weighed in, breaking site traffic records and further solidifying the BroadwayWorld.com Awards place as the largest and most popular online Broadway polling event of its kind, open to all and with fully visible and audited results.

'AN EVENING WITH JULIE GOLD' features the acclaimed Grammy award winning songwriter ('From A Distance') performing her self-penned songs for one night only in the intimate setting of the Bridge Street Theatre Speakeasy in Catskill, NY on Saturday, June 4 at 8 pm as part of the 'Words and Music Songbook Series' curated by Tom Andersen.

Voting runs through May 31 for the 13th Annual BroadwayWorld.com Awards. That means there are just 11 days to go!

The controversy over casting nearly kept the West End hit from coming to Broadway.