Latest news with #LeaSalonga
South China Morning Post
14 hours ago
- Entertainment
- South China Morning Post
Meet Mulan and Aladdin star Lea Salonga's trans son Nic Chien: at 19, he's following his mum into musical theatre and will appear alongside Salonga in Into the Woods
Broadway legend Lea Salonga is opening up about her relationship with her trans son Nic Chien, 19, who she shares with husband Robert Chien. Speaking to People, the Filipina star got candid about Nic's transition journey, advising parents to 'meet your kid where they are'. Nic was assigned female at birth, came out as transmasculine at 14, and began taking testosterone in January. Throughout the process, Salonga was a pillar of support for her child, although she at first thought he might be non-binary. Calling this response an 'OK reaction', Nic shared that because his family is 'very accepting', he wasn't 'super afraid' to come out. Lea Salonga at the opening night last April of Stephen Sondheim's Old Friends, in New York. via AFP Meanwhile, Salonga – who provided the singing voice for Jasmine in the original Aladdin (1992), and for the titular character in Mulan (1998) and Mulan II (2004) – is back on Broadway with Stephen Sondheim's Old Friends. The revue features several numbers dedicated to the late musical theatre icon, but the Miss Saigon star has made one her own. 'Loving You', she says, reminds her of her son, and she dresses in a purple jacket for the performance as a nod to Nic's favourite colour. Advertisement So what else do we know about Lea Salonga's son, Nic Chien? Lea Salonga originally wanted to raise him in the Philippines Nic Chien is Lea Salonga's only child. Photo: @nicchien_official/Instagram Salonga originally wanted to raise her child in her home country of the Philippines, as she explained in a 2007 interview with GMA News. 'There's just our fear that [he'll] be growing up too fast,' she said. 'I think here [in the Philippines], people hold on to their childhood for so much longer, it seems. And I'd like for [Nic] to be a kid at least for as long as I was,' she added. Nic attended high school in New York, per People. Nic Chien has always loved performing Lea Salonga's son Nic showed an affinity for performing from a very young age. Photo: @msleasalonga/Instagram Salonga revealed to GMA News in 2008 that Nic had taken to performing from a very young age. At less than two years old, he was already singing and dancing like a 'star', shared the proud mum. By the age of five, he was taking part in school performances. In 2014, Nic sang during his mum's Playlist concert in Manila, per the Philippine Daily Inquirer.
Yahoo
19 hours ago
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
LGBTQ+ celebs dazzle Out and Advocate's Pride of Broadway red carpet
for Celebrities attend the 2025 Out & The Advocate Pride Cover Party: Pride of Broadway, hosted by and equalpride in New York City. Category is: Pride of Broadway! Equalpride, the parent company of Out and The Advocate, got together a star-studded lineup of celebrities to kick off Pride Month with a fabulous New York City event this Monday. The 2025 Pride of Broadway event honored the Broadway divas gracing the cover of Out's Pride issue — Lea Salonga (Old Friends), Maleah Joi Moon (Hell's Kitchen), Megan Hilty (Death Becomes Her), Kristin Chenoweth (The Queen of Versailles), and Idina Menzel (Redwood). The Advocate's Pride cover star, Cynthia Nixon (And Just Like That…), was also honored at the event, held at Somewhere Nowhere NYC. Meanwhile, several other LGBTQ+ stars were in attendance at this fabulous Pride of Broadway party. They included Conrad Ricamora (Oh, Mary!), Nathan Lee Graham (Mid-Century Modern), Peppermint, Jelani Alladin (Fellow Travelers), comedian Punkie Johnson, Tituss Burgess, Jeopardy! champion Amy Schneider, Wilson Cruz, Dominique Jackson (Pose), and RuPaul's Drag Race alumni such as Jan Sport and Jackie Cox, to name a few. The Pride of Broadway Red Carpet is sponsored by Maybelline New York, with support for the cover party from Gay Water, Heineken, Hornitos Tequila, and official hotel partner Motto Times Square. Scroll through to see pictures of the LGBTQ+ and allied celebs in attendance for and 's Pride of Broadway Cynthia Nixon attends the 2025 Out & The Advocate Pride Cover Party: Pride of Broadway, hosted by and Daniel Reynolds and Megan Hilty attend the 2025 Out & The Advocate Pride Cover Party: Pride of Broadway, hosted by and Sandra Valls attends the 2025 Out & The Advocate Pride Cover Party: Pride of Broadway, hosted by and Dominique Jackson attends the 2025 Out & The Advocate Pride Cover Party: Pride of Broadway, hosted by and From left: Matthew Darren, Erynn Dana Dalton, Jennifer McClain, Miss Bouvèé, and Suzie Toot attend the 2025 Out & The Advocate Pride Cover Party: Pride of Broadway, hosted by and Justin David Sullivan attends the 2025 Out & The Advocate Pride Cover Party: Pride of Broadway, hosted by and Nathan Lee Graham attends the 2025 Out & The Advocate Pride Cover Party: Pride of Broadway, hosted by and Lea Salonga attends the 2025 Out & The Advocate Pride Cover Party: Pride of Broadway, hosted by and Plasma attends the 2025 Out & The Advocate Pride Cover Party: Pride of Broadway, hosted by and Judy Gold attends the 2025 Out & The Advocate Pride Cover Party: Pride of Broadway, hosted by and Telly Leung attends the 2025 Out & The Advocate Pride Cover Party: Pride of Broadway, hosted by and Amy Schneider attends the 2025 Out & The Advocate Pride Cover Party: Pride of Broadway, hosted by and Issa Perez attends the 2025 Out & The Advocate Pride Cover Party: Pride of Broadway, hosted by and Yuhua Hamasaki attends the 2025 Out & The Advocate Pride Cover Party: Pride of Broadway, hosted by and Dan Amboyer attends the 2025 Out & The Advocate Pride Cover Party: Pride of Broadway, hosted by and Blanca Leigh attends the 2025 Out & The Advocate Pride Cover Party: Pride of Broadway, hosted by and Alex Wong attends the 2025 Out & The Advocate Pride Cover Party: Pride of Broadway, hosted by and Lorna Luft attends the 2025 Out & The Advocate Pride Cover Party: Pride of Broadway, hosted by and Mark Berryhill attends the 2025 Out & The Advocate Pride Cover Party: Pride of Broadway, hosted by and equalpride.
Forbes
17-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Forbes
Stephen Sondheim's ‘Old Friends:' Don't Miss This Broadway Experience
Bernadette Peters on the opening night of "Old Friends" at the Samuel J. Friedman Theatre The run of Stephen Sondheim's Old Friends, the posthumous musical love letter to Stephen Sondheim, has been extended on Broadway until Sunday, June 29th, 2025. The show offers musical theatre enthusiasts living near or visiting New York City the rare opportunity to experience the humor, joy and pathos of more than three dozen songs from Sondheim's most cherished musicals in one of Broadway's most intimate theaters. The program includes tunes from such Sondheim classics as Sweeney Todd, Merrily We Roll Along, Company, Follies, and Into the Woods. Bernadette Peters and Lea Salonga at a press event for "Stephen Sondheim's Old Friends" Old Friends was first conceived as a one-night concert in London's West End, but the loyal legions of Sondheim fans wanted more. The sold-out production was live-screened from the Gielgud Theatre in London and then broadcast on the BBC before being reprised on stage for 16 weeks. A North American premiere in Los Angeles preceded its arrival on the Great White Way. On Broadway, the show stars Bernadette Peters and Lea Salonga, who were part of the West End cast, joined by an array of talented performers from the London, Los Angeles, and New York productions. The company of Stephen Sondheim's Old Friends Old Friends was brought to the stage by Cameron Mackintosh, a longtime friend and collaborator of Sondheim. The two developed the idea during the COVID lockdown, but Sondheim died in November 2021 at age 91 before it was realized. Bernadette Peters has often been called Sondheim's muse; she was a friend who worked closely with Sondheim and inspired him. He frequently praised the three-time Tony Award winner for her unique ability to express the depth of his music and lyrics in the roles she played: Dot/Marie in Sunday in the Park with George, The Witch in Into the Woods, Rose in Gypsy, Desiree in A Little Night Music, and Sally in Follies. The revue celebrates Sondheim's extensive contributions to musical theater. Peters, who continues to bring the same vitality and joy she did decades ago, co-stars with the talented Lea Salonga. Best known for her Tony Award-winning performance in Miss Saigon, Salonga belts out memorable solos and duets with Peters. Although the songs are removed from the context of the musicals where they were first heard, the incredible Matt Kinley set design, staging by Matthew Bourne, 14-piece orchestra with arrangements by Stephen Metcalfe, and spectacular talents of the cast have created a virtual collage of Sondheim's talents in a single show. Stephen Sondheim in 1997 Sondheim is considered one of Broadway's most important musical innovators, credited with raising the bar on complex storytelling and sophisticated lyrics that advance a plot. Perhaps this show's name acknowledges the many friendships he forged during his career with musicians, composers and performers. (Old Friends was also the name of one of the songs from Merrily We Roll Along.) A protege of famed lyricist Oscar Hammerstein II, Sondheim became a mentor to numerous other composers, including Jonathan Larson (Rent) and Lin-Manuel Miranda (Hamilton). His own debut as a lyricist was in the 1957 musical West Side Story in collaboration with composer Leonard Bernstein. Sondheim's obituary in The New York Times recounts his myriad contributions to musical theater, including a dozen Broadway shows, five of which garnered Tony Awards for Best Musical and six for Best Original Score. He also won the 1985 Pulitzer Prize for Drama for Sunday in the Park. Old Friends marks the fifth revival of Sondheim's work since his death. Although there have been several revues of his music in the past, this retrospective tribute uniquely allows Sondheim fans to enjoy a wide breadth of his greatest hits in one sitting. It's impossible not to hum these energetic tunes long after the curtain closes. NY Times theater critic Jesse Green wrote about Old Friends: 'Any opportunity to experience how the feelings he channeled and the connections he made have mined our psyches and reshaped our world is an opportunity even old friends should take.' The limited Broadway engagement of Old Friends at the non-profit Manhattan Theatre Club at the Samuel J. Friedman Theatre will close on June 29, 2025. Running time is 2 hours 35 minutes with an intermission.
Yahoo
08-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
‘It should be illegal how much fun I'm having': Lea Salonga on playing Mrs. Lovett and more in ‘Stephen Sondheim's Old Friends'
'It boggles my mind that this is actually happening,' admits Lea Salonga about the recognition she has been receiving for her performance in Stephen Sondheim's Old Friends. Hours before joining Gold Derby to discuss the Broadway revue, the actress earned a nomination from the Drama League for Distinguished Performance in addition to her previously announced special recognition for Distinguished Achievement in Musical Theatre. She will celebrate the honors with her son, whose 19th birthday overlaps with the ceremony, and looks forward to toasting with the cast and crew. 'I think we're gonna be screaming quite a bit once I get to work. I think we're all going to be delirious with joy,' exclaims the actress (watch our full interview above). This is now Salonga's third production of Old Friends, having previously appeared in the West End and Los Angeles engagements of the show. The Tony winner notes how the current audiences process the revue differently. 'I think it's pretty safe to say New York audiences know Steve Sondheim's work better than any other audience does,' admits the star. The question the creatives and company had to answer was therefore, 'What do we do when it's an audience full of people that know the story probably better than we do?' She shares an anecdote from fellow cast mate Jeremy Secomb that held an answer: when he performed Sweeney Todd for Sondheim, the composer 'was laughing at all his own jokes,' and that spirit informs how the ensemble approaches the material. Salonga says, 'You will not be spoon-fed anything, but we will serve everything in the way that we should be serving everything.' The actress adds, 'It's been incredible performing this material. … There is just so much love.' More from GoldDerby Everything to know about the 'Malcolm in the Middle' revival: Returning cast, first photo, streaming info ... 'Predator: Badlands' trailer, Bill Hader heads to Jonestown for HBO, Cannes additions, and more of today's top news stories 'Adolescence' now predicted to receive 5 acting Emmy nominations: Odds update The Sweeney Todd section of the revue is a bravura one for Salonga, as she plays Mrs. Lovett opposite Secomb's demon barber, performing 'The Worst Pies in London' and 'A Little Priest' in a medley of five songs from the musical. 'It should be illegal how much fun I'm having,' confesses the actress, who says she loves that she gets to 'disappear into a role far more than I do at any point during the show.' Unlike other numbers, the Sweeney ones find her transformed fully into character with 'wigs, makeup, blacked-out teeth, a costume, an accent.' She credits producer Cameron Mackintosh with the opportunity to play Lovett on Broadway – a role she has portrayed in productions in Manila and Singapore — and for seeing her 'in a way that other producers have not yet been able to. … He saw me as a 17-year-old in the Philippines, so much to cast me in Miss Saigon, and sees me on another level to be able to do this show… He took a risk also casting me as Eponine in Les Misérables.' SEE our interview with Natalie Venetia Belcon, 'Buena Vista Social Club' star One of Salonga's earliest numbers in Old Friends is 'Loving You,' a gorgeous ballad from Sondheim's late career musical Passion. In the context of the original musical, the song is performed by Fosca, an unwell cousin of an Italian colonel who falls into deep infatuation with Giorgio, an Italian military captain on assignment to a remote outpost. For her rendition, Salonga went to a more immediate source to conjure the number's intense emotions: her son, Nick. Before the West End run, Julia McKenzie, the show's artistic consultant who Salonga credits as 'one of the directors,' told the performer to 'just think of the person that you love the most in the world,' and she 'instantly' knew to whom she would now sing the piece. She says the 'beauty' of this revue is that it has 'given brand new meaning and given new life' to these numbers. Old Friends has given rise to many moments of unexpected resonance for Salonga. The Here Lies Love star closes out a six-song section from Into the Woods with the musical's final number, 'Children Will Listen,' and in the final moments, she is joined on stage by Bernadette Peters. 'It's crazy, it's really crazy,' thinks the actress, continuing, 'I'm standing face to face with the original Witch from the Broadway production of Into the Woods, somebody pinch me, please, I'm about to die.' The moment of connection has taken on additional meaning, too, as she will be playing the Witch in a production of the musical in the Philippines after Old Friends concludes and now feels like sharing the song with Peters is a moment in which her scene partner passes the torch and sends 'love and well wishes' to her for when she takes on the role herself. 'It feels deeply meaningful every time we share that moment in the show,' she adds. Near the end of Old Friends, Salonga delivers a rousing performance of 'Everything's Coming Up Roses,' the iconic Act 1 finale from Gypsy. The song has been done on Broadway by legendary actresses in the original production and numerous revivals, including Ethel Merman, Angela Lansbury, Tyne Daly, Peters, Patti LuPone, and now Audra McDonald. A legend herself, Salonga did not try to 'live up' to all the versions that have come before, which would have been 'unrealistic.' Instead, she leaned fully into the reason producer Mackintosh asked her to do the song, explaining, 'He knows of my own history as a performer that started performing from a very young age, which means that I have a mother who managed my career and who shepherded me through so much of this crazy, crazy, sometimes predatory, fickle business. So I sing it as an homage to her, so I am pulling from real life, therefore I don't really need to pull emotionally from performances that have been done before.' The result is a deeply impassioned interpretation that serves as a part of the incredibly emotional climax of the revue. SEE Tony Talk: Our first Best Musical picks anticipate a showdown between 'Maybe Happy Ending' and 'Dead Outlaw' Seeing Salonga perform these extended excerpts from Sweeney Todd and this number from Gypsy have New York audience clamoring for the actress to star in a full production of a Sondheim musical on Broadway. 'Mama Rose is definitely something that I'm seeing on the horizon,' admits the Tony winner, who says fellow performer Joanna Gleason nudged her to tackle the role sooner than later. 'I'm definitely putting that on my list of Sondheim ladies that I'd like to be able to one day play while I'm still physically strong enough to do it, because that's a mammoth role and requires so much physical, vocal, mental, emotional energy,' explains the actress. Even though she's portrayed Mrs. Lovett elsewhere, she would love to revisit that character, because performing Sondheim is 'like doing roles in the Shakespeare canon,' as every new production offers a chance to explore 'how much more deeply this character goes.' Best of GoldDerby 'Death Becomes Her' star Jennifer Simard is ready to be a leading lady: 'I don't feel pressure, I feel joy' 'Boop! The Musical' star Jasmine Amy Rogers uses her own 'quirky little eccentricities' to bring iconic cartoon character to life Kennedy Center Honors: 50 entertainers who deserve to be selected Click here to read the full article.
Los Angeles Times
17-04-2025
- Entertainment
- Los Angeles Times
Orange County's Taste of the Arts, a 6-night series by subscription, will offer dinner and show
Just in time for summer and its 2025-26 season, Segerstrom Center for the Arts will team up with the restaurants surrounding the arts campus to give audiences dinner and a show with a new, six-night subscription show sampler series dubbed Taste of the Arts. The series will offer three- or four-course menus at different Costa Mesa restaurants two hours before the corresponding show at the Segerstrom. The series beings on July 24 with Costa Contemporary Kitchen and the American Ballet Theatre's 'Giselle.' The ballet, often regarded as one of the greatest of all time, is paired with the Peruvian fusion restaurant for a four-course menu with multiple options for each course. Diners can choose from dishes such as fried yuca frita in aji amarillo queso fresco dipping sauce; ceviche mixto made with fresh fish, calamari and shrimp with sweet potato in leche de tigre sauce and traditional Peruvian stir fry. Lomo saltado, featuring filet mignon, cherry tomatoes, red onion and French fries, served with a side of jasmine rice, will be just one of the entrées offered. On Sept. 26, the series pairs Terrace by Mix Mix with Lea Salonga's 'Stage, Screen & Everything In Between' tour. The one-night-only performance brings the Disney icon who voiced the singing voices of Princess Jasmine and Mulan to Costa Mesa. The Filipino actress and singer's appearance is appropriately coupled with chef Ross Pangilinan's South Coast Plaza restaurant that showcases modern Filipino flavors as well as French and Italian influences. Dinner will be served Kamayan-style, a Filipino communal feasting experience with dishes like shrimp lumpia, garlic rice, pork adobo, chicken barbecue skewers and lechon kawaii. For the Nov. 1 performance by Jazz Club Discovery artist, Caity Gyorgy, the nearby Leatherby's Cafe Rouge will offer a three-course menu. Located inside the Renée & Henry Segerstrom Concert Hall and highlighting Southern California cuisine with French flair, the Cafe Rouge spread will include day boat scallops with kabocha squash risotto finished with snap peas and truffle jus, a choice of petite fillet with aligot potatoes in caramelized onion emulsion and cabernet sauce or roasted honey nut squash. Baked ricotta garnished with pomegranate and Marcona almonds and creme fraiche panna cotta will be served up for dessert. Tony-nominated Broadway veteran Tony Yazbeck comes to the Center on Dec. 11 for an evening of classic show tunes, new standards and tap dancing, paired with South Coast Plaza's Populaire Modern Bistro. Chef Nicholas Weber's three-course menu will include updated classic French bistro dishes the hip restaurant is known for. For the first course, diners can select roasted kabocha squash with burette cheese, aged balsamic and pistachio or scallop crudo with koji, pomegranate and puffed farro for crunch. Entrée choices include the very French steak au poivre with potatoes and bone marrow or a vegetable-centric risotto parmigiana reggiano with broccoli sprouts and rainbow chard. Dessert will consist of chocolate cremeux devil's cake. 'The Notebook,' a musical based on the best-selling Nicholas Sparks novel and subsequent film will be paired with the romantic Spanish restaurant, Vaca on Feb. 5, 2026. Just close enough to Valentine's Day, 'Top Chef' alum chef Amar Santana presents a three-course menu of grilled prawns in shellfish curry to start, followed by grilled short rib with potato espuma, maitake mushrooms and truffle jus with Marcona almond tort for dessert. The series ends on April 28, 2026 when the Australian Chamber Orchestra, under the artistic direction of Richard Tognetti, brings orchestral music to Segerstrom Center. The performance is fittingly partnered with Outpost Kitchen, an Aussie eatery from Jay Lewis. The three-course menu will offer dishes like white fish yellow curry, Alaskan salmon, plant-based sausage and sweet potato noodle and Outpost Kitchen's signature key lime pie. The subscription series is on sale now, with tickets priced at $1,350. Visit for show and menu details.
