Latest news with #MusicalTheatre
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.
CBC
08-05-2025
- Entertainment
- CBC
These high schoolers weren't even born in the 90s, but they're bringing back the hits
The '90s are back at a London high school this week as a group of students is taking the stage to perform grunge, rock and pop hits from the iconic decade. 'Smells Like the 90s' is a musical tribute by the Musical Theatre students at Clarke Road Secondary School. The show features hits from bands like Metallica, Spice Girls, TLC, and, of course, Nirvana. It runs from Thursday to Saturday. "It's funny cause walking around, you see a lot of people in cargo pants," said music teacher Kevin Kennedy. "A lot of the trends of the 90s are coming back — and if you talk to people, they're listening to the '90s still." The show helps to deepen the respect for the '90s among students, he said, and to learn about the decade of music and changes that took place. For some students, it's expanding their playlist, he said. Drums, guitar, saxophones and flutes It's great news for student Brooklyn Taitt, who stayed an extra year at Clarke Road just to perform in the show. "I've been in the music program for five years, and I was really interested in the '90s music. I wanted to play in a rock band, and it was just so interesting having all the wind instruments and everything in these big songs," she told CBC's Afternoon Drive. "It was just interesting bringing songs back and having the nostalgia of everything," she said. "Even though I wasn't there in the '90s, it just feels like so much energy from everybody." Taitt is already a '90s fan and knew "every song in the entire set list," she said, and was excited to see the show come together after students have been working so hard since September. "It's just so nice to see it be a final product with all of our energy and all of our love for each other and just being able to have fun with it." Grade 11 student Koda Greene-Cavanagh, who likes the grunge vibe of the decade, first got introduced to '90s music from her dad, but now listens to it "all the time," she said. She plays flute, which is featured in her favourite song of the night, Guns N' Roses' November Rain. "It's really flute heavy, you can hear me really well. It really pops out," she said. "I'm also excited for the two people to see the set because the set is really cool, and all the lights." Dress, sing and dance like it's the '90s Those who make it out to the show are encouraged to dress like the '90s, said Kennedy, along with singing and dancing to the music. "It's a lot as much fun for the audience as it is for the band, which is the point of the evening," he said. The show was originally supposed to take place in 2020, but was cancelled due to the pandemic. This year, it was time to check the box and do the show, said Kennedy. Some original people from the band are still helping with this show. The group is taking the show on the road to perform at an arts school in Cleveland and take a trip to the Rock n' Roll Hall of Fame.
