Photo by: Raymund Isaac
The Tony and Olivier Award-winning actress joins the production team and the cast for a limited five-week engagement starting July 11.
Lea Salonga is set to make her Broadway homecoming in the upcoming run of “Here Lies Love,” the immersive disco musical by David Byrne and Fatboy Slim about the life of former Philippine first lady Imelda Marcos.
This marks Salonga’s return to the famous New York theater district after a four year break, and her debut as a Broadway producer as she joins the show’s production team. “I’m so excited to be joining Here Lies Love as both a performer and producer!” she says in an official statement. “As an audience member that stood on the dance floor at the National Theatre in London where Here Lies Love ran in 2014, I knew I wanted to be part of it if and when it ever came to Broadway.”
The show’s director, Alex Timbers, says that having Lea join the production is “a pinch-me moment for all of us. I can’t wait to get in the rehearsal room with her and the other talented artists working on this show.”
This will also be Salonga’s first time playing a Filipino role on Broadway. She will take on the role of Aurora Aquino, mother of assassinated senator Benigno “Ninoy” Aquino. As Aurora, she will be singing the number “Just Ask The Flowers.”
She will be joining the cast in a limited guest engagement from July 11 to August 13. Following her run, the show will cast guest stars from the Philippines to take over the role. International casting is also underway for the show’s remaining company.
“It’s very special for me for a few reasons: Number one, as a Filipino artist, I am incredibly excited that audiences will finally get to see on Broadway this beautiful, impactful and important musical,” Salonga says in the show’s official Instagram post.
“Two, I get to go back to The Broadway Theater which is where I made my own Broadway debut, which was over 30 years ago, which is wild to think about, so it’s a really sweet full circle moment,” she adds, referring to her debut in the original Broadway production of Miss Saigon in 1991.
“And three, I get to be reunited onstage with Jose Llana and Conrad Ricamora, and I am incredibly excited about that,” she says. The two Filipino-American actors originated the roles of Ferdinand Marcos and Ninoy Aquino, respectively, in the show’s off-Broadway run at the Public Theater in 2013.
“Here Lies Love” tells the story of Imelda Marcos’ rise to power and her subsequent fall at the hands of the 1986 People Power Revolution. The show begins previews on June 17. Salonga will be joining the cast ahead of its official opening night on July 20.
