{"id":1918256,"date":"2026-05-04T22:33:11","date_gmt":"2026-05-04T19:33:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/?p=1918256"},"modified":"2026-05-04T22:33:11","modified_gmt":"2026-05-04T19:33:11","slug":"we-wont-see-her-because-shes-asian-how-lea-salonga-fought-to-be-seen-on-broadway","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/?p=1918256","title":{"rendered":"‘We won’t see her because she’s Asian’: How Lea Salonga fought to be seen on Broadway"},"content":{"rendered":"

[analyse_image type=”featured” src=”https:\/\/ichef.bbci.co.uk\/news\/1024\/branded_news\/bba6\/live\/74362050-4476-11f1-b545-b533bcf4cad2.jpg”]<\/p>\n

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\"GettyGetty Images<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n
Salonga is seen as a national treasure in her native Philippines<\/figcaption><\/div>\n<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n
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The year was 1991 and Lea Salonga already had won a Tony for her performance as the lead character in Miss Saigon – but she was still struggling to find another role.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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“My agent would be submitting me for auditions, [but people were still] like ‘No, we won’t see her because she’s Asian. They were unable to imagine someone like me playing [those] roles,” Salonga told the BBC.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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But today it’s that scenario that feels unimaginable, in an era when acts like BTS and Blackpink are dominating Billboard charts, shows like Shogun and Squid Games are sweeping the Emmys, and even Asian-led musicals are finding success on Broadway.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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Salonga herself has since become a global Broadway icon. Revered as a national treasure in her native Philippines, she is also immortalised as the singing voices for not one but two Disney princesses, Princess Jasmine in Aladdin and the lead in Mulan. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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But as her early struggles show, her path to fame was far from easy. The role that propelled her to fame – Eponine in Les Mis\u00e9rables – was only possible because she was able to skip the audition process entirely. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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“Because the producers of Miss Saigon also produced Les Mis, [I received] an invitation to join\u2026 so I do appreciate that I had advocates in the office\u2026 people who were like ‘we gotta get her in’,” said Salonga.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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Even then, Salonga, who was the first Asian actress to land a principal part in the acclaimed musical, says her role was very much an “experiment”. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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“When I was cast in it, the show had already been running for five years. When they cast me, it was in January, which is usually a slow time. [So] I think the producers felt [there was] minimal risk,” she said. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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“I think I was the only person of colour in that entire company at the time… so [it was like], is this a stunt? Is this trying to prove a point? Let’s see if this is going to work. [And] if it works, the reward would be great.” <\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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\"MichaelMichael Le Poer Trench<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n
Salonga was the first Asian actress to land a principal part in the acclaimed musical<\/figcaption><\/div>\n<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n
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But stepping into what had always been a traditionally white role was, in her own words, “incredibly stressful”.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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“I stressed out over Les Mis more than I ever did for Miss Saigon\u2026[with that] it was an Asian actor in an Asian role – there’s really no controversy there. But with Les Mis, it’s like, we’re going to cast this Asian chick in this show – and there’s never been [an Asian] in this show.”<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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But the magnitude of what that represented was not lost on her.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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“It meant that anyone who had their sights on Eponine could play it. Because if I could do it – then [anyone else] could, regardless of ethnic background.”<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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More than 30 years later, that reality is playing out right next to her. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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In the current Singapore run of Les Mis\u00e9rables The Arena Spectacular, Salonga is performing alongside Nathania Ong who plays Eponine – the exact role Salonga made possible for other Asian actors to play. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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“I get to watch [Nathania] playing Eponine… and as I’m sitting in this dressing room getting ready to do the show, it makes me think that [the experiment worked]. And it’s something I’m very proud to have participated in. And now it’s time for the next generation of actors [to step up]… the ones with strength in their knees,” quips Salonga. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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Ong, 28, who also made history as the first Singaporean to play the role on the West End, says she grew up watching performers like Salonga depict Eponine.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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But for Ong, the stakes for winning the role felt different – in fact, Ong says she “didn’t even realise what a big deal it was” to have gotten the part.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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“I think it took a few months [before I was like]… I’ve made it. I’ve actually done something with this,” she said.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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While she credits Salonga as a “trailblazer for all people of colour,” she adds that the fight for meaningful representation still remains an “uphill battle” at times – highlighting how the battle has shifted from fighting just to get in the room, to fighting to be valued for talent alone.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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“The thing with going for parts as an East Asian is that sometimes we struggle with the idea of: “Have we been hired to meet a diversity quota, or are we actually being hired because we’re good at our jobs?” she says.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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\"LESLES MISERABLES THE ARENA SPECTACULAR WORLD TOUR, SINGAPORE 2026<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n
In the current Singapore run of Les Mis\u00e9rables, Salonga is performing alongside Nathania Ong (L) <\/figcaption><\/div>\n<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n
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But beyond casting, Salonga sees an even bigger shift happening – Asian artists are no longer just trying to fit into Western stories, but also writing their own.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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She points to the recent Broadway success of the critically acclaimed South Korean musical Maybe Happy Ending that was co-written by a South Korean.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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“Seeing a show like that\u2026winning so many awards\u2026 tells me that if something is just so good that it cannot be ignored, it will be seen,” she says of the show, which won South Korea its first Tony award.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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She adds that she could not have imagined a show like this – one that is so “intrinsically” Asian – getting so much steam, adding that when she was growing up she didn’t have as many Asian figures in the industry to look up to.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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“I think for a lot of young people to be able to see somebody that looks like them up on that stage\u2026 is incredible. I think there was a generation of Asians who wanted to do this but didn’t have that representation upon which they could reflect themselves,” she said.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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“I’m so glad that I am now getting to see it because now my son gets to see it.”<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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She also points to successes like K-pop band BTS – who she is a “huge fan of” – as models for Asians to look up to. And for Salonga, watching their phenomenal global rise also feels deeply familiar.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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During her own breakout years, she recalls the intense scrutiny that accompanied the pride of representing her home country on the global stage.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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“When you head to the West End and you have to be excellent or you will let 75 million people down [the population of the Philippines], that’s a lot to put on your shoulders. The responsibility is heavy”, she says. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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“That’s also why I appreciate BTS so much because it’s like, here you go, the weight of all of Asia is now on your shoulders,” she laughs, adding that she recently delayed a vocal warm-up session by 15 minutes just so she could catch a BTS concert livestream.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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Salonga also adds that the momentum extends beyond the stage and across all media. She points to an upcoming DreamWorks animated film steeped entirely in Philippine folklore that she is currently working on.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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“An animated film that is based on my culture\u2026 I’d never thought I’d see something like that in my lifetime,” she said.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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And would 18-year-old Lea Salonga be surprised to see all this?<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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“Incredibly shocked, but I think also inspired to know\u2026 [that] there is a space for me,” she says.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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“You know, you can push us to the margins – but we’re just going to centre ourselves.”<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/article>\n

[analyse_source url=”https:\/\/www.bbc.com\/news\/articles\/ckgpnk4kkkro”]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

[analyse_image type=”featured” src=”https:\/\/ichef.bbci.co.uk\/news\/1024\/branded_news\/bba6\/live\/74362050-4476-11f1-b545-b533bcf4cad2.jpg”] Getty Images Salonga is seen as a national treasure in her native Philippines The year was 1991 and Lea Salonga already had won a Tony for her performance as the lead character in Miss Saigon – but she was still struggling to find another role. “My agent would be submitting me for […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[35,226],"class_list":["post-1918256","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-politics","tag-bbc-com","tag-crawlmanager"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1918256","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1918256"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1918256\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1918256"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1918256"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1918256"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}