Award-winning Singer and Actress Lea Salonga to Perform at Smothers Theatre
Tony Award-winning singer and actress Lea Salonga will bring her powerful voice to
Smothers Theatre in Malibu on Tuesday, April 18, at 8 PM.
As part of her residency at Pepperdine University, Salonga will also teach a master class with Pepperdine musical theatre students.
Praised around the world for her powerful voice and perfect pitch, Salonga is best known for her Tony Award-winning role in Miss Saigon. Also an Olivier, Drama Desk, Outer Critics Circle, and Theatre World Award winner, she was the first actress of Asian descent to play Eponine in the musical Les Misérables on Broadway and returned to the beloved show as Fantine in the 2006 revival.
Most Recently, Salonga starred in the Broadway musical Allegiance, alongside legendary actor George Takei and Telly Leung. Allegiance tells the story of a Japanese-American family forced into an internment camp during World War II. The production was brought to Broadway following a successful run at the Old Globe Theater in San Diego, and Salonga garnered a Craig Noel nomination for Outstanding Featured Performance in a Musical for her work.
Salonga is also well-known as the singing voice of Princess Jasmine from Disney’s Aladdin and Fa Mulan from Mulan and Mulan II. For her portrayal of the beloved princesses, the Walt Disney Company bestowed her with the honor of “Disney Legend” in August of 2011 along such luminaries as Regis Philbin, Jim Henson (posthumously), and Anika Noni Rose.
In 2010 she participated in the 25th Anniversary Concert of Les Misérables to sold-out crowds at the UK’s O2 arena. She also dazzled as the hauntingly tragic Grizabella in a limited run of CATS in her hometown of Manila, Philippines, where she has also appeared in God of Carnage.
Salonga has toured the world performing in sold out concerts in such locations as the Disney Concert Hall in Los Angeles, Singapore’s Esplanade, Kuala Lumpur Convention Center, Hong Kong Cultural Center, Bangkok Convention Center, Carnegie Hall in New York City, numerous venues in Manila, and in cities such as Edmonton, Indianapolis, Ottawa, Phoenix, Sacramento, San Diego, San Francisco, Vancouver, and Winnipeg. She was also the first artist to sell out two shows at de Jong Concert Hall at Brigham Young University since The Kings Singers in 2009.
When not on tour, Salonga is a coach on the Philippine version of the hit television show, The Voice.
Salonga began her career as a child star in the Philippines, making her professional debut in 1978 at the age of seven in the musical The King and I. She went on to star in productions of Annie, Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, Fiddler on the Roof, The Rose Tattoo, The Sound of Music, The Goodbye Girl, Paper Moon, and The Fantasticks.
Tickets for this recital are currently sold out. To be added to a waiting list, call the box office at 310-506-4522. For additional information about the performances, and to purchase tickets, visit the Center for the Arts website.