Award-winning Filipino actress and singer Lea Salonga brings added sparkle to the cast of Les Miserables The Arena Spectacular at Sands Theatre, Marina Bay Sands in Singapore, which opens tonight (March 24) and runs through May 10.
She takes on the role of the villainous innkeeper Madame Thenardier in the musical’s long-awaited season across the Causeway.
The show in Singapore has also been conceived and developed by legendary British theatrical producer Cameron Mackintosh to celebrate the 40th anniversary of Les Miserables, the world’s longest-running musical.
Mackintosh’s production is written by Alain Boublil and Claude-Michel Schonberg and is based on the novel by Victor Hugo. It has music by Claude-Michel Schonberg, lyrics by Herbert Kretzmer and original French text by Boublil and Jean-Marc Natel.
The staging, lighting and visual design have been reimagined to deliver an epic and cinematic experience for a large-scale stage production.
On stage, Salonga joins the previously announced Geronimo Rauch (Les Miserables, Jesus Christ Superstar) as Jean Valjean, Jeremy Secomb (Les Miserables, The Phantom Of The Opera, Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber Of Fleet Street) as Javert, Singaporean artist Nathania Ong (Hamilton, Les Miserables, Be More Chill) as Eponine, Red Concepcion (Miss Saigon, West Side Story, Hairspray) as Thenardier, Na-Young Jeon (Miss Saigon, The King And I, Les Miserables) as Fantine, Will Callan as Marius, Lulu-Mae Pears as Cosette, Harry Chandler as Enjolras and Earl Carpenter as the Bishop of Digne.
Salonga has previously played the roles of both Eponine and Fantine in Les Miserables on Broadway, delivering unforgettable performances of On My Own and I Dreamed A Dream respectively.
She also appeared as Eponine in the legendary 10th anniversary concert at the Royal Albert Hall and as Fantine in the 25th anniversary concert at the O2 Arena in London.
Her recent Broadway credits include Stephen Sondheim’s Old Friends, Here Lies Love and Once On This Island.
Salonga is also scheduled to perform in Kuala Lumpur this September, appearing alongside her brother Gerard (an MPO conductor) in the From Broadway To Disney: Lea Salonga With The MPO concerts at Dewan Filharmonik Petronas, which have sold out.
