NewsLea Salonga Will Star in Fun Home International PremiereThe Tony Award-winning Broadway musical Fun Home will receive its first international production in November 2016. Manila's Atlantis Theatrical Entertainment Group will stage the boundary-pushing musical that will star Tony winner Lea Salonga.
November 18, 2015
Salonga revealed the news herself in the Philippine Daily Inquirer. The Allegiance and Miss Saigon star will portray Helen Bechdel, the role created by Tony Award nominee Judy Kuhn. It is also expected that the show's Tony-winning creators, lyricist and book writer Lisa Kron and composer Jeanine Tesori, will be traveling to Manila for the production.
Salonga described her experience seeing the show on Broadway. "Everyone in the theater was in tears at the curtain call (yours truly included), and rewarded the cast with a standing ovation," she wrote. "I don't recall a musical having that kind of effect. No big dance numbers, no large cast. Just a story about a family and its unique brand of dysfunction so specific, we all could find something to relate to."
The award-winning Filipina actress is currently starring in the Broadway musical Allegiance.
Enjoy a look at Salonga's varied stage career so far:
Fun Home won five Tony Awards, including Best Musical, Best Direction, Best Book and Best Score. It is based on the graphic memoir from author-illustrator Alison Bechdel. It continues its run at Broadway's Circle in the Square.
The Fred Ebb Award recognizes excellence in musical theatre songwriting, by a songwriter or songwriting team that has not yet achieved significant commercial success.