THE PETITE SONGSTRESS WITH THE BIG VOICE, LEA SOLANGA TALKS TO ABBY TAN ABOUT LIFE, LOVE AND HER NEW BABY
The first international spotlight shone on her when she shared the stage with the giant of Indian cinema, Sartarjit Ray, at the Manila International Film Festival. A mere wisp of a girl, Lea Salonga had belted out in her big voice her signature song “Tomorrow” from the Broadway musical Annie, as the closing act of the festival.
Little Lea, no more than 10 years old then, came back to the stage, a flower garland in her hands for Ray, India’s foremost movie director. She looked up, while the towering Ray looked down. As she wondered what to do next, Ray mercifully lowered down to a squat and extended his head for Lea to loop the jasmine around his neck. The audience applauded in relief.
NEW BIRTH, NEW LIFE
Fast forward now to 2006, or some 25 years later, and the world’s most famous Filipino singer and entertainer is on the threshold of a very different life. Lea has just given birth to her daughter Nicole Beverly in May. So the current aria she is singing, at age 35, is about motherhood.
The fame and glory she earned playing the original lead role of Kim in the London musical Miss Saigon, when she was 17, now appear secondary. She has won the Lawrence Olivier Award for Best Actress in the London theater, and the Tony Award for Best Actress in Broadway, both for the same role. But more importantly, she has blazed the trail for Philippine music talents to conquer the world’s stage. Until the show winded down a decade later, almost the entire cast in every country it was performed were Filipinos.
In her post-Miss Saigon days, Lea continued to fly the Philippine flag, developing and growing as an artist performing in the revival musicals, Flower Drum Song and My Fair Lady. In between, she sang the award-winning song for the Disney film, Mulan, and has recorded 10 of her songs, mostly from her live performances, with a new one in the works by October.
CAREER SWITCH
“Lovely!” she beams, when asked about her experience as a mother. “Beverly is just great,” the new mom declares with pride.
Lea also reveals her little girl does have a set of powerful lungs – perhaps a hint of things to come in her future? When she was three months old, Nicole Beverly was already watching mommy rehearse a song she was to perform at a taipan’s birthday bash. When baby Bev began cooing along, the surprised mother shouted, “She can sing!”
Little wonder then, life now revolves around Nicole Beverly, and Lea admits she is willing to let her career take a backseat.
Indeed, after West End, Broadway and Carnegie Hall (November 2005), what else is there for Lea Salonga to conquer? The answer is her bundle of joy.
“If my husband and I are able to raise our child to be level-headed, respectful, God-fearing – and not lose my sanity in the process – then I’d say we did good. This will be more important than my career.”
TRACING HER CHILDHOOD
Lea is simply reflecting on her own stable journey of growing up, which she attributes to her strong-willed mother Ligaya, the one person in the world she admires most. Mrs Salonga single-handedly molded her (and her younger brother Gerald, also a budding musician), guided her career and protected her from the intrigues that came with the show business territory. In the process, she ignored the fl ak surrounding her fearsome reputation in the industry as a dominatrix stage-mother.
But rewinding on her 28 years in show business, Lea wouldn’t have done anything differently if she were to re-live those years again. “I really love my life,” she declares. “I won’t change or trade it for anything.”
On a whimsical note, she wishes that her mother had been more lenient. “She was very strict and protective. I was sheltered,” she recalls. And in the next breath adds: “But I was glad I didn’t lose my innocence,” as many other Filipino child stars she knew had lost theirs on the way to fame.
“I still had my childhood. I don’t feel I lost any part when I was growing up,” Lea says. While other child entertainers had resorted to home tuition, Lea’s mother ensured that her daughter had some semblance of normalcy.
Hence, Lea attended regular school even when she started public performances since the age of seven.
FACING FAME
Lea handled international fame and acclaim very well. “I’ve never been to rehab, never experienced crash and burn,” she says. “I was very selective about things I did.”
She has never developed the prima donna complex, she assures. “My mother will kill me!” was her quick response. She does not believe in throwing tantrums on the set when things go wrong during highly-charged performances.
Crises have happened many times in London and New York, but Lea would rather work through those moments than to kick up a fuss. For instance, there were times when her costume was not in place for her to pick up during scene changes that required a quick costume switch on stage as the set revolved. She calmly walked offstage to retrieve the costume, then returned to the stage and resumed acting as if nothing had been amiss.
“I was trained to work as best as I can. If things are not working well, I think about how to make things work,” says Lea.
FAMILY ON THE GO
The thinking person in Lea has helped to maintain her wholesome girl-next-door image. At heart, she has the same aspirations as any average young woman on love, romance, boyfriend, husband and family. She has found a perfect soulmate in her Chinese-American husband Robert Chien. He is completely supportive of her career, telling her that her job is more important than his.
Of course Robert, who works in the IT industry, is the one having to adjust to marriage to a superstar. He is looking for a portable job that will enable him to accompany Lea and their baby on concert tours.
Lea herself is ready to resume a gypsy lifestyle with her family and travel round the world to perform wherever she is in demand. Home is wherever she’s staying for a month, she points out.
“This is the kind of life I was meant to live – to travel, to perform,” she notes. She and Robert love Manila, where a robust entertainment and music industry keeps them content, not to mention the family support network and other home-ground perks.
FEASTING FAVORITES
From her years of travel, Lea has equated her fondness of particular cities with the food they offer. She admits she loves good food.
For the interview, the petite singer ordered Cantonese-style rice noodles (ho-fan) sautéed with beef slices in black bean sauce from Makati Shangri-la Hotel’s kitchen. “It’s simply fantastic!” she smacks her lips.
Armed with chopsticks to tackle the plate of noodles placed on the low coffee table, she happily sits on the fl oor. Looking fetching in an off-shoulder ivory blouse, accentuated by lace and fl ounces, this is a picture of a simple girl enjoying simple pleasures.
Lea easily ticks off her favourite destinations in Asia – Hong Kong, Singapore, Kuala Lumpur – all because of the exotic food available there. She loves Kuala Lumpur because of the nasi lemak, the breakfast rice cooked in coconut milk. She thinks nasi lemak is out of this world, and can’t get enough of it, especially during her honeymoon at Pangkor Laut, the island resort on Malaysia’s west coast.
The songstress and hubby Robert love climbing the steep steps at Hong Kong’s Lan Kwai Fong night district to explore the quaint tea houses and bars. She fi nds Singapore so safe, clean and easy to get around.
Lea loves certain aspects of every city she’s lived and worked in – London, New York, Los Angeles – because each offers different things. For example, she loves New York’s theatres, Central Park and the food; some parts of the Los Angeles suburbs; Chicago and San Francisco (again, the food!).
But she is still discovering the Philippines, though. “I am a bad Filipino, I have not traveled around enough,” Lea laughs, on realizing that while she has traveled the world since she was 17, she is unfamiliar with a lot of places in her home country. Oh, yes, she wants to explore the Philippines’ world-famous beach resorts like Boracay and Amanpulo.
BRINGING OUT THE MUSIC
When her daughter is a little older, Lea says she will bring her to Hong Kong’s Disneyland. But for now, it’s classical training for baby Nicole Beverly. Lea nurtures her with only classical music from Mozart, Vivaldi, Beethoven and Bach; no rock or pop yet, except for those coming out of her toys. Lea believes that grounding in the classics will prepare Nicole Beverly for future appreciation of Filipino music to which she is fervently attached.
Filipino composers and musicians have created their own kind of music – from folklore to pop to ballads. The trend, Lea observes, is back to bands.
She gets excited listening to other singers sing in Filipino, like Sarah Geronimo and Christian Bautista (who has a current hit in Indonesia). She also enjoys singing groups like Sandwich, The Dawn, Kamikazee and Parokya ni Edgar, a comic-and-song act.
While she considers the late composer George Canseco’s music “sublime”, original Filipino music to her is “genius”.
Not surprisingly, Lea reveals she actually prefers to sing in Filipino. “There is something about the Filipino language. I have a bigger emotional investment than when singing in English,” she explains. “I’m a stickler for grammar when I’m singing in English. But in Filipino, it is inherently emotional for me. The lyrics just roll off my tongue.”
Call it soul – that’s probably what makes Filipinos natural entertainers. Lea heartily agrees. “We’re an inherently emotional people,” she rationalizes. “Each Filipino has a big, big heart.”
STAR QUALITY
The subject goes back to her bundle of joy. She wouldn’t insist that Nicole Beverly follow in her footsteps when she grows up. She can be a soccer player or a pilot if she wants, says Lea.
However, what’s important is to inculcate in her the value of doing things excellently. One should strive for excellence, Lea advises.
“‘Good enough’ is never good enough,” says the actress-singer-mother, showing her gritty side and maturity, clearly well-honed by international competition. That must surely be a fl ashback to her own motivation which has made her the star she is today.
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