Broadway, Disney legend Lea Salonga on Hollywood Star, Forgotten Island and return to Honolulu

HONOLULU (HawaiiNewsNow) – Tony Award-winning actress, singer and Disney legend Lea Salonga is returning to Hawaii for two performances with the Hawaii Symphony Orchestra at the Neal Blaisdell Concert Hall on October 17 and 18.

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She says audiences can expect a lot of musical theater and Stephen Sondheim, favorites from her roles in Miss Saigon, Les Misérables and Disney, and songs from princesses she never voiced.

“We got to give them the hits,” Salonga said, recalling her manager’s advice. She adds there will be a few surprises, including music from The Hunchback of Notre Dame.

The first Filipino to receive a Hollywood star

Salonga was recently honored as the first Filipino artist to receive a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, placed in front of the Pantages Theatre.

“I remember being a tourist and walking around that area and seeing the stars under your feet, not ever thinking that that would one day be me,” Salonga said, noting its potential impact on future performers from the Philippines. “It symbolizes possibility, determination.”

With October marking Filipino American History Month, Salonga pointed to the long history of Filipinos in the United States, and their contributions across many industries.

“We’ve been in the U.S. far longer than people think,” Salonga said. “We’re not a new wave.”

From princess to villain

Salonga also talked about her role in DreamWorks’ newly released Filipino-inspired animated film Forgotten Island. She is the voice of a terrifying mythical monster in Philippine folklore, the manananggal, a woman whose upper body separates from her lower body at night.

Known for being the singing voice of Disney’s Jasmine and Mulan, Salonga says she wanted a change.

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“After approaching 50, I was like, you know what, it’s time to move away from the Disney princesses,” she said. “I wanted [manananggal] to be as far a departure as I could make her from who I actually am.”

Salonga talked about the complex nature of manananggal. She said co-writer and director Januel Mercado explained the character as a way of showing what it might be like to live with dementia: trying to hold onto something that keeps slipping away.

Salonga also contributes to the soundtrack with an album-exclusive track alongside the Filipino girl group BINI, called “Parallel World (Amping Mix).”

Taking on a new historical challenge

Salonga says her next project will be a Filipino-language stage production of Federico García Lorca’s The House of Bernarda Alba in Manila, directed by critically acclaimed playwright Chay Yew. It’s scheduled to run in February 2027.

“If anybody’s expecting me to sing, it’s not happening,” Salonga said.

She says the 1800s-era Filipino is a challenge, and one she welcomes.

“You gotta do stuff in your life that’s scary and challenging,” Salonga said. “It feels like little personal victories.”

Inspiring the next generation of Filipinos

Asked what she would tell young Filipinos who still feel invisible, Salonga was direct.

“Don’t be afraid to occupy space,” she said. “Our people are loud and colorful and expressive, and we did not get through 333 years [of Spanish colonization], plus 50, to be quiet.”

She closed with a line she says someone once told her: “You are descended from the people who killed Magellan. Act like it.”

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Tickets for the HSO October 17 and 18 concerts are available at myhso.org.