Image credit: New York Times.
Lea Salonga, the 1991 Tony Award-winning actress for "Miss Saigon," and now on the Broadway show, “Allegiance,” will return to her native Philippines next year to star in the first international production of “Fun Home.” She will play the role of Helen Bechdel, the mother of the show’s protagonist, the cartoonist Alison Bechdel.
“Fun Home,” won this year’s Tony Award for best new musical.
“We’re thrilled to have the first international production of ‘Fun Home’ confirmed for the Philippines, and how exciting to have Lea Salonga, one of Broadway’s most beloved stars, leading the company,” the producers said in a statement. The licensed production in Manila is scheduled to begin late next year.
Ms. Salonga is now starring in “Allegiance” as Kei Kimura, a Japanese-American woman who has a falling out with her brother over how to respond to the U.S. government’s internment camps during World War II. The show opened Nov. 8; Ms. Salonga is contracted to be with the show through June, and a spokesman said the “Allegiance” producers had been aware that she intended to return to Manila at that point.
News story from The New York Times.