NEW YORK -- Tony Award winning star of Miss Saigon Lea Salonga will make her debut at the prestigious Carnegie Hall's Isaac Stern Auditorium, the premier classical music performance space in the United States, in New York City on Monday, November 7th, 2005 at 7PM. Performing one night only, Salonga's concert will be an intimate show with a mix of show tunes, jazz standards and other popular favorites. Excited about her first solo concert at Carnegie Hall, she comments: "It has always been my dream to take my turn at the most respected concert hall in the world. As enormous as that is for me, I still plan on making it an intimate show, singing the songs I love to sing and making some good music with a band of musicians the good old fashioned way."
Salonga gained international acclaim for her award winning performance as Kim in the London and Broadway productions of Miss Saigon. In addition to winning the prestigious Laurence Olivier Award for creating the lead role in London in 1989, she also garnered the coveted Tony Award as well as the Drama Desk and Outer Critics Circle awards for "Outstanding Performance by a Leading Actress in a Musical" when the show opened on Broadway in 1991. Then, in 1993, she became the first Asian actor to play the widely popular role of Eponine in Les Miserables on Broadway and reprised the same role in London, Hawaii and the "all-star" tenth anniversary concert production at the Royal Albert Hall in London.
Salonga recently completed the first leg of her first U.S. concert tour. The successful show has been filling impressive venues such as The Universal Amphitheater in Los Angeles, CA and The Arie Crown Theater in Chicago, IL. She has performed in international concert halls in cities such as London, Singapore, Hong Kong, Phuket, Manila and recently, Munich, in a Leonard Bernstein Tribute as Maria in West Side Story. She returned to Broadway in the fall of 2002 when she starred in the hit "new" production of Rodgers & Hammerstein's Flower Drum Song. Among her vast array of theater credits on international stage include the lead roles of Catherine in David Auburn's Proof, The Witch in Into the Woods, Eliza Doolittle in My Fair Lady, Sonia Walsk in They're Playing Our Song, Sandy Dumbrowski in Grease, the title role in Annie, and recently, Lizzie in Baby. On television, she was seen in an episode of the hit show, E.R., and re-created the role of Lien Hughes for CBS's As the World Turns. She is also the singing voice behind two Disney favorites: the heroine Mulan and Princess Jasmine in Aladdin. In Aladdin, she recorded the Academy Award winning song, A Whole New World, with Brad Kane.
Richard Jay-Alexander, best known for directing and producing Bernadette Peters's Carnegie Hall concerts Live at Carnegie Hall and Loves Rodgers and Hammerstein, and the concert tours of Bette Midler's Kiss My Brass and Barbra Streisand's Timeless Farewell, will direct Salonga's Carnegie Hall debut. He was associated with theater impresario Cameron Mackintosh for a long time, having served as Executive Director of Mackintosh's American company for ten years, running its day-to-day operations in North America. He was both Associate Director and Executive Producer of Mackintosh's original Broadway, touring and Canadian productions of Les Miserables, The Phantom of the Opera, Miss Saigon and Five Guys Named Moe. Jay-Alexander was the Executive Producer of Five Guys Named Moe's Grammy-nominated original cast recording. He also produced the Grammy-nominated recordings of Bernadette Peters's Live from Carnegie Hall and Loves Rodgers and Hammerstein.
A portion of the proceeds from the concert will benefit Diverse City Theater Company, an independent, not-for-profit theater organization based in New York City. Formed in 2003, Diverse City Theater promotes diversity in the theater arts by developing and producing original works that explore and examine diversity issues-social, cultural, gender and demographic-in our national culture. Its mission is to bring multicultural issues to theater audiences and advocate non-traditional casting of actors.
"Lea's artistic achievements and pioneering efforts paved way for many artists and producers today. She is proof that diversity in the theater works. We are grateful for her support and a proud partner in presenting her Carnegie Hall debut," said Victor Lirio, Artistic & Producing Director.
Tickets for her upcoming concert can be purchased by calling the Carnegie Hall Box Office at 212-247-7800 or online at www.carnegiehall.org. Ticket prices range from $45.00-$100.00. VIP Tickets can be purchased by calling Liz Casasola at 212-309-9018 or via e-mail at liz@diversecitytheater.org. Individual VIP tickets are $350 which includes a post-performance VIP reception. All tickets go on sale beginning Monday, August 22nd, 2005.
FOR ALL PRESS INQUIRIES PLEASE CONTACT:
BWR Public Relations
Christina Papadopoulos
212-901-3939
Melissa Raubvogel
212-901-3933
2 comments:
Are you a Lea fan?
She has this album where she sings songs from various Broadway musicals (accompanied by the Philippine Philharmonic Orchestra), and I love, love, love it.
Cheers!
:-)
she never fails to amaze.
try to get a copy of songs from home--the all-OPM album will make compel u to write her and send praises. :)
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