Lea Salonga Fan- Page 2

[LizzieCurry]

Posted: 6/9/05 at 2:46pm

I agree, baddadnpa. I have a DVD of one of her concerts in Manila, and she's totally condescending to her audience. It's painful.

[Ourtime992]

Posted: 6/9/05 at 2:52pm

My bigger gripe is that her albums are such sub-par material. I know she likes to support up-and-coming Filipino songwriters, but I can't bear to listen through many of her albums because the songs are just...lame. That having been said:

I fell in love with Lea after seeing her in Miss Saigon when I was 12 (1991). I'm not Filipino, but I lived in the Philippines for a couple of years and spent much of it I think talking about Lea Salonga. I also learned to speak fluent Tagalog (important later in the story).

I attended what was to be Lea's last performance in Miss Saigon in '99 (though I believe she later returned for the last month of performances to close the show), and being a nerd I went hours early to try to catch her for a picture going into the stage door. A lot of time passed and Yancy Arias eventually popped out to meet someone. He told me she had already gone in through the front door of the theater, then turned to his friend and talked about guest appearing on some crime show (which was ironic because I heard him say how producers thought he wasn't ready for a crime show of his own, but he later got one, right?). I wrote a quick note to Lea in Tagalog and asked if he'd take it to her.

She was so floored that a white guy could speak Tagalog that she came to the stage door a few minutes later and took me back to her dressing room for a picture, signed another picture "Bakit labis kitang mahal? Lea" and showed me around onstage. She was so nice and accomodating, especially considering her time was limited and it was to be her last performance for some time. But that's not the end (or even my favorite part) of the story.

I went back outside to hang out until the show started. A slightly older Filipina woman and a Filipino man a few years older than me came by too. She had a video camera and was taping the actors arriving for the show. They were conversing in mixed English and Tagalog and one asked the other a question (I forget what it was), and overhearing them I answered it. They looked totally shocked that I understood. Turns out it was Lea's mother and her brother, Gerard, and they were taping everything around her last performance. They thought my Tagalog skills were so funny that they taped me on there too (I often wonder what they'll think if they get around to watching it again someday).

The Filipino community turned out in full force to support Lea that night, and it seemed that everytime a new person arrived, someone would bring them over and say, "Check it out, this white guy totally speaks Tagalog." I got to meet some other notable Filipinos that night, including (I think...not sure) the head of the Repertory Theater at Shangri-La and composer Ryan Cayabyab. I have never felt more popular in my entire life. My new friends laughed and laughed over me and asked me to join them in pictures and all sorts of weird stuff (again, I wonder what they think when they go through their albums and see me tacked onto the end of a picture).

[RaininSmilies]

Posted: 6/9/05 at 3:50pm

That's a cool story, Ourtime.
And I love Lea's voice (I wish mine sounded like hers!), I haven't been able to listen to Frances Ruffelle sing On My Own or A Little Fall of Rain since I heard Lea sing it once. And I actually just bought the 10th Anniversary Concert recording of Les Mis two days ago! I love it!

[eatlasagna]

Posted: 6/9/05 at 5:17pm

i'll just rave some more... the reason why i love lea's voice is that it's so pure and crystal, smooth, silky and clear.. i've never really heard her go flat or sharp... she's 99% spot on with her singing.. she knows her voice and she makes use of it... she really doesn't try to be something she's not... yes there are people who probably have a better range than her, but her voice has that X-factor and a quality that is just amazing to hear... she's one of those rare people who i don't care if they lower songs for her (say unlike TOni Braxton) because she'll sing the sh** out of those songs