Lea Salonga was feeling under the weather earlier this month.<\/p>\n
\u201cI had to miss shows, which is unfortunate,\u201d she said before one of her final performances in the Broadway disco musical \u201cHere Lies Love.\u201d \u201cBut I was still able to stand over a stove and cook this soup that had a lot of garlic and a lot of ginger,\u201d she recalled during a phone interview from her Manhattan home. \u201cIt\u2019s called tinola, which is a Filipino chicken soup. It\u2019s what would be cooked every time I was sick at home.\u201d<\/p>\n
That connection to the Philippines \u2014 where Salonga was born and raised \u2014 is one she also feels with \u201cHere Lies Love,\u201d which recounts the rise and fall of the country\u2019s ousted leader and first lady, Ferdinand and Imelda Marcos.<\/p>\n
\u201cNormally, if I\u2019m watching a theater piece, I could just feel whatever feelings there are, or that the show wants me to feel,\u201d said Salonga, 52, who on Saturday finishes her guest run as Aurora Aquino, the mother of Benigno Aquino Jr., Ferdinand\u2019s political rival. \u201cBut with something like this, where there is actual history of my country entwined in the story, my brain didn\u2019t know what to do.\u201d<\/p>\n
Though Salonga has had a long and distinguished Broadway career, winning a Tony Award in 1991 for her performance in \u201cMiss Saigon\u201d as the doomed Vietnamese mother Kim, \u201cHere Lies Love\u201d is the first time she has played a Filipino onstage and the first time she has served as a producer.<\/p>\n
Salonga, who next heads to London to begin rehearsals for the West End musical revue \u201cStephen Sondheim\u2019s Old Friends,\u201d discussed 10 of her cultural essentials, including her surprise love affair with BTS and how Alex Newell turned her world upside down in \u201cShucked.\u201d These are edited excerpts.<\/p>\n
1<\/p>\n
It\u2019s a great way for me to escape after a show, to kind of cleanse my mind, especially if I\u2019m doing a show that\u2019s exhausting mentally and emotionally. Lately I\u2019ve been playing Horizon Forbidden West; I still have to finish the downloadable content.<\/p>\n
2<\/p>\n
About six months into the pandemic, I saw \u201cDynamite.\u201d I can\u2019t remember how I stumbled onto it, but I couldn\u2019t move and I was like, \u201cI have to finish this now.\u201d The dancing and the synchronization and the charm \u2014 obviously, they\u2019re beautiful people. It was a great way to find joy and something to look forward to when I woke up for the day in the midst of the world falling apart.<\/p>\n
3<\/p>\n
When I was growing up in the Philippines, my grandma would make leche flan, which was always so creamy and so delicious. So over the pandemic, when I was living in the Philippines, I learned how to make it. I would send samples of it over to my mother\u2019s house to taste-test, and she would say, \u201cNo, that\u2019s too sweet, can you bring down the sugar content?\u201d When I finally got it right, I had to make sure I had written the recipe down!<\/p>\n
4<\/p>\n
They help make me feel relaxed and grounded. You can choose different ones depending on what you feel you need \u2014 sometimes I need a little respiratory help, so there are certain oils I\u2019ll either diffuse or massage or rub onto my body, which calm my mind. I gifted everyone in the company of \u201cHere Lies Love\u201d with a little vial of something to remind everyone to just breathe.<\/p>\n
5<\/p>\n
Sometimes I don\u2019t really want to dress in a pair of jeans and a shirt to go down and pick something up from the communal pantry in a hotel. If I\u2019m wearing cute pajamas, I can throw on a hoodie or a jacket, and I\u2019ll still look presentable. My cousin gifted me \u201cFamily Guy\u201d pajamas \u2014 a Stewie T-shirt and matching pants.<\/p>\n
6<\/p>\n
I bring a Bluetooth keyboard and mouse to use when I\u2019m traveling, which make it much easier to type. Because I text bilingually sometimes, a voice memo is not able to grab everything.<\/p>\n
7<\/p>\n
As much as I love the portability of my earbuds, my ears tend to get irritated after lengthy use. I have the Apple AirPods Max in light green, which are over-the-ear, Bluetooth-enabled and comfortable. I like that there\u2019s a button you can just push so you can hear what\u2019s going on around you.<\/p>\n
8<\/p>\n
I find things like chromatography and DNA analysis fascinating. But also, Peter Thomas\u2019s voice has lulled me to sleep more times than I can count.<\/p>\n
9<\/p>\n
I just adore it for its themes of queer acceptance and girl power. Not to mention the number of musical theater folks that voice characters on it, including Patti LuPone and Christine Ebersole.<\/p>\n
10<\/p>\n
Dear God, Alex Newell is every single thing. That is a cultural reset to see what it\u2019s like when this superstar stops the show and commands a standing ovation in the middle of the first half. But it\u2019s Alex Newell \u2014 of course the show\u2019s going to stop!<\/p>\n