On a night when Cardiff was full of rock fans heading to the Principality Stadium to see Foo Fighters, I left my rock head at home to go to the Wales Millennium Centre to see Lea Salonga and I am glad I did.
The West End and Broadway star was down the Bay for her Stage Screen and Everything In Between tour and it was an absolute delight.
My introduction to Lea was as the singing voice of Jasmine in the 1992 Disney animated film Aladdin but I have listened to her perform everything from Disney songs to pop, musical theatre and even her releases in her native Filipino language, so I was excited to see her live.
The crowd were too, with cheers as a recording announcing her Tony Award win (for Kim in Miss Saigon on Broadway in 1991) played before Lea walked onto the stage to a standing ovation, leading her to joke that she hadn’t even done anything yet, but was now going to try and earn it.
There was a range of songs performed throughout the two halves including movie classics like Staying Alive, My Heart Will Go On (where she admitted her love for Celine Dion), and Everything I Do (I Do it For You), which came after asking the crowd to picture the iconic movie moments that accompanied the tracks.
She also performed a range of musical theatre songs including ones from The Greatest Showman, Sweeney Todd – which even led to a pretty good Cockney accent -, Gypsy and Waitress.
There was also a tribute to Stephen Sondheim with some of his songs including Being Alive, which led to a quip about how she wasn’t at the end of both Mis Saigon and Les Miserables.
Of course there was also a performance of two songs from Miss Saigon, which followed a speech about how the role (which was first debuted on the West End) changed her life from a pre-med biology major to a West End theatre star. The Miss Saigon songs also allowed her accompanying singers Sarah Galbraith and Adam Filipe to shine, with vocals just as powerful as Lea herself.
Lea definitely knew what her audience wanted, and just how to tease the crowd, speaking about Disney before saying that the crowd would have to wait for her renditions of her Disney princesses and wanting to highlight some of the other heroines, with a medley of songs from The Little Mermaid, Beauty and the Beast, Frozen and Pocahontas. Each was sung perfectly, showing off just how versatile Lea’s vocal range is. We were, later on, of course granted renditions of Reflection from Mulan and a duet with Adam of A Whole New World from Aladdin, the two songs that put Lea in the hearts of Disney fans across the world.
A fun moment came during an emotional rendition of Skyfall, when someone in the crowd sneezed, with Lea saying ‘bless you’ before continuing the song without missing a beat.
The encore also allowed Adam to shine again as the duo performed Elephant Love Medley from Moulin Rouge.
One thing was evident throughout the show – just how incredible Lea Salonga’s voice is. She was able to turn her hand to melodic ballads, Disney classics and some more upbeat, rocky sounds, and did each one practically note perfect.
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