Don't mess with Lea Salonga's daughter

The crystal-voiced Lea Salonga, 41, will be putting her maternal instincts to the test in the Tony Award-winning play God Of Carnage, which opens tomorrow at the DBS Arts Centre.

Salonga, a Tony and Olivier award winner, is arguably best known for the 1989 stage musical Miss Saigon that made her famous as bar girl Kim.

This time, she plays a mother whose son has suffered a playground beating from another boy. The black comedy tells the tale of two sets of parents who attempt to come to a diplomatic solution after their sons' altercation. Things quickly go sour.

Salonga says that, thankfully, she has not experienced her six-year-old daughter Nicole getting violently beat up on a playground, though Nicole has had to navigate playground politics at school, and has also been sent to the principal's office for naughty behaviour.