‘At every stage of my life, there’s a role to play’: Lea Salonga back with third Les Miserables part
Sign up now: Get ST's newsletters delivered to your inbox
Filipino singer-actress Lea Salonga plays the role of Madame Thenardier in the Les Miserables The Arena Spectacular World Tour at Sands Theatre.
PHOTOS: LES MISERABLES THE ARENA SPECTACULAR WORLD TOUR, SINGAPORE 2026, MATT CROCKETT
DeeperDive is a beta AI feature. Refer to full articles for the facts.
SINGAPORE – Filipino actress-singer Lea Salonga has starred in the beloved musical Les Miserables many times.
But Les Miserables The Arena Spectacular World Tour, a concert-style production with screens on both sides of the stage that is playing at Sands Theatre until May 10, marks the first time her current character interacts with one she previously embodied.
The 55-year-old now portrays thieving innkeeper Madame Thenardier. In the 1990s, she played the streetwise but lovelorn Eponine, who is Madame Thenardier’s daughter; and in the 2000s and 2010s, factory worker-turned-prostitute Fantine.
Les Miserables The Arena Spectacular World Tour’s Eponine is brought to life by London-based actress Nathania Ong, who made headlines in 2022 as the first Singaporean to play the part in Les Miserables’ West End production in London.
In a brief moment in one scene, Salonga gets to look Ong in the eye.
Nathania Ong made headlines in 2022 as the first Singaporean to play the role of Eponine in the musical’s production at the West End.
PHOTO: JOHAN PERSSON
Salonga told The Straits Times in an interview at Sands Theatre on March 25: “I literally have two seconds to give her an instruction.”
And although the pair met offstage only on March 24, when the show opened in Singapore, Salonga said Ong, 27, is a wonderful actress.
“She is incredibly committed when she is in a scene, and it is fun to watch. When she opens her mouth, it is loud, it is a trumpet. I am glad she is doing really well. I just hope for all of the good things.”
Singaporean actress Nathania Ong (left), plays Eponine in Les Miserables The Arena Spectacular World Tour, and Filipino actress Lea Salonga plays her onstage mother, Madame Thenardier.
PHOTO: LES MISERABLES THE ARENA SPECTACULAR WORLD TOUR, SINGAPORE 2026
On returning to the world of Les Miserables for the third time, Salonga said: “It is always good when I come back as somebody else. At every stage of my life... there is a role to play. Here, there’s a role of the correct age that I felt I would be a good match for.”
Madame Thenardier is, in her view, much more in tune with herself and others compared with Eponine or Fantine. “We have both lived life a little more,” said the veteran performer, who is separated from her husband, American businessman Robert Chien. They have a 19-year-old son, Nic, who is an actor, singer and visual artist.
And when one is better known for tragic characters, getting to play an antagonist is fun.
“There is more freedom playing the villain,” she said. “There are very few ways to be good, but a million different ways to be bad.”
That said, in her view, Madame Thenardier is not entirely villainous. “She knows what she does is not exactly the greatest thing in the world, but she is going to do what she needs to survive. She is the way she is because of her survival instinct. I do not think it is evil or villainy for its own sake.”
The character’s costumes and make-up are, in Salonga’s words, “ridiculous”. Think red cheeks, loud eyeshadow and a big wedding gown.
“Once, I was on FaceTime with my son while doing the make-up. He took one look at me and said, ‘Mum, you look rough’,” she recalled, laughing.
Madame Thenardier is among Salonga’s few characters who do not die by the production’s end. Both Eponine and Fantine meet their demise before the curtains fall, as do Kim from Miss Saigon and Mrs Lovett from Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber Of Fleet Street.
She said: “It is great Madame Thenardier does not die, but I am perfectly happy playing a character, period. If it happens that my character gets killed by the end, okay, sure. As for Madame Thenardier, she continues living her life, and gets her happy ending.”
Salonga’s recent involvement in multiple projects in Singapore means she is spending about two months here.
On March 13, she performed theme song Reflection from the Disney animated movie Mulan (1998) – she provided the singing voice for the titular character – at Marina Bay Sands to celebrate the maiden voyage of the Disney Adventure cruise ship.
She then staged four solo concerts at the Esplanade Theatre from March 20 to 22. She will stay until mid-May, after which she returns to the Philippines.
Come June, another dream event for Salonga beckons – catching BTS in concert in Busan.
Tickets to the K-pop boy band’s stop in the South Korean city have not gone on sale yet, but the self-professed Army said: “The anxiety is slowly starting to creep in because those tickets go very, very fast.
“Every celebrity assumes they will not have a problem (getting tickets) – until it is a problem. I am going to be fighting with everybody. Like, yeah, sure, you are a celebrity, but no, you have to fight with everybody else to get your tickets.”
Book It/Les Miserables The Arena Spectacular World Tour
Where: Sands Theatre, Marina Bay Sands, 10 Bayfront Avenue
When: Until May 10, 8pm (Tuesdays to Fridays), 2 and 8pm (Saturdays), 1 and 6.30pm (Sundays)
Admission: $88 to $300 via Marina Bay Sands (str.sg/N3eE), Sistic (call 6348-5555 or go to str.sg/dMJk) and Klook (str.sg/KLnb)
