Lea Salonga is one of the presenters at the 74th Tony Awards
Lea Salonga will join the star-studded lineup of guests like Andrew Garfield, Darren Criss, Jesse Tyler Ferguson, Josh Groban and more as presenters at the 74th Tony Awards on Sept. 26 (Sept. 27, Philippine time).
Lea announced on Twitter the good news on Sept. 23.
“The cat is out of the bag! I’ll be presenting at the @TonyAwards on Sunday!” She tweeted, together with the official announcement at broadway.com and the official Twitter account of the Tonys.
It's really happening!!! https://t.co/osi7pcvTFQ
— Lea Salonga (@MsLeaSalonga) September 23, 2021
As one of Broadway’s renowned stars, Lea is no stranger to the Tony Awards. In fact, this will be her fifth time to be on the Tony Awards stage.
First was in 1991 when she received her Tony for Best Actress in a Musical for her role as Kim in Miss Saigon, for which she became the first Asian theater actress to win the award.
Lea was also able to perform twice at the Tonys, first in 2002 for the opening of the awards night where she sang I Enjoy Being a Girl with Harry Connick Jr., Michele Lee and Peter Gallagher; and in 2018 to perform with the Tony-nominated Once on This Island ensemble, where she played goddess Erzulie.
In 2017, Lea, together with fellow Miss Saigon alum Jonjon Briones, presented Miss Saigon as one of the nominees for Best Revival of a Musical, which include Eva Noblezada as Kim in its Broadway cast. This is also where Lea took selfies with stars during rehearsals including Josh Gad, Mark Hamill, Hamilton stars Lin Manuel Miranda, Christopher Jackson and Oak Onaodowan, and John Lithgow.
The pandemic-delayed awards show, originally set for June 2020, is finally pushing through with a two-hour streaming presentation at the Winter Garden Theater in New York City.
The multi-platform event will celebrate not just its big winners but also the return of live theater with the recent reopening of Broadway after more than one year of theaters being shuttered due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Following the stream presentation is a two-hour live concert special titled The Tony Awards Present: Broadway’s Back! Set to perform are the casts of Jagged Little Pill, Moulin Rouge! The Musical and Tina: The Tina Turner Musical, and artists including John Legend, and Lin Manuel Miranda with Freestyle Love Supreme.
Banner and thumbnail photos of Lea Salonga by Raymund Isaac via leasalonga.com