Multi-awarded singer-actress Lea Salonga will be joining the restaging of "Stephen Sondheim’s Old Friends" at the West End's Gielgud Theatre from September 2023 to January 2024.
Salonga rose to prominence when she played Kim in "Miss Saigon" on the West End's Drury Lane in 1989, and she reprised the role on Broadway, making her the first Asian to receive a Tony Award and a Laurence Olivier Award.
The actress had not appeared in a West End production in 27 years, though she did replace Éponine in "Les Miserables" at the Palace Theatre in 1996 and helped close the original run of "Miss Saigon."
Salonga and several of her original castmates returned to the West End revival of "Miss Saigon" in 2014 for a special finale to commemorate the production's 25th anniversary.
Janie Dee, Bonnie Langford, Jeremy Secomb, and Filipino-British actress Christine Allado will appear in the extended run of "Stephen Sondheim's Old Friends," which he produced for the late theater lyricist who died in 2021.
Salonga will be joined by three-time Tony winner Bernadette Peters, who will be making her West End debut.
According to Mackintosh, he discussed the production with Sondheim during the pandemic but became distracted when theaters reopened, and Sondheim died at the age of 91.
The producer worked hard to complete the show in order to include Sondheim's iconic work, such as "Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street," "Into the Woods," "Sunday in the Park with George," "West Side Story," "Follies," "Company," and "Merrily We Roll Along."
Big names in the May 2022 run included Michael Ball, Judi Dench, Helena Bonham Carter, and Damian Lewis.
While producing the previously mentioned 2014 West End revival of "Miss Saigon," Mackintosh referred to Salonga as his "youngest old friend."
