By Andrew Gans
26 Feb 2010

	Lea Salonga
	photo by Joseph Marzullo/WENN

Question: How does performing in concert and cabaret compare to you with performing a role in a musical?
Salonga: The thing about a cabaret is that it's pretty much you that's up there. It's not a character, it's not you on a big concert stage, it's just you. You're naked emotionally up there. You don't have pyrotechnics. … I have a three-piece band [for the Carlyle]. You don't have all of the huge hullabaloo of arena concerts to support you. You don't have LCD screens. You don't have a big camera crane for those really great shots. It's you with three musicians and a room full of people, and it's basically just you. It's very transparent. I like to think that in a setting like that, you can really determine if an artist isn't hiding behind a lot of "stuff" versus just being real and honest and an artist. It's an interesting type of venue to perform in, because you really can't hide behind anything.

Question: Who would you say are the performers or singers that either influenced you years ago or influence you now? Who do you listen to?
Salonga: I love listening to Ella Fitzgerald. I loved Julie Andrews growing up. I love listening to the Carpenters and Olivia Newton John and The Osmonds. I love Diana Krall. I like a lot of musical theatre, too. That kind of melodic storytelling style is the kind of stuff that I find that I connect to the most, where it's not just about repeating a hook or a lick or anything like that. You'd better be able to tell a story and interpret a lyric. It's something that I really love when I listen to Julie Andrews sing. When she's doing "Mary Poppins" and "The Sound of Music," her voice would tell the story as much as the words would tell the story. I really found myself invested in her every time she opened her mouth. She was always just so lovely. I got to work with her many years ago [in the recording of The King and I], which was a thrill.

Question: You're also scheduled to star in Cats in Manila later this year. Is Grizabella a role that you had wanted to play?
Salonga: It's a role that I never thought of. I never thought about it, I guess, because one, I thought Cats would never come to Manila; and two, Cats has already stopped running in New York, so what are my chances of getting into that show? [Laughs.] When the plans were being made to bring Cats to the Philippines, I got asked out of the blue. I thought, "Wow, I never thought about that role before. This should be good."

Question: When do you go into rehearsals for that?
Salonga: I head to Australia at the end of May, and then I come back to Manila after that's done. We begin tech at the beginning of July. I have a couple weeks of rehearsal and then the tech period begins.

Question: What's happening in Australia?
Salonga: That's where the [Cats] rehearsals are. The cast is there and the director's there. It's much easier to bring just one person into Australia for the rehearsal rather than bring everybody to the Philippines to rehearse. I've never been to Australia, so it actually would work out well for me.

Question: How has it been combining motherhood and working?
Salonga: It's work. [Laughs]. Whenever I'm away for an extended period of time like I am now, I really miss my daughter and I miss my husband. I miss living in my house where it's sunny and warm the whole year. But I do love the winter. I think because it's a novelty for me right now I'm really enjoying walking and seeing the snow. It's like, "Oh, it's snow!" But I'll get tired of this in a week. [Laughs]. I'll be like, "Yeah, bring on the spring now." And then I'll be hating the spring because of hay fever, and then I'll be asking to bring the winter back.

Question: How old is your daughter now?
Salonga: She's three-and-a-half. She'll be four in May. I will definitely be in Manila for her birthday, because Mommy has to plan her birthday.

Question: Do you think that having a child has enriched your performances?
Salonga: Absolutely. I think every actor who is a parent, any performer who has a child, would say that the experience definitely enriches not just their lives ... but performance. There's so much more to pull from. Singing "I Dreamed a Dream" when you have a child and when you have actually gone through a lot of life — there's so much to pull from, and the song becomes much more colorful and layered. It's not just about a pretty song and being loud at a certain part of the song. It's thinking and having these memories and being able to color a song in a certain way and being able to color it one day this way and another day that way. I would definitely advise anyone who intends to become an actor to really live life fully. It only enriches your performances as an actor, and it's just much more fun.

[Show times will be Tuesday-Saturday evenings at 8:45 PM with additional Saturday shows at 10:45 PM. There is a $75-$85 cover charge, $45 at the bar. The Café Carlyle is located within The Carlyle Hotel (35 East 76th Street at Madison Avenue). For reservations call (212) 744-1600. For more information visit www.thecarlyle.com.]

DIVA TIDBIT
As some of the most phenomenal artists of the musical theatre got the chance to strut their stuff during the original London, Broadway, Canadian and German productions of Sunset Boulevard, there was one voice I kept hearing in my mind sing that Andrew Lloyd Webber score. As those productions closed, I figured my chance to hear that singular voice belt out "With One Look" or "As If We Never Said Goodbye" had vanished. So, when I heard the news earlier this week that the great Florence Lacey would finally have the opportunity to play the deluded, former silent-screen star Norma Desmond, I was, quite frankly, elated and quickly e-mailed my friend Tod, who shares my affection for Lacey, whose performances in Hello, Dolly! and Les Miserables have thrilled us both equally; in fact, Tod left me this voicemail: "That news is so exciting, I think you are probably making it up!" Thankfully, the news is true, and Lacey, an original, fierce Evita (hunt down her cast recording of Evita), will step into the role of Desmond Dec. 7, 2010-Feb. 13, 2011, at the Signature Theatre Company in Arlington, VA. Signature's artistic director Eric Schaeffer will direct the Tony Award-winning musical. See you in Virgina — I can hardly wait to hear Lacey's "With one look, I'll be meeeeeeeeeee" or "I've come hoooooooome at last"!

Well, that's all for now. Happy diva-watching! E-mail questions or comments to agans@playbill.com.