Lea Salonga

Presenter0:01

BBC Sounds, Music, Radio Podcasts. Hello, I'm Lauren Laverne, and this is the Desert Island Discs Podcast. Every week, I ask my guests to choose the eight tracks, book, and luxury they'd want to take with them if they were cast away to a desert island. And, for rights reasons, the music is shorter than the original broadcast. I hope you enjoy listening.

Presenter0:43

My castaway this week is the singer and actor Leia Salonga, one of the most successful performers the Philippines has ever produced. Her perfect pitch and prodigious talent were spotted early. She became a star in her own country before she hit double figures with a T V show and a hit record of her own. As a teenager, she planned to leave show business behind and become a doctor, but before she could finish her course at university she was spotted by the team behind Lehmis Arabla, who were on a global search for the lead in their new musical, Miss Saigon. She went on to win international recognition for her performance as Kim at the age of just 18, with an Olivier in London and a Tony Award on Broadway.

Presenter1:23

She has made history many times. She was the first Asian woman to win a Tony for an acting role, the first Asian actor to star in Les Miserable, the first Filipino artist to sign a record deal with an international label, and the first person to voice two different Disney princesses, Aladdin's Jasmine and Mulan. This summer, she notched up two more landmarks in the same Broadway theatre where she began her international career. For the first time, she's playing a Filipino character on stage, and she was part of the first all-Filipino cast in Broadway history. But while she is accomplished at breaking boundaries, she's more concerned with keeping time. She says, the only thing I thought about was just nail the song, nail the role, and that'll be enough. Don't think of yourself as the first anything. Leah Salonga, welcome to Desert Island Discs. Thank you for having me. I'm so happy to be here. Leah, you have spent a lifetime on stage. You've performed everywhere. And for audiences including the late Queen, the Oscars, back on Broadway recently here in the West End, what's usually going through your mind when you're up there in the spotlight?

Lea Salonga2:28

I try to make my brain do the equivalent of you ever see the movie Men in Black where there's that thing and to make them forget the memory zapper. The memory zapper, exactly. So I kind of.

Speaker 12:32

Yeah.

Presenter2:32

There's that

Speaker 12:33

Uh

Presenter2:35

And what's up?

Lea Salonga2:39

Do that because you cannot give an identical performance from the night before.

Lea Salonga2:45

Even if you do the exact same thing, it's not going to be Groundhog Day. There's a lot going on, but what I try to do is just to make sure that that moment's emotional truth.

Lea Salonga2:56

is played and then hopefully that you know

Presenter2:59

You know, it reaches the audience. Well, Leia, let's get started. We'd love to hear your first disc. What is it, and why have you chosen it?

Lea Salonga3:05

Ah, it's Yeah.

Lea Salonga3:07

Feed Birds sung by the incomparable

Lea Salonga3:11

Julie Andrews from the Mary Poppins film soundtrack. And there are so many popular songs that came.

Lea Salonga3:18

from that one film and

Lea Salonga3:21

Just whenever Julie opens her mouth, it's like finely spun threads of gold, and you can almost

Lea Salonga3:30

See it as it's happening. And I've loved her as a musical theater and film musical icon pretty much forever, ever since my childhood. And you've worked with her. You've met her. And I've gotten to work with her a couple of times. The first time I actually worked with her was when I met her. It was for a King and I.

Lea Salonga3:51

album with her playing Anna and Ben Kingsley playing The King and I was Tuptim and Peebo Bryson was Lunta.

Lea Salonga4:02

And I remember walking into a studio, and this was in Los Angeles. It was a Hollywood Bull Orchestra, and John Mauchery was conducting. And I remember going into the studio, meeting her, thinking I was about to disintegrate when I shook her hand and I said, hello, Miss Andrews. And she said, just call me Julie. I was like, and a puddle on the floor because she was just kind. And just her looking into your face, it was kind and lovely. And if you're a musical theater fan that loved her voice and still loves her voice, whatever you imagine her to be.

Lea Salonga4:37

is exactly what she is.

Speaker 44:42

The birds toppin' sag Toppins, toppin', toppin' bag

Speaker 44:56

To the birds, that's what she cries While overhead her birds fill the skies

Speaker 14:57

Uh

Presenter5:09

Julie Andrews and Feed the Birds from the soundtrack to Mary Poppins.

Presenter5:13

Leia Salonga, let's go back to the beginning. You were born in the Philippines in nineteen seventy one, but I know that you spent the first few years of your life in Angelo City in Pampanga. What are your memories of life there?

Presenter5:25

I re

Lea Salonga5:25

Remember.

Lea Salonga5:27

Living in Angela City, it was a single-level house, and we had a big front yard and a big backyard, and she would host.

Lea Salonga5:35

Our birthday parties and

Lea Salonga5:38

Her friends would come, and her friends would bring their kids who were around the same age. I just remember balloons. I remember the food always being good.

Lea Salonga5:46

And I just remember my mother

Lea Salonga5:49

Creating a very ideal

Lea Salonga5:52

Childhood

Presenter5:53

Yeah.

Lea Salonga5:53

Yeah.

Presenter5:53

It was the year after you were born that martial law was declared.

Lea Salonga5:55

I think living in the province was helpful outside of the action, far away from protests and bombings and all of that kind of stuff.

Presenter6:05

I think it was your mum who spotted your talent for singing. You were very young, just three, but she felt you had something special.

Lea Salonga6:11

She said that the lyrics weren't always right, but as far as melodies, those were things that were spot on really early. And she said that I would get up on the living room table

Lea Salonga6:28

And hold the end of a plug and use it as a microphone as if I was having a concert.

Lea Salonga6:35

She saw that there m possibly was

Lea Salonga6:39

Something special to make of it and small enough

Presenter6:42

And motivated enough to actually do it because it really was her who kick-started your career. How did it happen? What did she?

Lea Salonga6:44

Regal was

Lea Salonga6:46

Oh, yeah.

Lea Salonga6:47

You do. This one cousin, her name is Rhea, she was very active with Repertory Philippines, which was the theater company I ended up making my stage debut with. She said to my mom,

Lea Salonga7:00

You'd better bring her to these auditions. They're looking for children for a production of The King and I, and I think Leia would be great for this. So I think the director saw that I was a very sassy child and loud and could sing. So, with all those qualities.

Presenter7:20

I got hired. And is it true that she actually would have records pressed if you were singing and take them shop to shop? Yeah, I guess sh.

Lea Salonga7:28

The light bulb went off in her head.

Lea Salonga7:32

I see potential in this child, so

Lea Salonga7:34

She booked recording studio time.

Lea Salonga7:38

She had a few units pressed of these vinyls, and they would be packaged, and she would go from one music shop to the next on this street called Raon in the city of Manila. There would be shop after shop after shop, and she would go to each one of them.

Lea Salonga7:58

Would you be interested in maybe

Lea Salonga8:01

Having this in your inventory, this is my daughter, and this is her singing these songs. This is after she tried to shop it to recording companies, all of whom said no to her in her face. So she took matters into her own hands and marketed everything herself. And oh, the vindication happened when these stores started calling her and asking, Would you please replenish our supply? Because they kinda disappeared and we are now out of stock.

Presenter8:35

Very good business sense in this woman. Leia, it's time for more music. Your second choice today. What's it gonna be and why are you taking it with you to the island? This is Days and Days.

Lea Salonga8:45

Sung by

Lea Salonga8:46

One of my favorite musical theater voices, Judy Kuhn, also another Disney princess who was the singing voice for Pocahontas. I've always regarded this woman as having one of the most perfect singing voices on the planet.

Speaker 49:00

Days and days and days. That's how it happens. Days and days and days.

Speaker 19:07

Daisy

Speaker 49:10

Made of posing and bragging and fits of rage And boys, my God, some of them underage And oh how did it all happen here? There was a time

Speaker 19:21

And oh how

Speaker 49:29

Your father swept me off my feet with words

Presenter9:33

Days and days. Judy Kuhn, tell me a bit about your father. How would you describe your relationship?

Lea Salonga9:38

With him. Interesting. I mean, I've always seen him as incredibly.

Lea Salonga9:44

Intelligent. He was a polyglot. He learned Russian in Russian club in university just because he was one of those people. He spoke five languages. I barely can manage with two. Graduated one of the top in his class in university, but as my mom would say, did not have the best business sense.

Lea Salonga10:11

She had her street smarts. He was very book smart. According to members of his family, oh, he was such a star when he walked into the room, as in he walked into a room and all the very charismatic which got him in trouble with women.

Speaker 110:20

To a room and all the

Lea Salonga10:25

Yeah, so he and your mother never married? No, they never did. There's a part of me that's.

Presenter10:28

Yeah.

Lea Salonga10:31

Glad about that.

Presenter10:33

Ha ha.

Presenter10:34

It's time for your next piece of music layer salonga, disc number three. What have you got for us and why are you taking it with you? This is Billie Jean.

Lea Salonga10:41

By Michael Jackson. When I saw the Motown 25 performance of Billie Jean.

Lea Salonga10:50

It made me stop.

Lea Salonga10:52

And watch, and I remember not being able to move.

Lea Salonga10:57

Because it was lightning in a bottle.

Lea Salonga11:01

This was beyond talent.

Speaker 411:17

Keep the sky.

Speaker 411:23

Yeah.

Speaker 411:24

My son

Presenter11:35

Michael Jackson and Billie Jean. Leia Salonga, in 1989 a new musical was created. Miss Saigon. It's a retelling of Puccini's Madam Butterfly and the producers were on an international search for someone to play the lead, Kim. Now by this point you were 17 and starting to move away from performing. You were actually at university studying with plans to qualify as a doctor. You resisted auditioning at first. Why?

Lea Salonga12:01

Well, when you have parents that tell you this whole showbiz thing, it's fickle, they were being responsible parents and and telling me you need to go to university, you need to make sure you have a degree, you need to make sure that you'll be able to take care of yourself as an adult. Exactly. So and as a 17-year-old, I've seen artists be popular one minute and then disappear the next. So those are things that sh

Presenter12:28

Shape your plans. The audition process lasted a few weeks and it culminated with you being flown to London, and there you got the part. You'd had quite a sheltered upbringing and never been in a romantic relationship. Suddenly you were playing a sex worker who then becomes a single parent. How on earth did you prepare for the role?

Lea Salonga12:46

numerous ways. But one of the funniest was just watching my mother try to explain to me exactly what I needed to do. It's it's it's really uncomfortable.

Lea Salonga12:59

And I was not getting a lot of help from other members of the company either, because I would ask the question, What is it like to fall in love with someone?

Lea Salonga13:07

And the only answer I would get was, Oh, you know when it happens. How is that helpful to me in in figuring out the mechanics of

Lea Salonga13:16

How I'm supposed to

Lea Salonga13:18

Physically react to any of this until one day in tech, and I still wasn't really delivering what the production and creative team wanted me to do. So finally, I think Nick Heitner.

Lea Salonga13:30

I had finally just had it. He's like, Leah, get off the bed. Just get off the bed. Like, okay. And I stood there in front of it.

Lea Salonga13:36

He got on it. Simon Bowman, who was playing Chris.

Lea Salonga13:41

is in the bed and Nick demonstrates what he wants me to do.

Lea Salonga13:51

Good on Simon for being a really good sport.

Lea Salonga13:54

But good on Nick for finally physicalizing what the expectation was. And I think from there, that just kind of did everything. Because up until that point, it was: we need you to be really passionate. We need to. But as far as I was concerned, these are words that had no meaning. You didn't have the context for it. I had no idea. I had no concept. I had nothing. Even if I have the most gentle and protective leading man in the West End ever at the time, never once took advantage of.

Presenter14:14

Contacts for it, because you haven't been passionate.

Lea Salonga14:27

His position. He was always, always protective and respectful. But I needed Nick Heitner to do that demo.

Presenter14:33

Yeah.

Lea Salonga14:38

I think we better have some more music there. Disc number four. What's it? Disc number four. Oh, this is one of my favorite tracks. I definitely wanted to.

Presenter14:41

Guess number

Lea Salonga14:46

Have music from home.

Lea Salonga14:49

on this list. And this is a track called Chismis. Chismis, translating to gossip, is basically a sonic representation of what gossip is.

Lea Salonga15:02

It is chaotic. And it was created by an artist and a musical director and a composer named Rayan Kaibiab, with whom I've had the wonderful fortune of getting to work with.

Speaker 415:14

Kuti Kuta, Cookie Kuti Kutakoti Kukita, Kita, Uina Kita Kita, Kumuku Kuti Kuta, Cookyu Kuti Kutako Tiko Kita, Kita, Kita.

Speaker 415:23

I'm not sure if I can do it.

Speaker 415:27

Ah, beef bee-ba!

Speaker 115:28

Number one.

Speaker 415:29

Alamu Ban, Si Sino, Yung Sani, Hilion, Esinong Hilalamu, Si.

Speaker 115:30

Yeah.

Presenter15:40

I'm not sure if I can do it.

Presenter15:42

See you come on.

Speaker 415:44

Yeah.

Presenter15:44

Ah, very good. Ryan Kayabiab. Leah Salunga, Miss Saigon was an instant hit when it started in the West End in 1989. Massive hit. Rave Reviews. You won an Olivier. Transferred to Broadway and producer Cameron McIntosh wanted you to reprise the role there. But when you arrived there, you did come up against some resistance because the Actors Equity Association, they wanted the part of Kim to go to an Asian American actress. It was a bit of a storm. How did it feel for you to be at the center of it?

Speaker 115:56

We'll pick

Speaker 116:04

And they

Lea Salonga16:11

show in December of nineteen ninety. So not long before I wu was gonna leave the show here, he said, So this is what's happening. We're gonna try to bring you over to Broadway.

Lea Salonga16:23

And we're doing everything that we can to make this happen.

Lea Salonga16:27

But be aware?

Lea Salonga16:30

That

Lea Salonga16:32

We may not make it happen. So he was just very matter of fact about it. Called me and my mom into his office. And I said, you know what? For everything that you've done for me thus far, I really can't ask for anything more. I will make plans to maybe start drama school here in London if the Broadway thing doesn't work out. You know, don't worry. We're just so grateful for everything.

Lea Salonga17:01

And, you know, what happens? I'm in the Philippines. It's around mid-January.

Lea Salonga17:11

I hear a knock on my bedroom door. My father opens it. All he says to me is You're going to New York.

Lea Salonga17:19

So much for my plan.

Presenter17:22

I shouldn't just ever make plans, like ever. I mean, literally, stop now. Miss Saigon it's wasn't the only controversy connected to the show. It has in the past been accused of racism for its depiction of Vietnamese people, misogyny because of the way women are portrayed in the show.

Lea Salonga17:23

It's like ever.

Speaker 117:33

It's depending.

Lea Salonga17:37

Right.

Presenter17:38

How aware were you of the politics around it then, and how do you reflect on it now, I wonder? Is there a difference there?

Lea Salonga17:44

I reflect

Presenter17:44

Yeah.

Lea Salonga17:44

I've done it in many different ways. I tried to shield myself.

Lea Salonga17:50

From a lot of the controversy, especially during rehearsals, because my job was.

Lea Salonga17:56

This is a role. I need to do this. And that is that. This is the job I was hired to do. This is exactly the task that I have at hand.

Speaker 118:02

Hired to do.

Lea Salonga18:07

And I'm going to do it to the best of my ability.

Lea Salonga18:11

Full stop. That's it.

Lea Salonga18:13

And as a couple of my friends have pointed out, if you look at things in context.

Lea Salonga18:19

We have to place it in a historical context. Women were not always treated so well. And this is a country in the middle of a war.

Lea Salonga18:28

And this is how women are treated. Lea, it's time for your fifth disc.

Presenter18:32

What are we going to hear?

Lea Salonga18:34

Uh Gymnopedie Number One by Eric Sati, played by Philip Entremont. I was like searching for which version

Lea Salonga18:45

Should I

Lea Salonga18:47

bring to the island. And I just like the way Monsieur Entremont played it. It was just so calming and beautiful.

Presenter19:56

Gymnopody No. One by Eric Sati, played by Philippe Entremont.

Presenter20:01

Leah Solonga, even though you left Miss Saigon with an Olivier and Tony award in the bag, you have said that you struggled to find work for a while afterwards.

Lea Salonga20:10

What was going on? Well, I remember

Lea Salonga20:13

My agent at the time wanting to send me out on auditions, and then there was one in particular for another show. He said, I'm going to send you out for this, and I said,

Lea Salonga20:23

I don't know if I'm the right vocal for this, because it was a much older, more traditional Broadway musical.

Lea Salonga20:31

Ten minutes later, he calls me back and he says, Oh, they're not going to see you because you're Asian.

Lea Salonga20:36

because you're not the right ethnic background for this role. And I went, o o It was quite a quite an awakening this realization that even though you have a Tony Award in your hand or all these other awards on your mantle,

Lea Salonga20:54

Doesn't matter. At the end of the day, if you're not the right type, if you're not the right race, if you're not the right whatever.

Lea Salonga21:00

You're not even going to be seen to audition for something. But not long after that, I got a call.

Lea Salonga21:08

From Cameron's office in New York. This is Cameron Mystery.

Presenter21:11

Yeah.

Speaker 421:12

Uh

Lea Salonga21:13

to ask asking if I could take a meeting.

Lea Salonga21:15

with Richard J. Alexander, who was working in Cameron's office at the time, taking care of Les Miz on Broadway.

Lea Salonga21:22

And so I was in

Lea Salonga21:24

A conference room, and Richard was sitting in front of me, and he said, We would like to cast you as Epenine and Les-Miz. Would you be interested? And I'm like, Absolutely. And I was by this point obsessed with Les Miz, the three-hour and fifteen-minute version of it.

Lea Salonga21:45

was in my head.

Lea Salonga21:47

Locked in my head. Every single character, every single line.

Presenter21:51

So you were the first Asian actress to play Epony.

Lea Salonga21:54

Yeah.

Presenter21:54

And your performance in that role became the stuff of Broadway legend. And you played a couple of roles in Lamers in the end, just as well that you did have all things.

Lea Salonga22:01

I'm done.

Lea Salonga22:03

Yeah, the whole I played the two dead girls. And there was a recent cast change in Leimiz on the West End. And the young woman who's playing it now Old Friends, which is the show that I'm currently in, which is a brand new Sondheim review.

Lea Salonga22:20

is playing at the Gielgud right beside the Sondheim, which is where Lee Miz is. And our rehearsals were happening in the same venue. So she came up to me and introduced herself, saying that she was going to be playing Epenine and that she just wanted to meet me.

Lea Salonga22:38

And so I this beautiful young woman of color.

Lea Salonga22:44

Is getting to play this role, and so many young women of color have gotten to.

Presenter22:49

Mm-hmm.

Lea Salonga22:49

Mm-hmm.

Presenter22:50

Yeah.

Lea Salonga22:50

To play this

Presenter22:51

So, following your footsteps. What's that like for you? A Filipino performer that I know described you as the person who opened the door for all of us.

Lea Salonga22:51

Following your footsteps, it's a good question.

Lea Salonga22:58

In the moment, I don't think about it. In the moment when Les Miz was happening, my only concern was nailing that song every single day. Sing the song well, and that'll be enough. And so many years on, now

Lea Salonga23:15

So many young women of color get to sing that song. And I'm thankful to Cameron's office. I'm thankful to Richard J. I'm thankful, obviously, to Cameron for

Lea Salonga23:28

Daring

Lea Salonga23:29

To say

Lea Salonga23:31

This is storytelling. Race is not involved. We're going to cast this person in this role. We think she'd be perfect.

Lea Salonga23:39

And

Lea Salonga23:41

That's the end of it.

Lea Salonga23:43

This was way before representation was a byword, when I w was cast in

Lea Salonga23:48

That role.

Lea Salonga23:49

I didn't envision how important it would end up.

Lea Salonga23:52

being.

Lea Salonga23:53

It's time for your next display. What are we going to hear? I am a huge fan of BTS. BTS is a seven member Korean pop group. They have sold out Wembley Stadium.

Lea Salonga24:06

And this track is one of my favorites. It's called Singularity, and it is sung by my favorite member of BTS, who goes by the name V.

Lea Salonga24:19

And even if you don't understand a lick of the lyric?

Lea Salonga24:22

I think you'll appreciate.

Lea Salonga24:24

Just the music. It's really good music.

Speaker 424:31

Won't get cash in a soldier.

Speaker 424:38

Namatuk chamesok

Speaker 424:45

Nasaram got a consuri.

Speaker 424:57

Morgichakura.

Presenter25:00

BTS and Singularity. Leia, earlier this year you co-produced and starred in the Broadway musical Here Lies Love about the life of Imelda Marcos. Now it was the first all-Filipino cast on Broadway. You actually sang for the Marcoses when you were a child and 40 years later you're in a musical about them playing Aurora Aquino, the mother of politician Ninoy Aquino who was assassinated in 1983. I think you've described it as like slamming into history. Tell me about that.

Presenter25:28

For me

Lea Salonga25:28

It was like

Lea Salonga25:30

We're doing this in New York. I don't think we're necessarily offending anybody per se.

Lea Salonga25:36

And folks will come away from the show the way they'll come away from any show. Whatever their feelings are, we are going to offer the truth, all of which has been extensively researched.

Lea Salonga25:49

and looked at

Lea Salonga25:51

All of the stuff that we are presenting can be proved.

Lea Salonga25:55

Which was important to all of us. As for me slamming into my own history, I remember being 12.

Lea Salonga26:02

And seeing

Lea Salonga26:05

photographs everywhere of Ninoy Aquino's bloodied face as he was on the funeral procession. His mother, Aurora, the role I got to play,

Lea Salonga26:19

was the one who decided.

Lea Salonga26:21

That

Lea Salonga26:22

He would not be prepared for burial.

Lea Salonga26:25

We will show our people what he looked like. We will show what was done to him. It included keeping him in the clothes that he wore on the flight. So bloodied the face uncovered by makeup, which is customary for a funeral or awake. Nope. Barefaced, bloodied, bruised. And I think the quote is, we will show what they did to him. And I was like, that's intense. And for a mother to be so protective over

Lea Salonga27:05

How her child was going to be seen and perceived.

Lea Salonga27:11

Yeah, to this day he is still seen as a hero. The quote was The Filipino is worth dying for.

Presenter27:17

Yeah.

Presenter27:18

And he proved it.

Presenter27:19

It must have been such a special show to be part of. What was Opening Night like? It was a lecture.

Lea Salonga27:25

It was an entire group of people.

Lea Salonga27:29

In the cast, and many of us in the production team who are of Filipino descent, all of us were really leaning into our Filipinon-ness so much more, I think, than we normally do on a day-to-day basis. I mean, I wear the Philippines on my face. It's wherever I go, that's who I am.

Lea Salonga27:48

I felt

Lea Salonga27:50

This is the one show where I get to play who I am. I am leaning into this. So even when it means that.

Speaker 127:56

Uh

Presenter27:56

Yeah.

Lea Salonga27:59

It's not just the face, it's the outfit, it's the language, it's really representing the best of yourself and your country.

Lea Salonga28:10

On the biggest stage in the world.

Lea Salonga28:12

But too, you come face to face with some of our more painful history.

Lea Salonga28:18

In a safe environment where you can be free to feel all of your feelings, whatever that might mean for that individual person.

Presenter28:29

I think we better have some more music there.

Presenter28:32

What's your next selection?

Lea Salonga28:33

Oh, this is a good one, and one that always makes me cry. This is Baby Mine.

Lea Salonga28:38

From Dumbo, originally sung by Betty Noyce, and

Lea Salonga28:43

It's like, I have had to sing this in concert and I always have to give myself extra time to prepare in order to get used to it because it's this gorgeous song from a mother to her child and it's just so emotional and hits right at the center of the heart. It's one of the most gorgeous pieces of music ever produced for a Disney film.

Speaker 429:12

Baby, mine, don't you cry.

Speaker 429:20

Maybe one flyer.

Speaker 429:27

Press your hand close to my heart, never to

Speaker 429:34

But baby amaze

Presenter29:40

Uh

Speaker 429:40

Uh

Presenter29:40

Little one.

Presenter29:45

Baby Mine, Betty Noise, from the soundtrack to Dumbo.

Presenter29:49

So many firsts for you, Leah. And one very pleasing one that I have to ask you about is your role as a Disney legend. In nineteen ninety two you became a Disney princess for the first time, providing the singing voice for Princess Jasmine from Aladdin, and then in nineteen ninety eight you did it again.

Speaker 130:05

And then

Presenter30:07

As the singing voice of Mulan, which you've done twice. Now you are the only person to be a double Disney princess. Does this come with tags? Do you get the free rides on roller coasters and stuff like that?

Lea Salonga30:16

Yeah, yeah.

Lea Salonga30:19

I get to go to the park for free. I get to go to, with the exception of the parks in Japan.

Lea Salonga30:26

I can go to any Disneyland. Do you have to like sing to get in or you get a little pass? I've already done my singing. I can just get a pass now. So m my kid does not know what it's like to be in a long line at Disney.

Lea Salonga30:41

Yeah.

Presenter30:41

Yeah.

Lea Salonga30:41

Uh

Presenter30:41

It's gotta be some benefits to being a double princess I mean come on

Lea Salonga30:43

I mean, you know, there there's gotta be a perk and there it is.

Presenter30:49

A lifetime perk. We're about to cast you away to a solitary life on the desert islands.

Lea Salonga30:53

Uh

Presenter30:54

Do you enjoy your time alone? I actually do.

Lea Salonga30:56

Yeah.

Lea Salonga30:57

I can entertain myself. I'm pretty good at a solitary existence, if need be.

Presenter31:04

Skills though.

Lea Salonga31:05

Not good. Definitely nowhere near being able to spear a fish.

Lea Salonga31:09

Maybe if I spent enough time on the island, sure. And what sort of island are you imagining? Hopefully somewhere where the weather is not so unpredictable.

Lea Salonga31:19

I come from a country where there are so many typhoons in a year that you have to alphabetize them. So I'd I'd like to not be in a place like that as much as I love the Philippines.

Presenter31:30

Lay out one more track before we send you off as a castaway. Your eighth choice today wasn't going to be my eighth choice.

Lea Salonga31:36

Choice is Snooze by Augusty, who is another member of BTS, but this is his alter ego. Hi he normally goes by sugar.

Lea Salonga31:46

So, this is Augustee, which features Ryuchi, Sakamoto, and a vocalist named Wu Sung. And.

Lea Salonga31:56

He wrote it, I believe, as something that he wants to say to other young people who are following in his footsteps as an artist who is now more established and older, talking to younger artists who are saying, This is hard. What do I do? And he then says, Yeah, this can get difficult, but it will be okay. And there is a line in the song where over and over again he repeats, Everything will be okay.

Speaker 432:27

Hange gage

Speaker 432:32

Oh, my God, game

Speaker 432:42

Tagen channel

Speaker 432:43

Taken Chenaji, taken to nature.

Speaker 432:46

Yeah.

Speaker 432:47

Taken channel

Speaker 432:48

Yeah.

Speaker 432:50

Tagan Chanago, Tagentagical, Tagentagical, Tagan Chanago, Tagan Chanago.

Presenter32:56

August D and Snooze, featuring Ryuichi Sakamoto and Woo Sung. Leia Solonga, I'm going to cast you away to your desert island now. I'll give you the books, the Bible, the complete works of Shakespeare, and another book of your choice. What would you like? A Complete Far Side by Gary Larson.

Lea Salonga33:13

Love.

Lea Salonga33:15

So this is kind of a problem.

Lea Salonga33:20

It's just how he looks at life. It's silly and ludicrous and absolutely perfect, and you need to have a laugh.

Presenter33:27

You can also have a luxury item. What will that be?

Lea Salonga33:30

It's a toss-up between

Lea Salonga33:32

A mocha coffee percolator.

Lea Salonga33:35

which I use every day to make my coffee at home.

Lea Salonga33:38

or a typewriter because I like journaling and I like and in high school and for part of college I used a typewriter. There's something about hearing

Lea Salonga33:50

the keys as they hit the carriage as you're, you know, getting your thoughts out.

Lea Salonga33:56

You're writing a term paper. You can only have one, which is it going to be?

Lea Salonga34:00

I'll have the typewriter, I think.

Presenter34:01

And what disk would you save from the waves, above all others? Uh

Presenter34:06

I'd save snooze. By Augustine Yeah. If only For the line.

Lea Salonga34:10

Yeah.

Presenter34:10

Everything will be okay.

Presenter34:12

Leia Salunga, thank you very much for letting us hear your desert island discs. Thank you for having me.

Presenter34:30

Hello, I hope that Leia is happy on her island with her typewriter for company. We've cast away so many singers over the years, including Leah's heroine, Dame Julie Andrews. You can hear Julie's programme if you search through our Desert Island Discs programme archive or on BBC Sounds. And you'll also find other luminaries from the world of musicals, like Stephen Sondheim, Andrew Lloyd Webber, Cameron McIntosh, Sonia Friedman and Lynn Manuel Miranda.

Presenter34:55

The studio manager for today's programme was Jackie Marjoram, the assistant producer was Tim Bano, and the producer was Sarah Taylor. The series editor is John Gowdy. Join me next time when I'm talking to the broadcaster Peter White, who's been presenting Radio Four's in Touch since nineteen seventy four, almost half a century.

Speaker 435:35

From BBC Radio Four.

Speaker 435:38

Life can be unexpected.

Speaker 135:40

It was big. This was not a wind, this was not a storm, this was a tsunami.

Speaker 435:45

But when confronted with change, humans are remarkably resilient. I knew in that moment as I fell to the ground that I would recover more. I'm Dr. Sean Williams, psychologist and presenter of Life Changing, the program that speaks to people whose worlds have been flipped upside down and transformed in a moment. If I had to live my life again, would I ever want to go through what I went through? There's a very simple answer to that. I would go through it again. Subscribe to Life Changing on BBC Sounds.