Tuning in…
Tuning in…
Castaway
1 appearance
Singer and actor known for Miss Saigon; first Asian woman to win a Tony for acting; first to voice two Disney princesses.
On the island
Eight records
Just whenever Julie opens her mouth, it's like finely spun threads of gold
I've always regarded this woman as having one of the most perfect singing voices on the planet.
It made me stop. And watch, and I remember not being able to move. Because it was lightning in a bottle.
Chismis, translating to gossip, is basically a sonic representation of what gossip is. It is chaotic.
I just like the way Monsieur Entremont played it. It was just so calming and beautiful.
Even if you don't understand a lick of the lyric, I think you'll appreciate just the music. It's really good music.
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.
SnoozeFavourite
He wrote it, I believe, as something that he wants to say to other young people... there is a line in the song where over and over again he repeats, Everything will be okay.
In conversation
Presenter asks
1:23What's usually going through your mind when you're up there in the spotlight?
I try to make my brain do the equivalent of ... the memory zapper. ... Do that because you cannot give an identical performance from the night before. ... what I try to do is just to make sure that that moment's emotional truth is played.
Presenter asks
5:13What are your memories of life in Angelo City?
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 our birthday parties and 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. And I just remember my mother creating a very ideal childhood.
Presenter asks
9:33How would you describe your relationship with your father?
Interesting. I mean, I've always seen him as incredibly 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. 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. ... he and your mother never married? No, they never did. There's a part of me that's glad about that.
The keepsakes
The book
Gary Larson
It's just how he looks at life. It's silly and ludicrous and absolutely perfect, and you need to have a laugh.
The luxury
I like journaling and I like and in high school and for part of college I used a typewriter. There's something about hearing the keys as they hit the carriage as you're, you know, getting your thoughts out.
Presenter asks
11:35Why did you resist auditioning for Miss Saigon?
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 shape your plans.
Presenter asks
15:44How did it feel to be at the center of the Actors Equity controversy?
We'll pick ... And they ... 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. And we're doing everything that we can to make this happen. But be aware? That 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. And, you know, what happens? I'm in the Philippines. It's around mid-January. I hear a knock on my bedroom door. My father opens it. All he says to me is You're going to New York. So much for my plan.
Presenter asks
25:00Tell me about Here Lies Love and slamming into history.
It was like ... We're doing this in New York. I don't think we're necessarily offending anybody per se. 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. ... As for me slamming into my own history, I remember being 12. And seeing photographs everywhere of Ninoy Aquino's bloodied face as he was on the funeral procession. His mother, Aurora, the role I got to play, was the one who decided. That He would not be prepared for burial. We will show our people what he looked like. We will show what was done to him. ... And I was like, that's intense. And for a mother to be so protective over how her child was going to be seen and perceived. ... It was an entire group of people. 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. I felt This is the one show where I get to play who I am. I am leaning into this. ... 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 on the biggest stage in the world. But too, you come face to face with some of our more painful history in a safe environment where you can be free to feel all of your feelings.
“Just whenever Julie opens her mouth, it's like finely spun threads of gold”
“It made me stop. And watch, and I remember not being able to move. Because it was lightning in a bottle.”
“Oh, they're not going to see you because you're Asian. ... 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, Doesn't matter.”
“We will show our people what he looked like. We will show what was done to him. ... I think the quote is, we will show what they did to him. And I was like, that's intense.”
“This is the one show where I get to play who I am. I am leaning into this.”