Tourism Secretary Bernadette Romulo-Puyat could not help but gush over Tony-award winning singer-actress Lea Salonga when the latter performed at the state dinner for Chinese President Xi Jinping on Tuesday.
Puyat on Wednesday shared a video of their encounter in an Instagram post captioned: “I am a FAN of @msleasalonga. I rarely have this fan moments but she is different.”
Puyat narrated how she was the only one who stood up during the state dinner just so she could take a good video of the singer-actress.
To her surprise, she bumped into Salonga when she was about to leave: “Imagine my surprise when I bumped into her as we were waiting for our car!”
The tourism chief was in awe of the unexpected meet-and-greet saying, “I was so THRILLED to see her that I didn’t realize that I was begging people to take a picture of us.”
Puyat also recounted the time when she and her late sister flew to London in 1990 to watch Salonga in “Miss Saigon.”
She said: “We even patiently waited after the play just so we could have a picture taken with her and have her autograph my playbill.”
“28 years since I watched her in Ms Saigon, I am still a fan and will forever be,” the tourism chief added.
The singer-actress performed songs “I Dreamed a Dream” and “On My Own” from musical “Les Miserables.” /cbb