Lea Salonga says artists need downtime after ‘exhausting’ shows: ‘We’re human beings’
Lea Salonga. Image: Facebook/Cristopher Retokelly Carpila, Instagram/@msleasalonga
A week after the incident involving fans who barged into her dressing room, Lea Salonga got candid about how “exhausting” it is to stage a show and how artists need space and time for themselves after a performance.
The Broadway singer spoke about this during her July 26 interview for American lifestyle show “New York Live.” Show host Sara Gore brought up the “Here Lies Love” dressing room incident, and asked Salonga what she wanted to say to the public about the “line between art and artist.”
“We’re human beings, first of all,” Salonga began. “We need to rest. We need to take time for ourselves. When we say goodbye and when we make our curtain call and we head back to the room, that’s it.”
Salonga also put emphasis on the amount of effort she exerts every performance as well as the personal boundaries that artists like her need to protect.
“It’s an exhausting thing to do, a show. Even if I do sing just one song, there’s a lot that goes into it,” Salonga told the host. “The preparation that goes into it is the same as when I’m preparing to sing for two and a half hours.”
“I think it started a conversation that has enabled a lot of artists to say, ‘I need to protect my own boundaries, too,'” she added.
Salonga earlier aired her dismay after fans, who claimed they were acquainted with “Here Lies Love” co-producer G Tongi, approached the singer in her dressing room for a photo opportunity. According to the singer, the fans were already “escorted out of the building” after they rushed on her but that the individuals returned to the venue.
Salonga initially gave the fans the “benefit of the doubt” after saying they were “friends” with G Tongi, but the singer was later informed that the show’s production staff had “no idea” who the fans were.
A video of the incident was uploaded by one of the fans who barged into Salonga’s dressing room, Christopher Carpila, who said he will not apologize for what happened as he did not do anything wrong. /ra
