Lea Salonga | Image: Instagram/@msleasalonga, @rajolaurel
Broadway superstar Lea Salonga officially unveiled her wax figure in Manila before its transfer to a wax museum in Singapore.
Salonga’s designer and longtime friend Rajo Laurel took to Instagram to share some moments from the event that took place in Parañaque on Friday, Sept. 13.
The photo showed the theater icon standing next to her wax figure donned in a royal-blue gown and holding a microphone on a mic stand.
The multi-awarded singer was accompanied by her mom, Ligaya, during the big reveal.
In June, Salonga first revealed that she would be immortalized in a wax figure, describing it as an “absolute honor and a privilege.”
Salonga is the fourth Filipino to have a wax figure in Madame Tussauds Singapore; the others are Miss Universe 2015 Pia Alonzo Wurtzbach, boxing champion Manny Pacquiao and Miss Universe 2018 Catriona Gray.
Image: Instagram/@rajolaurel
The wax museum also announced that a wax figure of Filipino actress Anne Curtis is currently in the works and will be unveiled this December.
The 53-year-old singer-actress rose to fame after landing the role of Kim in the musical “Miss Saigon” in 1989. She was the first Filipino and Asian to win a Tony Award and a Laurence Olivier Award for Outstanding Performance of the Year by an Actress for her role in the production.
Salonga was also named a Disney Legend in 2011 after being the singing voice of Princess Jasmine in Disney’s “Aladdin” and of the titular character in “Mulan.”
Last year, she returned to Broadway via the musical “Here Lies Love,” playing the role of Aurora Aquino, former senator Benigno “Ninoy” Aquino’s mother. She also recently starred in “Stephen Sondheim’s Old Friends” in the West End.
The Broadway diva also made a television stint in Hollywood after she joined the cast of “Pretty Little Liars: Original Sin,” the spinoff of the 2010 hit series “Pretty Little Liars.”
Recently, Salonga announced that she will release her new album “Sounding Joy” on Nov. 1, which pays homage to classic Christmas songs.