“It happened at a good time.”
This was what Broadway icon Lea Salonga expressed last Friday, September 13 after she unveiled her very own Madame Tussauds wax figure to be permanently displayed at the museum in Singapore.
As the award-winning singer becomes the latest Filipino legend to be immortalized in this way, Lea, still in disbelief, thanked the museum for featuring her in a unique way, citing that it happened at a perfect time in her life.
“I think that things happen when they’re supposed to, and I think I feel like I’m at a point in my career where I can be a little arrogant who [deserves] it,” she said in an exclusive interview with Interaksyon.
“I’m still in disbelief, I mean, the men and women who made this happen are artists.”
Prior to the wax figure reveal, many of Lea’s supporters had already remarked during the June announcement that it was “long overdue.”
In the announcement, the Madame Tussauds Singapore said that the multiple award-winning performer in a striking pose that will perfectly capture the “powerful, iconic, and uniquely Lea,” will be the newest addition to the museum.
Lea saw this as an unmissable opportunity, noting how remarkable and historic it is to be featured as a permanent attraction for people to visit.
“I don’t know if anybody who would ever say no to this. So I just, I must have yelled, I’m sure I smiled a lot, it’s an honor to be immortalized in wax this way,” she said.
The singer also shared during the reveal that this is a full-circle moment for her and mother, Ligaya. She added that little Lea would be ecstatic to know she’s now featured in the same museum that she was just once a guest.
Back when she was still 12, she and her mom visited Madame Tussauds in London to witness the various wax figures and statues of artists, singers, and actors.
The wax figure of American singer Liza Minnelli sparked a hopeful message from her mother, “anak, you never know, one day that could be you,” Ligaya said during this special moment.
Forty-one years later, Lea is now the fifth Filipino legend to be featured in this way. She now joins Miss Universe 2018 Catriona Gray, Miss Universe 2015 Pia Wurtzbach, “Multimedia Superstar” Anne Curtis, and boxing legend Manny Pacquiao.
READ: ‘World tour next?’: Pia Wurtzbach’s iconic wax figure now in Singapore | ‘Seeing double’: Catriona Gray now has wax figure wearing Miss Universe 2018 lava gown | ‘Another dream Anne-locked’: Anne Curtis gets wax figure at Madame Tussauds Hong Kong
“This moment today is like a manifestation of, you know, [what] happened 40 years ago. I’m excited that my mom is here and she is here to see this because she is the one who said ‘one day that could be you.’ Goosebumps are real,” the theater icon said.
With a career spanning over 45 years, Lea is best known for her iconic roles as Kim in “Miss Saigon”, the singing voice of Disney princesses Jasmine and Mulan, and as the first Asian to play Éponine in “Les Misérables” on Broadway.
She has toured globally as a singer, performing sold-out concerts in prestigious venues. The theater icon also served as a judge on “The Voice Philippines” and “The Voice Kids Philippines”.
Lea’s career highlights include performing for six Philippine presidents, four U.S. presidents, Princess Diana, and Queen Elizabeth II.
Meanwhile, Madame Tussauds is a famous wax museum with locations worldwide, known for its lifelike wax figures of celebrities, historical figures, and pop culture icons. It was founded by French wax sculptor Marie Tussaud in 1835 with the original museum based in London.
