Lea Salonga in concert to benefit Asian for Miracle Marrow Matches

Broadway’s Filipino sensation Lea Salonga graces the Cerritos Center for the Performing Arts (CCPA) stage in the 12th annual benefit concert presented by Asian for Miracle Marrow Matches on Sunday, October 18, 7:00 PM. Tickets, which range from $87-$47, can be purchased at the CCPA Ticket Office, at www.cerritoscenter.com , or by calling (562) 467-8818. CCPA exchange policies do not apply to this show.

At age 17, LEA SALONGA shot to international stardom when she was tapped to play Kim, a Vietnamese barmaid, in the 1989 London world premiere of the mega hit musical Miss Saigon. Her work in the tragic love story set in 1975 during the fall of Saigon, earned Salonga a Tony Award, a Laurence Olivier Award, and the Drama Desk and Outer Critics Circle honors. The role opened doors to more opportunities and acclaim, with Newsday hailing that Salonga “lights up” the stage as the first Asian to portray the street waif Eponine in the Broadway musical Les Misérables.

Salonga’s portrayal of a Chinese immigrant in the successful reinterpretation of Rodgers and Hammerstein’s Flower Drum Song showed off her “great prowess” as a singer, praised the New Yorker. She was nominated as “Best Lead Actress in a Musical” by the L.A. Stage Alliance, which hands out the Ovation Awards. Flower Drum Song, considered by Time magazine as one of the top 10 Broadway shows of 2002, was nominated for a Tony Award, the Outer Critics Circle Award, and the Drama League Award. The cast recording, led by Salonga, was a top contender at the 2003 Grammy Awards for “Best Musical Show Album.”

Salonga’s other productions include My Fair Lady, Grease, The Sound of Music, Mulan, and an international tour of Cinderella. Her performance as Princess Jasmine in Disney’s Aladdin received an Oscar for “Best Original Song” for A Whole New World. She has been featured on the daytime soap opera As the World Turns and the televised medical drama E.R.

ASIANS FOR MIRACLE MARROW MATCHES (A3M), founded in 1991, began as a grass-roots movement to help raise awareness for the lack of Asian and Pacific Islander bone marrow donors in the National Registry. Today, the Los Angeles-based A3M is the largest Asian Pacific Islander recruitment organization of the National Marrow Donor Program. More than 150 A3M donors have provided their marrow or blood stem cells, giving second chances to patients in need of life-saving transplants.

For tickets or more information on the Asians for Miracle Marrow Matches’ 12th annual benefit concert featuring Salonga at the CCPA, call (562) 467-8818 or go to www.cerritoscenter.com.