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Miss Saigon

Karen Flores

ABS-CBN News

<div><img src="https://od2-image-api.abs-cbn.com/prod/editorImage/1753964735480combo-pics.jpg" style="width:950px" class="fr-fic fr-dib"/>(Left to right) Lea Salonga, Carla Guevara, Joreen Bautista, and Ima Castro. Theater Group Asia</div>MANILA -- Four Filipinas who have played the lead role of Kim in &quot;Miss Saigon&quot; are coming together for the first time in the Philippine staging of Stephen Sondheim&#x27;s &quot;Into the Woods.&quot;Leading the cast is Tony Award winner Lea Salonga, the original Kim from the 1989 production of &quot;Miss Saigon&quot; in London. <a href="https://www.abs-cbn.com/entertainment/showbiz/events/2025/1/17/lea-salonga-is-the-witch-in-ph-production-of-into-the-woods-1136">She returns to the role of The Witch after 30 years</a> in &quot;Into the Woods,&quot; which opens this August at the Samsung Performing Arts Theater in Makati.  Joining her are <a href="https://www.abs-cbn.com/entertainment/showbiz/events/2025/2/17/-into-the-woods-musical-mark-bautista-teetin-villanueva-joreen-bautista-join-cast-1804">Joreen Bautista</a> (UK tour) as Rapunzel, <a href="https://www.abs-cbn.com/entertainment/showbiz/events/2025/3/6/carla-guevara-laforteza-joins-cast-of-into-the-woods-musical-1852">Carla Guevara Laforteza</a> (West End) as Granny/The Giant, and Ima Castro (Asia and UK tours) as one of the cover actors. Castro, also an OPM artist, is honored to have the opportunity to work with Salonga and the rest of the all-star cast of &quot;Into the Woods.&quot; &quot;Every rehearsal day, it&#x27;s like I&#x27;m attending a masterclass,&quot; she said in a press conference for the musical on Thursday, July 31.&quot;I learn so much from [Salonga] and of course, the entire cast. It&#x27;s amazing,&quot; she added. Bautista, <a href="https://www.abs-cbn.com/life/04/12/17/meet-the-latest-filipina-to-play-kim-in-miss-saigon">the youngest of the four Kims</a>, is similarly in awe that she gets to share the stage with &quot;Saigon royalty.&quot; She also noted how the role helped shape her into a better actress. &quot;Having played the role of Kim, you develop some sort of emotional flexibility... And that is also what I use for playing Rapunzel, and somehow Cinderella&#x27;s mother because Kim is a mother,&quot; Bautista said. &quot;There&#x27;s so much &#x27;Miss Saigon&#x27; teaches you and what you bring into a production like &#x27;Into the Woods,&#x27; I think makes it even more colorful.&quot;Laforteza, on the other hand, believes that <a href="https://www.abs-cbn.com/life/06/28/22/this-former-kim-dreams-to-do-miss-saigon-again">playing Kim in &quot;Miss Saigon&quot;</a> made her into the mother she is now. &quot;We&#x27;re all from different generations of &#x27;Miss Saigon,&#x27; and we all have different experiences during the show. At least Lea (Salonga) and I both have children now, and we understand more now how it is to be a mother. I&#x27;m able to apply that to every show that I do,&quot; she explained.Salonga, for her part, can&#x27;t help but notice how different each of them are now despite sharing the same role, which shows how much they have all grown as actors. &quot;It kind of makes you wonder, what is the peg for that role? Because these are four distinctly different vocal types, and each of those types is really made very obvious in the show (&#x27;Into the Woods&#x27;),&quot; she shared. &quot;So if you didn&#x27;t know our histories as actors, you&#x27;d have no idea that we got to play that role,&quot; she went on. &quot;I think it&#x27;s testament to how much we&#x27;ve been all able to do since, and how much we&#x27;ve all learned as actors since getting that role.&quot;And while she deeply values the impact of Kim and &quot;Miss Saigon&quot; on their craft, Salonga advised those who are watching &quot;Into the Woods&quot; to drop their preconceived notions about the cast because they will be surprised at what they are about to deliver on stage. &quot;Just free your mind and enjoy the show. You&#x27;ll be amazed by this incredible cast of really talented Filipino and Filipino-American actors. Enjoy the ride for what it is,&quot; she said. &quot;Into the Woods,&quot; a production of Theater Group Asia, will have a 24-show run from August 7 to 31. Helming the musical is Chari Arespacochaga, who promised to deliver a uniquely Filipino experience to theatergoers.&quot;We wanted to look at it through the lens of the Filipino experience. The show is like a very clever putting-together of fairy tales... And fairy tales are about myths. As a people, we live with the mythic on a day-to-day basis, and we really wanted to celebrate that,&quot; she said.&quot;So that&#x27;s sort of the beacon for our show, for our production. That was also the guiding force for casting,&quot; she added.

Four Filipinas who have played the lead role of Kim in "Miss Saigon" are coming together for the first time in the Philippine staging of Stephen Sondheim's "Into the Woods."

Four Filipinas who have played the lead role of Kim in "Miss Saigon" are coming together for the first time in the Philippine staging of Stephen Sondheim's "Into the Woods."

Lea Salonga, 3 other Kims from 'Miss Saigon' come together for 'Into the Woods' musical

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Lea Salonga, 3 other Kims from 'Miss Saigon' come together for 'Into the Woods' musical

Karen Flores Layno,

ABS-CBN News

Published Jul 31, 2025 08:37 PM PHT

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Updated Jul 31, 2025 10:01 PM PHT

Read More:

Lea Salonga

theater

Into the Woods

Joreen Bautista

Carla Guevara Laforteza

Ima Castro

ABSnews

Miss Saigon

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