MANILA — After six years, Olivier and Tony Award-winning actress Lea Salonga is making a grand comeback to the Philippine musical stage as The Witch in the upcoming musical “Into The Woods.”

Theater Group Asia (TGA) on Friday, January 17, confirmed that the Stephen Sondheim musical will be staged in August this year at the Samsung Performing Arts Theater in Makati.

Lea Salonga joins the Philippine production of ‘Into The Woods’

Salonga’s last musical in the Philippines was “Sweeney Todd,” directed by another founding collaborator of TGA, the late theater maverick Bobby Garcia.

“The last show I did in Manila was a Stephen Sondheim masterpiece. Now, I’m coming in Into the Woods, yet another Sondheim masterpiece! If all I do for the rest of my life is perform in Sondheim shows, I’ll be very happy. But most of all, to my dear friend, ‘This one is for you, Bobby!’” Salonga said, who is set to star in the Sondheim tribute “Old Friends” on Broadway.

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She added: “It’s very exciting, as well as, exhausting. Sondheim is no joke! Learning the material before day one of rehearsals takes a few weeks because his patterns can be puzzling and challenging but so rewarding once it all comes together. It’s also cool that I get to revisit a role that I played as a younger adult. I was about 23 years old when I previously played The Witch. Playing her again 30 years later is going to be illuminating. So much life has happened in the intervening years. I’m hoping to bring as much of that as I can to this production.”

Salonga previously played the Witch in a staging of “Into the Woods” by the Singapore Repertory Theatre back in the ’90s.

“Into the Woods,” based on a book by James Lapine, is a dark comedy that intertwines several fairy tale characters’ exploits.

“What I love about this piece is the whole ‘what if’ premise of fairy tales. Continuing past ‘happily ever after’ is very interesting. Through the material, we realize that a witch isn’t always bad,  and good people aren’t always entirely good. The famous line from the musical, ‘nice is different than good’ is one that hits home every time. The message is so poignant. The final song, Children Will Listen is a reminder that what we do as adults impacts impressionable minds. Act One is about fairy tales, but Act Two explores darker, less defined territory. That’s when things get interesting!” Salonga said.

Tony Award-winning creative visionary and a founding collaborator of TGA, Clint Ramos said Salonga’s involvement in the the project will be instrumental in imparting the message of ‘Into The Woods.’

“We are so pleased and proud to have an actress of Lea’s caliber lead the spectacular and stellar ensemble of TGA’s production of ‘Into The Woods.’ This is Lea’s first musical in the Philippines in six years, and what a grand comeback it’s sure to be! ‘Into the Woods’ is a very complex and thought-provoking piece. We want to create a version that considers the Filipino condition. Hopefully, our context will give more meaning to the already rich work that is this Sondheim musical. And Lea, with her remarkable talent and abilities will be very instrumental in imparting that message,”  Ramos said.