(Broadway star Lea Salonga)
The weatherman may be calling for a deep freeze, but the heat will be on this Wednesday, January 27, at 6 p.m. ET when new works incubator Live & In Color kicks off the second season of Be Our Guest, the weekly web series with its first guest of 2021, Tony Award-winner Lea Salonga (Miss Saigon, Allegiance).
Grab your laptop, favorite cocktail, and come prepared with questions for Be Our Guest, a weekly happy hour with industry professionals. Streaming this Wednesday on Facebook Live and the Live & In Color YouTube Channel, the group’s founder and artistic director Devanand Janki sits down digitally with Broadway star and international recording artist Lea Salonga for a spirited discussion on what diversity in the arts means to her and what the next chapter will be like for BIPOC artists in a post-COVID landscape.
For Janki, this week’s edition of Be Our Guest doubles as a reunion. “I had the great fortune of sharing the stage with her at the Broadway Theatre in Miss Saigon many years ago,” Janki said. “I am thrilled for this opportunity to discuss this Broadway icon’s amazing life and legacy.”
“Lea is a trailblazer for all of us!” Janki continued. “The minute she burst on to the scene in Miss Saigon, it was a game-changer for the entire Asian theatre community and its trajectory. She has had a career unlike anybody and has inspired generations of artists.”
Launched in 2020 at the height of the pandemic, Be Our Guest brings in some of the most innovative BIPOC forces working in entertainment today to talk about their careers, inspiration, and advice for aspiring theatre-makers. Each week, Janki kicks off the discussion, but unlike other online chat programs that remain static, he breaks down the fourth wall of the computer monitor to moderate questions from the online audience. Regrettably, because Ms. Salonga is currently waiting out the pandemic in the Philippines, this week’s edition of Be Our Guest will be pre-recorded with no interactive segment.
Live & In Color’s weekly interactive online chat series Be Our Guest can be viewed live every Wednesday at 6 p.m. ET on the group’s Facebook page and YouTube channel.
Live & In Color develops new work for the stage that promotes and celebrates diversity. Emphasizing non-traditional casting, multi-ethnic participants, and bold theatricality, LAIC offers
