Meet the Seven Filipinos Headlining Plays on Broadway This 2025

(SPOT.ph) It’s a proud moment for Filipino theater actors on the global stage. And leave it to the Tony-winning Lea Salonga--the OG Filipino theater actor who opened the doors for so many other Pinoy thespians on Broadway, London’s West End, you name it --to shout it out to the world.

In an Instagram post Thursday, @msleasalonga pointed out that four theater actors of Filipino descent are currently headlining four musical productions on Broadway—Nicole Scherzinger for Sunset Boulevard, Darren Criss for Maybe Happy Ending, Eva Noblezada for Cabaret and Lea herself for Sondheim’s Old Friends. “I don’t think this has ever happened, so pardon me for sharing how proud I am of this milestone!” she writes.

A few hours after her initial post, however, she had to correct herself because she missed out on mentioning Tati Córdoba who stars in Real Women Have Curves. “There!!!” she exclaims, “Five!!! MY GOD, FIVE!!!!!!” An hour later, she had to make another post studded with exclamation points to say it’s not just five but six! This time she included Kay Sibal who is one of the six leads in Six the Musical.  “This is crazaaaaaay!!!!!!!!! SIX!!!!!!!” She then goes on to tag all the actors she mentioned for the third time.

As it turns out, that post will be followed by two more and by Friday Salonga has added Claire-Marie Hall who headlines Operation Mincemeat. As we write this, Salonga’s comment section remains flooded with mentions of other actors of Filipino descent currently cast in Broadway plays. As for the actors she’s already tagged, they are all just as ecstatic for their Pinoy brothers and sisters getting the spotlight.

“Honored!!” wrote Noblezada on the comments, placing a Philippine flag, heart, and fire emoji beside it. “IT’S AN HONOR” Sibal wrote, punctuated with three red heart emojis. Scherzinger reshared Salonga’s post and Criss reshared the post on his Instagram Stories with the caption “To be clear: my Filipino heritage is literally the only thing that could possibly put me in the same category as these iconic women... but count 'em, four!"

Just like these actors, the Filipino community in different parts of the world shared and reshared Salonga’s post, resulting in an infectious feeling of collective pride that made it to almost everyone’s social media feed this week—just the kind of good news we need! So who are these theater actors of Filipino descent slaying it on Broadway at the moment, waving the flag for Pinoy talent? Get to know them here.

Here are the seven Filipino actors headlining musical productions on Broadway:

Lea Salonga
Sondheim’s Old Friends at the Samuel J Friedman Theatre

She’s the Tony and Laurence Olivier award winning actress, the very first Kim of Miss Saigon. Salonga, along with Broadway legend Bernadette Peters, currently headlines the musical tribute, Sondheim’s Old Friends, which celebrates the life and work of the prolific American composer and lyricist Stephen Sondheim. She gets to sing the classic "Everything's Coming Up Roses" from Gypsy, "A Little Priest" from Sweeney Todd, and "Loving You" from Passion. It runs on Broadway until June 2025 but come August this year, Salonga is set to play the lead role of the Witch in the Philippine production of Into the Woods. She will share the stage with son, Nic Chien, who will play Jack.

Also read: She's Back! Lea Salonga is The Witch in 'Into the Woods'

Nicole Scherzinger
Sunset Boulevard at St. James Theatre

Scherzinger was born to a Filipino father Alfonso Valinete and Hawaiian-Russian mother, Rosemary Scherzinger. Before her theater career in Broadway and West End, Scherzinger was the frontwoman of the R&B girl group Pussycat Dolls formed in the mid-90s. She currently plays Norma Desmond in the modernized Andrew Lloyd Webber musical Sunset Boulevard which tells the story of a faded film star determined to make a triumphant return to the spotlight with the help of a screenwriter.

The play scooped seven Olivier Awards in April 2024 including Best Actress in a Musical for Scherzinger. In a review of the play, Vulture described her performance as “ravenous,” and her take on Desmond “gargantuan and almost feral.” The Wall Street Journal, on the other hand, called Scherzinger  “a bona fide musical-theater phenomenon.” Sunset Boulevard is directed by Jamie Lloyd and runs until 25 July 2025.

Darren Criss
Maybe Happy Ending at Belasco Theatre

Criss, who grew up in San Francisco, was born to a Filipino mother from Cebu and an American father. He first rose to fame as part of the cast of the musical TV program Glee. He solidified his star status after winning an Emmy and a Golden Globe, among other prestigious awards, for his portrayal of Andrew Cunanan in The Assassination of Gianni Versace: American Crime Story in 2018.  

While still young, Criss is considered a stage veteran having already been cast in a number of Broadway and off-Broadway plays including American Buffalo (opposite Sam Rockwell and Laurence Fishburne) and Little Shop of Horrors. In Maybe Happy Ending, Criss plays the robot Oliver opposite Helen J. Shen’s Claire, another robot. The story is set in Seoul and tells the story of two robots who meet, connect, and [maybe] fall in love. The Daily Beast dubbed the play as the “Best Musical on Broadway” at the moment while the New York Times described it as “Astonishing, joyful, heartbreaking, cutting-edge, and brilliantly executed.” The play runs until April 2025.

Eva Noblezada
Cabaret at the August Wilson Theatre

“I f*cking love being Filipina,” Filipino-Mexican Noblezada once exclaimed during an interview. She is the granddaughter of a first generation immigrant, Ephraim Noblezada of Iloilo, who brought his family to the US in the 1970s. The actress became part of the Filipino consciousness when she made her professional debut as Kim in Miss Saigon's West End productionn in 2014 and on Broadway in 2017–for which she earned a Tony nomination. Noblezada was later cast as Eurydice in the play Hadestown for which she won a Grammy Award for Best Musical Theater Album and a second Tony nomination. Currently, she headlines the Broadway revival of Cabaret. The classic musical follows the story of free-spirited performer, Sally Bowles, as she takes the stage of the Kit Kat Club during the 1930s in Germany. The play runs until July 2025.

Tatiana Córdoba
Real Women Have Curves at the James Earl Jones Theatre

In her website, Cordoba describes herself as an actor and singer who grew up in the San Francisco Bay Area. She is a Latina of Costa Rican descent and a Filipina American “who strives to be a voice and face for other young women of color in the industry.”  The Berklee graduate will make her Broadway debut in the musical Real Women Have Curves in which she plays Ana Garcia (played by America Ferrera in the film version). The coming-of-age musical shines the spotlight on the Latina community and follows the story of an ambitious girl who torn between her culture and her dreams of a college education. It tackles issues of immigration, feminism, body positivity, and family. The show opens April 27, 2025.

Kay Sibal
Six The Musical at the Lena Horne Theatre

Filipino-American singer Sibal first caught our attention as a contestant on The Voice, where she wowed judges like Gwen Stefani and Michael Buble with her rendition of Laufey’s “From the Start.” That was October 2024. Fast forward to February 2025 and Sibal makes her Broadway debut as Katherine Howard, one of the six leads in the Tony Award-winning musical Six.

The musical follows the stories of the six wives of King Henry VIII, each set to reclaim her identity out of the shadow of her infamous spouse. The play remixes "500 years of historical heartbreak into a euphoric celebration of 21st century girl power.”  In an interview in her alma mater’s school paper, The Piedmont Highlander, Sibal says her Broadway debut means everything to her. “This has been the ultimate dream, and I feel like it has been what I have put the most work into ever since the musicals at Piedmont.” Six opened on Broadway last February 19.

Claire-Marie Hall
Operation Mincemeat at the Golden Theatre

Filipino-British actress Hall plays Jean Leslie in the original Broadway cast of Operation Mincemeat, a role she also played in the West End production. Operation Mincemeat won the 2024 Olivier Award for Best Musical. On its website, it is described as Singin’ in the Rain meets Strangers on a Train. Or, "the fast-paced, hilarious and unbelievable true story of the twisted secret mission that won [the British] World War II." In an interview for British Thoughts Magazine, Hall reveals she is inspired most by Lea Salonga “for her resilience and prowess as a performer.” Operation Mincemeat opens in March 20, 2025 and closes on February 2026.

Also read: 'Into the Woods' Manila 2025 is Adding New Showdates