'We're Going to Beat This Thing': Lea Salonga On Broadway's Lasting Resilience, From the AIDS Crisis to Now

To Lea Salonga, the COVID-19 pandemic feels familiar. By the time Salonga made her Broadway debut in Miss Saigon (1991), earning a Tony Award, the AIDS crisis had already taken root on Broadway, ravaging a community of young gay men with a deadly virus that, for some time, went without immediate address by government. “I remember being in the Broadway company of Miss Saigon, and the AIDS crisis was kind of in its infancy,” said Salonga from her home in the Philippines, during her appearance on the one-night-only return of The Rosie O’Donnell Show. By 1991, AIDS had already killed close to 30,000 Americans. 

Amid a coronavirus epidemic that has temporarily closed Broadway, left thousands of theater workers unemployed and already begun to reach its leading stars, everyone should remember that first epidemic, said Salonga. “So many people were at the forefront of that battle,” she said, adding to Billy Porter’s comments during the show about AIDS activism on Broadway. “Now we’re in the midst of another one. And if the resilience of the Broadway community from back then carries on until now, then we’re going to beat this thing.”

In fact, while AIDS quickly and savagely struck the theater community in the 1980s, Broadway was a leader in activism to stop the spread of the virus. Equity Fights AIDS and Broadway Cares—they merged in 1993—were preeminent organizations in show business to provide healthcare, social services, emotional support and job relief during the epidemic. To Salonga, that's why it's important to donate to organizations like The Actors Fund. “It’s helped so many people in so many ways for over 100 years,” Salonga said about the organization, which received a donation of over $600,000 as a result of Rosie’s return. “It’s not only actors who benefit. It’s all people from the entertainment industry who are able to be beneficiaries of this fantastic organization.”

Salonga then performed the song "Reflection," which she sang in the 1998 Disney animated film Mulan (the release of 2020 live action remake has been temporarily postponed). Watch Salonga’s stirring comments and performance below, and be sure to donate to The Actors Fund.