She was an award-winning Broadway star - but still struggled to land roles

Ong, 28, who also made history as the first Singaporean to play the role on the West End, says she grew up watching performers like Salonga depict Eponine.

But for Ong, the stakes for winning the role felt different - in fact, Ong says she "didn't even realise what a big deal it was" to have gotten the part.

"I think it took a few months [before I was like]... I've made it. I've actually done something with this," she said.

While she credits Salonga as a "trailblazer for all people of colour," she adds that the fight for meaningful representation still remains an "uphill battle" at times - highlighting how the battle has shifted from fighting just to get in the room, to fighting to be valued for talent alone.

"The thing with going for parts as an East Asian is that sometimes we struggle with the idea of: "Have we been hired to meet a diversity quota, or are we actually being hired because we're good at our jobs?" she says.

But beyond casting, Salonga sees an even bigger shift happening - Asian artists are no longer just trying to fit into Western stories, but also writing their own.

She points to the recent Broadway success of the critically acclaimed South Korean musical Maybe Happy Ending that was co-written by a South Korean.

"Seeing a show like that…winning so many awards… tells me that if something is just so good that it cannot be ignored, it will be seen," she says of the show, which won South Korea its first Tony award.

She adds that she could not have imagined a show like this - one that is so "intrinsically" Asian - getting so much steam, adding that when she was growing up she didn't have as many Asian figures in the industry to look up to.

"I think for a lot of young people to be able to see somebody that looks like them up on that stage… is incredible. I think there was a generation of Asians who wanted to do this but didn't have that representation upon which they could reflect themselves," she said.

"I'm so glad that I am now getting to see it because now my son gets to see it."

She also points to successes like K-pop band BTS - who she is a "huge fan of" - as models for Asians to look up to. And for Salonga, watching their phenomenal global rise also feels deeply familiar.

During her own breakout years, she recalls the intense scrutiny that accompanied the pride of representing her home country on the global stage.

"When you head to the West End and you have to be excellent or you will let 75 million people down [the population of the Philippines], that's a lot to put on your shoulders. The responsibility is heavy", she says.

"That's also why I appreciate BTS so much because it's like, here you go, the weight of all of Asia is now on your shoulders," she laughs, adding that she recently delayed a vocal warm-up session by 15 minutes just so she could catch a BTS concert livestream.

Salonga also adds that the momentum extends beyond the stage and across all media. She points to an upcoming DreamWorks animated film steeped entirely in Philippine folklore that she is currently working on.

"An animated film that is based on my culture… I'd never thought I'd see something like that in my lifetime," she said.

And would 18-year-old Lea Salonga be surprised to see all this?

"Incredibly shocked, but I think also inspired to know… [that] there is a space for me," she says.

"You know, you can push us to the margins - but we're just going to centre ourselves."