Lea Salonga is opening up about raising her transgender son. In a new profile in People, the Old Friends star shows love for her 18-year-old child Nic Chien, who recently started taking testosterone after coming out as transmasculine when he was 14.
In the interview, Nic shares that both of his parents have been “very accepting.” He shares that his mother “just didn’t want [his] life to be as hard as it would be,” but adds that this “was the most ideal situation for me.”
The Tony-winner reveals that her career in musical theatre has helped her adapt to motherhood, calling it a “think-on-your-feet” artform.
“As a parent I want my child to feel safe and strong and ready to conquer the world on their own terms,” Salonga shared.
Lea and Nic will be sharing the stage together this summer in Into the Woods. Taking place in the Philippines, Salonga will star as the Witch, with Chien as Jack.
“I’ve learned how to raise a child who is their own being. I mean, there are obviously expectations. I’m glad that this kid can cook and do his own laundry and doesn’t forget to feed the cat!” she said. “But the one thing I’ve learned is that you have to raise your child the way your child needs to be raised.”
Into the Woods will also include Arielle Jacobs as Cinderella, Joaquin Pedro Valdes as Prince Charming & The Wolf, and Eugene Domingo as Jack’s Mother, with real-life couple Nyoy and Mikkie Bradshaw-Volante in the roles of The Baker and The Baker’s Wife. Performances will take place August 7-24 at the Samsung Performing Arts Theater.
In anticipation of the production, Salonga shares that she is “most looking forward to working with Nic! We’ve done numerous concerts over the years, but this will be our first musical together!”
Chien made his professional musical theater debut as Alice in Atlantis Productions’ Matilda, and has been bitten by the theater acting bug ever since. In 2023, Chien participated in the English Speaking Union’s National Shakespeare Competition and garnered third place.
Salonga can currently be seen on Broadway in Sondheim’s Old Friends, a great big Broadway show born out of Cameron Mackintosh and Stephen Sondheim’s lifetime of friendship and collaboration.
About Old Friends
Mackintosh and Sondheim came up with the idea during the pandemic, drawing on the many shows that they had done together in collaboration with their good friend Julia McKenzie. Once theatres reopened in London and New York in the fall of 2021, Mackintosh was able to visit Sondheim again and this new show remained something they continued to discuss; but, sadly, shortly after, Sondheim passed away in November 2021.
It fell to Mackintosh to pick up where he and Sondheim left off, collating their notes, and structuring the show that would initially become a spectacular star-studded gala at the Sondheim Theatre in London’s West End in May 2022 to celebrate Sondheim’s life and work, and also raise funds for the newly formed Stephen Sondheim Foundation. The gala won Best Theatre Event at the 2023 WhatsOnStage Awards and was subsequently broadcast on TV by the BBC.
Mackintosh, who both produced and devised the evening, directed by his long-time collaborator Matthew Bourne, was encouraged by how brilliantly the material held together. They decided to rework the show for a run at the Gielgud Theatre from September 2023 with an all-star ensemble cast headed by legendary Broadway stars Bernadette Peters and Lea Salonga, alongside a dazzling array of West End co-stars drawn from many of Mackintosh’s old friends who had been featured in his productions.
The Old Friends company performed some of the greatest songs ever written for musical theatre by one of theatre’s greatest geniuses. Old Friends at the Gielgud became an instant legend and an unforgettable evening that earned a bevy of five-star raves and was hailed by The Times as “unmissable musical theatre.”
Stephen Sondheim’s Old Friends began performances March 25, 2025 at the Samuel J. Friedman Theatre, prior to opening night on April 8, 2025.
The production features musical supervision by Alfonso Casado Trigo and Stephen Brooker, musical arrangements by Stephen Metcalfe, and conducted by Annbritt duChateau, set design by Matt Kinley, projection design by George Reeve, costume design by Jill Parker, lighting design by Warren Letton and sound design by Mick Potter. Casting is by Tara Rubin Casting. The production Stage Manager is David Lober.
Weather 
