GLORIA Suzuki is the tutor of Young Sam Omura and the fiancée of his brother, James. They live in the small farming town of Salinas, California.  When she and the Omura family are evacuated and sent to Heart Mountain Relocation Center in the wastelands of Wyoming, she becomes a critic of the policies of the Japanese American Citizens League (JACL) and its leader, Mike Masaoka.  The things she later learns about Masaoka’s plans for the 442nd where James is serving, lead her to join the resistance movement at Heart Mountain.  With the letter and the items she has left Old Sam in her death, she hopes to unlock Old Sam’s memories, and convey a decades-old secret that was long kept from him. 

Lea Salonga has been performing from the age of 7 in “The King and I,” and at 9 played the title role in “Annie”. Much later on, she portrayed the role of Kim in the West End and Broadway productions of “Miss Saigon,” (Olivier, Drama Desk, Outer Critics, and Tony Awards). She went on to play Eponine in the Broadway production of “Les Misérables,” and reprised it in the 10th Anniversary concert at the Royal Albert Hall. Lea eventually graduated to the role of Fantine in the 2006 revival of Les Miz on Broadway, and went on to play the same at the O2 Arena to celebrate the musical’s 25th Anniversary. Other credits include: Flower Drum Song (Mei-li – Mark Taper Forum and Broadway productions), Cats (Grizabella), Cinderella (Cinderella), Baby (Lizzie), Proof (Catherine), Grease (Sandy), Into the Woods (The Witch), My Fair Lady (Eliza), The Fantasticks (Luisa). Lea is also a very busy concert artist, performing in venues big and small all over the world, most recently at the iconic Cafe Carlyle in New York City. Her most fulfilling role to date: wife to Rob and mommy to Nicole. Thanks, Jay and Lorenzo, for this new “dead girl”.

• The Cast