MANILA, Philippines ? She comes in hugging her daughter Nicole, concerned about her little angel?s silence. ?Is she sick, mom?? Lea asks her mother Ligaya, who responds with a reassuring look. It turns out that Nicole was just savoring her mother?s concerned embrace. A nanny takes the baby away, but Lea?s worried glance follows her.

After two decades of international acclaim as a musical theater artist, Lea is now first and foremost a wife and mother. Marriage to businessman Robert Chien and motherhood have firmly anchored her to home and hearth.

Even with her latest theater production, Rodgers and Hammerstein?s ?Cinderella,? Lea remains very much a mother. The musical theater presentation of the fairy tale classic, which features Lea as the iconic princess, will tour several countries in Asia, including China, Japan, Korea, Singapore, Malaysia and Thailand. Locally, the show will premiere at the CCP Tanghalang Nicanor Abelardo (CCP Main Theater) on July 29 and will run until August 24.

Nicole will be by her side every step of the way, shares Lea. ?I?ll just make sure that everything works out. I want to have more time with her while still having time for work. I could still bring her around to rehearsals,? she adds.

Does mommy see a little bit of herself in her beloved Nicole? ?When she turns three, we?ll pretty much have a good idea," says Lea. "By then we?d know if her intonation is accurate, because mine was pretty good when I was about two and a half to three.?

For Lea, performing on stage from age 7 was nothing more than a pastime. It became a lifelong career, however, when she won the lead role in that major international musical theater production of Cameron Mackintosh?s ?Miss Saigon.? She had to take a leave from her pre-med studies at the Ateneo de Manila University. ?I thought, okay, this is going to be my life for a year, and then I?ll pick up from where I left off in college. I knew that college would always be there waiting for me and that my friends would be there when I came back, so that would never, ever really be an issue,? Lea recalls thinking.

The turning point came during the middle of the production?s run at London?s West End. ?I really didn?t know what to do with my life. But when my mother and I went to church there, the priest said something about using the gifts God gave you. That was really it for me. It was like, okay, I guess this is what I?ve been meant to do.?

There was no looking back. Lea went on to win the Laurence Olivier Award for her role in "Miss Saigon," the 1991 Tony Award for Best Actress for a Musical, as well as the Drama Desk, Outer Critics, and Theatre World Awards. She also received an Ovation Award in 2002 for her role as a Chinese immigrant in ?Flower Drum Song.?

Lea lent her singing voice to hit Disney animated films ?Aladdin? and ?Mulan,? and crossed over to American broadcast TV with appearances on ?E.R.? and ?As the World Turns? and in Hollywood films such as ?Redwood Curtain? opposite Jeff Daniels and John Lithgow. She also starred in Pinoy blockbusters ?Bakit Labis Kitang Mahal? and ?Sana Maulit Muli? while continuing to wow audiences in Broadway.

But her career milestone, Lea reveals, came in 1993 when she portrayed Eponine in the Broadway musical ?Les Miserables,? the first Asian to ever play the part. ?It was something that I really saw as a challenge on the personal and professional level. I thought, I better prove that I can do this, because if I don?t do it well, if I don?t do it right, it will look like the casting director, the director and the producer made a mistake?and I really didn?t want that.?

What keeps Lea still in the prime of her international musical theater career nearly 20 years after being cast in ?Miss Saigon"?

?I think it?s a little bit of luck and just working hard on wanting to always do one?s best. You may not always hit your mark, but at least, you gave it a good shot. I?d rather try and do my best and miss, than not try at all.?

Lea?s appearance on ?Cinderella? is also a first of sorts.

?I?ve never really toured Asia on a show like this, so it?s something I?m looking forward to. It?s different? And you get to experience different countries, different cultures. It is something I?m looking forward to and I?m excited about,? Lea says.

Compared to her other musical theater performances, how does she tackle a role like ?Cinderella??

?I think Cinderella?s a very traditional heroine. She?s going to be cheerful and happy and magical and lovely, and you know, a princess in every sense of the word. But my mission for my own self is to find something that?s interesting about her that I?m able to impart on stage?that?s not just about her wearing the glass slipper and finding her prince. I?m interested in what else there is to know about her. And hopefully, I?ll find something in the script that makes her interesting to me.?