Darren Criss waves Philippine flag on Instagram as he highlights news about being the 'first Asian actor to win leading actor in musical'

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When Darren Criss won his first two Tony Awards on Monday (Philippine time) — Best Actor in a Musical and as co-producer of Best Musical "Maybe Happy Ending" — he made history as the first known Asian actor to win the leading role in a musical category, as mentioned in an earlier GMA News Online report.

Playbill Magazine also zeroed in on the history Darren made, saying in an article that "This is Criss' first Tony Award, and he becomes the first Asian American actor to win in the category."

On Instagram early Wednesday (Philippine time), Darren posted a screengrab of the Playbill story and in the caption, waved the Philippine flag emoji.

None other than theater super star and fellow Filipino Lea Salonga recognized his Pinoy pride on display. In the comment section, Lea wrote, "I knew I recognized that voice! It’s mine! Thanks!"

Lea first waved the Philippine flag in the global theater scene 34 years ago, in 1991, when she won the Tony Award for Best Actress in a Musical for "Miss Saigon." 

Thirty-four years later, she finally gets her Filipino counterpart at the Tony Awards.

But that's not all. Nicole Scherzinger also won the award Lea first reaped — Best Actress in a Musical — for her work in "Sunset Blvd." and a 3rd Filipino, Marco Paguia, bagged a Tony Award for Best Orchestrations for the musical “Buena Vista Social Club.”

Mabuhay, indeed!

— LA, GMA Integrated News