Both Lea Salonga and Eva Noblezada have played the lead role of Kim in Miss Saigon on Broadway and the West End.
Yellow Rose (2019) premiered at the LAAPFF on May 2, 2019. It was screened at several other film festivals internationally. It won 13 film festival awards, particularly praising Diane Paragas' directing and Eva Noblezada and Lea Salonga's performances. Though the film's theatrical release was delayed due to the COVID-19 pandemic, it was released on October 9, 2020. The film is one of the first Filipino-American films to be released by a major Hollywood studio for theatrical release.
In May 2019, it was announced that the film would premiere at the Los Angeles Asian Pacific Film Festival (LAAPFF) on May 2, 2019. Director and screenplay writer Diane Paragas told reporters that the film has been in the works since 2004. It was also announced that Paragas would sing on the soundtrack as well as Eva Noblezada, Lea Salonga, and Dale Watson.
Yellow Rose (2019) is Diane Paragas's feature-film debut. She had been known as a documentary and commercial director and writer. She had been working on "Yellow Rose" since 2004, having produced, written and directed a 15-minute-long film also called Yellow Rose (2017). This short also featured singer-songwriter Dale Watson as a character called "Jimmy Redburn." Otherwise, the cast was different actors. Since 2017, she has been married to Thom Zimny, a film editor/writer/director.
On review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes, Yellow Rose (2019) has an approval rating of 87% based on 55 reviews, with an average of 7.2/10. The site's critical consensus reads, "A coming-of-age story with a timely twist, Yellow Rose offers a fresh --- and sweetly rewarding --- perspective on the immigrant experience."