Myke Salomon: Everyone needs to be inspired

MANILA, Philippines - Like most Lasallians, Michael (Myke) Salomon — singer, actor, music arranger, album producer and photographer — grew up in a comfortable middle-class home in Manila.

At La Salle Greenhills, during grade school, the teacher would ask the pupils to draw the kind of person they would like to be when they grew up. “My classmates wanted to be this and that but I didn’t have any concrete idea of what I wanted to be,” he recalls. “Wala ako ma-drawing. I never planned ahead.”

In his Salomonic wisdom, Myke opines: “I think it’s a bad idea for a teacher to ask a kid what he wants to be when he grows up. I think I was ahead of my time. Mas may reality ako kaysa sa mga classmates ko. I was not fantasy-(oriented).”

Music and theater, however, were early influences. He played the guitar and piano oido, acted in school plays like West Side Story, and later joined an all-male a capella (Akafellas) singing group which was the front act in concerts by visiting celebrities like Mandy Moore.

He did not sing here but would approximate the percussive sounds of musical instruments, like the electronic guitar. It was the other “fellas” who sang.

In 2000, he made his debut in professional musical theater, appearing in Repertory Philippines’ Jack & the Beanstalk and Cinderella under the direction of Michael Williams. And only last year he sang the theme song of the iconic musical Magsimula Ka at Music Museum.

His breakthrough role, however, was in PETA’s hit musical comedy-drama Care Divas, which is being restaged for the nth time, will run until the end of July, and will most likely be restaged later this year.

Quite credible in his role, Myke appeared as a Palestinian on the run in turbulent Israel and showed he could act, exuding both masculinity and sensitivity. In one scene, the hunky actor appeared clad only in a towel and the girls (and gays) in the audience screamed.

Above: Myke (leftmost) shows his buff self in the Mossimo Bikini Summit in 2004. Right: As member of the all-male singing group Akafellas.

Now, an even bigger role awaits him in Atlantis Productions’ Aida, Elton John’s pop-rock musical adaptation of Guissepi Verdi’s spectacular opera, commissioned by the Khedive of Egypt to celebrate the opening of the Suez Canal in 1871.

The show runs from June 24 to July 10 at the RCBC Plaza Theater in Makati City. Myke is cast as Prince Radames, who becomes involved in a deadly love triangle. “It’s all about love, about different personalities, which you can apply in your daily life,” he says.

Asked what have his experiences taught him thus far, he turns philosophical: “Being included in a production like this, being selected to do the job on stage, is a rare experience. Kasi not everyone can do it. You’re working your way up there, alagad ka ng sining. It is an honor to be heard, to be seen, and to tell the story.”

He adds, “Kung baga we are not here just to tell stories but to inspire other artists, to build on new artists. Madaming bata nanood dyan and thinking ‘someday I want to be like that, I want to be a good actor, I want to be a singer, I want to be a good dancer’.”

Warming up to the theme, Myke continues: “I think everyone needs to be inspired. Sa gitna ng magulong bansa natin, in the daily life ng tao, working hard from 8 to 5 p.m., I think everyone needs to be inspired para mag-continue siya magtrabaho the next day.”