Menchu’s triple threat & Nick’s epic dream

Menchu Lauchengco-Yulo could not have been dubbed the first lady of Philippine musical theater for nothing. Now, she has added another title to her name as one of the Triple Threat(s) of Philippine Musical Theater.

This coming Aug. 15, 7:30 p.m. at the CCP Little Theater, she appears in the last one in a series of solo concerts featuring the stalwarts of Philippine Musical Theater billed Triple Threats. Conceived by Chris Millado, VP and artistic director of the Cultural Center of the Philippines, the project chooses Filipinos who have consistently excelled in three aspects of musical theater. Nonie Buencamino, Audie Gemora and Menchu have been chosen as the first batch.

Menchu trained in theater with Repertory Philippines as a teener appearing in Kiss of the Spiderwoman, Les Miserables, A Chorus Line, until she went into directing starting with West Side Story and distinguished herself both at Repertory, and in appearances with other theater companies like New Voice, Actor’s Actor and Atlantis. Her most memorable performances include Next to Normal as a victim of bipolar ailment for Atlantis Productions, and another Atlantis project God of Carnage, a straight comedy with Lea Salonga, Adrian Pang and Art Acuña. Who can ever forget Menchu as Mrs. Lovett with Audie Gemora in Repertory’s Sweeney Todd?

We got hold of Menchu to ask her about her latest triumph in being named a Triple Threat.

What was your reaction upon being told by Chris of being a choice for Triple Threats?

“I was a bit nervous at first…not sure it was something I wanted to do. Never really embarked on a solo concert before. So I met with Chris and when I realized it was a nice concept and I could do pretty anything I wanted, I agreed.”

Did anyone help you decide on the choices of songs?

“I was only available in August, so I picked that month. I brought in my brother Raymond to direct and conceptualize my show, Rony Fortich as musical director and Luna Inocian is writing my script. I guess by giving all three of us the freedom, we would come up with three different and unique shows.”

Would this be your first time to do a solo concert?

“This is my very first solo concert... In 35 years of doing theater, I am glad that I finally am doing it. Chris pretty much let me do what I wanted and gave me a great artistic team. I am so thankful to him for his trust and likewise to the CCP.”

What are your goals for the next decade? What were the three skills that made you a Triple Threat? Can you share two songs you will perform in September and why you chose them?

“Triple threats usually mean one can act, sing and dance. I will be doing a lot of acting songs, cause that’s where I feel most comfortable, doing theater songs. I am doing Don’t Cry For Me Argentina, because doing Evita was a turning point for me, and The Wizard And I from the musical Wicked because I’ve always wanted to sing it and now I can.”

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Since we met him way back in the ’60s, Nick Lizaso had already been into theater and the arts. He has been on the CCP Board of Trustees, was former president of the Directors Guild of the Philippines, organized the first Film Academy Awards, is on the International Theater Institute-UNESCO, and now has set up the Sining Sigla project in San Juan City where he resides that he sees evolving into the Sining Sigla Foundation & Center for Cultural Concerns.

 Sining Sigla was launched via a free public concert involving the Philippine Philharmonic Orchestra (PPO), CCP president Dr. Raul Sunico, the help of Cathy Co of the Greenhills Shopping Center, Precy Florentino of Music Museum Group of Companies, and San Juan Mayor Guia Gomez whom Nick calls their “patroness” and “inspiration.” The concert was a huge success, inspiring Nick to unfold his other projects involving the PPO like The Best of Broadway excerpts in November and The Christmas Spirit in December. 

In the offing for February 2014 is the 1st Greenhills Indie Film Festival at the Theater Mall and the Festival of Short Plays at Teatrino. Nick is obviously on a roll as we watch him go from meeting to meeting at the Club Filipino which serves as his office.

We ask him whether this wouldn’t tire him too much and he smiles, stating: “It’s okay because I’ll just be the conceptualizer, planner and orchestrator, just like a musical impresario. Taga kumpas lang tayo kaya pwedeng sabay-sabay.” Is he rushing, we wonder, to fulfill some sort of bucket list we seniors all have in the back of our minds?

What is your ultimate dream, we probe further. He answers, “To have hundreds of points of lights representing community cultural centers all over the Philippines.”

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