Tanya coming home for good after Saigon

While other Filipino actors opt to stay on in London after their stint in the Cameron Mackintosh megahit musical Miss Saigon and ventured into other musicals, Tanya Manalang is doing the reverse. The musical will have its farewell performance on Feb. 16 next year and Tanya will come home for good.

“I want to apply back home what I learned in London,” Tanya told Funfare. “A lot of things, actually, like discipline and being organized. The theater scene in the Philippines is booming and I want to be part of it again.”

As Kim in the musical which is dominated by Filipino talents, Tanya couldn’t count how many performances she has done since May last year when it re-opened on West End, at the Prince Edward Theatre. Among her kababayan in the cast are Jonjon Briones (who won Best Actor in last year’s WatchOn Awards for his powerful performance as The Engineer, probably the finest actor to have essayed the role so far) and members of the ensemble. Rachelle Ann Go, who also won Best Supporting Actress for her highly-praised performance as Gigi, didn’t renew her contract and joined the cast of Les Miserables as Fantine, and planning to audition for Wicked afterward.

“Jon Jon has been supportive from Day One,” Tanya told Funfare last year when she came home to perform in From East Coast to West End, a concert at the Resorts World Manila which featured former Kims Monique Wilson and Ima Castro. “Not a single performance with him has passed without him squeezing my arm before going into the ‘Dreamland’ scene, his way of saying, ‘Let’s do this.’ As simple as it sounds, it really gives me the ‘push’ that I need. I love working with him because, apart from being one of the most down-to-earth actors I know, he’s also very, very generous.”

Tanya arrived Friday last week for a much-needed vacation and is going back to London on Sunday.

“This time,” said Tanya, “talagang bakasyon, hindi work.”

Living alone in London has taught Tanya a lot of things. Like her Filipino Saigon co-stars, Tanya has to do the household chores (the laundry, the grocery, etc.). No problem with the cooking, according to Tanya.

“Cooking has been one of my favorite hobbies even before I went to London. I’m really lucky to have a lovely kitchen in my place. But I do miss cooking for my family because most of the time I only end up cooking for myself.”

Because she performs only twice a week, Tanya has a lot of spare time.

“I keep myself busy by playing video games or surfing the Internet. I love being home. Sometimes, I go shopping around my favorite places such as Oxford Street, Camden Market and New & Old Bond Streets, pero mostly browsing lang. There’s also this comic bookstore on Shaftesbury Avenue called Forbidden Planet where I spend long hours.”

Every now and then, Tanya said that she would take a trip to neighboring countries.

With her boyfriend?

“No,” she corrected me, “with my friends.”

After Saigon closes in February, Tanya plans to take a trip to Amsterdam…with her friends.

With her theater background, Tanya easily bagged the coveted role of Kim during auditions in Manila in 2013. She was only six years old when she started in theater, eight years old when she did her first professional play with Trumpets, a musical adaptation of The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe. Her parents wanted her to concentrate on her schooling so she quit theater and returned only after college. While doing her thesis, Tanya joined the cast of Kaos at the Resorts World Manila. There was no stopping her from then on. She played Liesl Von Trapp in The Sound Of Music and Tuptim in The King and I, both also staged at RWM, and as Carla in the Atlantis’ production of The Heights.

My friends and I watched Tanya in Miss Saigon last year and we were stunned by her performance. For one so petite, she wasn’t at all overwhelmed by the sprawling huge stage, standing as tall as her taller co-stars at curtain call.

What scene does she find hardest to do?

“Probably Thuy’s death,” said Tanya. Thuy is the Vietnamese soldier, played by a Korean actor. “In that scene, I have to belt out and carry the child at the same time while keeping the intensity of the whole scene. But it also happens to be my favorite part of the show and I enjoy doing that scene the most.”

Then and now, when asked about her post-Saigon feelings, Tanya answered the same way.

“I leave it all to God. Whatever God’s plan for me is, I will eternally be grateful for where I am right now.”

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