Rachel performer at heart

MANILA, Philippines - After wrapping up shooting for Ang Larawan, the Filipino musical film based on Nick Joaquin’s play Portrait of the Artist as Filipino, Rachel Alejandro is back on the concert stage. The singer is set to do a show at 12 Monkeys on Oct. 20 with cousin Nino and brother Ali?. ?

In Ang Larawan, Rachel plays Paula, one of the two unmarried Marasigan sisters who both refuse to sell the last masterpiece of their father Don Lorenzo. Rachel is not only starring in the play-turned-movie, she is also one of the producers together with talent manager Girlie Rodis and Celeste Legaspi. Rachel spent almost a year prepping for the project. “It has been a long but fulfilling process,” she says. “I got to meet and bond with some of the most incredibly talented people and this is just the beginning of our journey together… I hope the world gets to watch this film and realize that our country is more than the negative things that are depicted in other films. Our history, culture and music deserve to be heard and seen.”

Aside from Ang Larawan, Rachel spent the past months working on other passion projects. One of which is Eat, Clean, Love, a healthy lifestyle cookbook that she co-wrote with her sister Chef Barni Alejandro-Rennebeck. The 168-page full-color volume published by Summit Media is the sisters’ follow-up to their best-selling The Sexy Chef Cookbook. In the midst of rehearsing for a film, writing a book and being in-charge of marketing for The Sexy Chef Diet delivery and catering business, Rachel made sure to find time to perform.

She played the witch in the Upstart Productions’ staging of Into The Woods that ran from February to March this year at Bonifacio Global City.

“I am a performer and will always be,” says Rachel. “Performing is my first love. I have a heart for it. Performing live is something else. You can get addicted to it because the reaction of the audience is spontaneous, immediate. I am always excited to share the stage with Nino because he is also as passionate about it as I am.”

The last time they were together was in November 2014 at Music Museum, a concert which celebrated Rachel’s 25th anniversary in show business. Since then, Nino’s star has risen after a successful stint as one of the finalists on The Voice of the Philippines which earned him a place as one of Star Music’s recording artists.

For the Oct. 20 gig at 12 Monkeys, Rachel is collaborating with Nino and Ali for a fun repertoire that will include music they enjoyed growing up, songs from musicals Rachel has done as well as some current favorites. The Alejandro boys not only play various instruments, they both compose and arrange music for their own bands.