Hearing the name ELHA NYMPHA for this interview made me so proud as we grew up in the same town. She continues to soar in the music industry, but is now is delving out of her comfort zone, taking strides in a theater piece called INDAY The Musical. This is under Studio A Productions, the same people who did Tulog Na: Musical, Makara, Kaning Itime and a few more.
Elha says "This is about family, friendship, and the people quarreling inside your homes. I was expecting to be part of the support cast but when I asked them who's playing Inday, they pointed to me. I was in disbelief, totally didn't expect that because this is the first time I'm doing a musical, my theater debut. They assured be there's going to be a lot of training involved and we started doing that in September. I won't have alternates, and the music is not new to me because I'm an old soul. I've been listening to cassette tapes often. We're doing the song of the Boyfriends in a dark way, making it a little ballad which is right up my alley. Inday is fierce, and independent."
Here's our talk with Elha that afternoon:
The musical will have it's limited run at the RCBC Plaza in Makati this coming October 16-18 (but heard they opened a few more dates because they've been selling out!). Aside from Elha, they also have vocal supreme Katrina Velarde, veteran theater actors Chris Fong, Basty Batistis, Jude Gamaliel, Eunice Somintac, Cherry Morena, Jeremy Manite, Primitivo Moscare, Aina Salazar, Nicollo Gutierrez and an awesome ensemble cast. They're going to utilize songs from 70's Manila Sound group Boyfriends. To give you a glimpse, here's Elha and the ensemble cast doing one of the songs for the show:
The piece is dark, and talks about local folklore, particularly the "Mangkukulam" and the families that are connected with it. They will also discuss memories, generational secrets, doing the music in different ways and interpreted in extraordinary ways. Music for this theater production was made by Jeremy Manite and arranged by Jason Tung. Book and Lyrics was also made by Danna Bernardino (who was there during the press preview). Choreography is also done by Teacher Georcelle of G-Force, so expect dance to be an integral part of it. Tickets are sold at studioAshows.com and they've been running out of it, they've opened shows til the 25th.
Judging from the music we heard that afternoon, this deserves to be watched. Again, tickets run out fast. I'm super proud of Elha! Don't say I didn't warn you!
