Shiela Valderrama gets female lead, finally, in Rama Hari

MANILA, Philippines — Now that live performances are back, the toast of Philippine musical theater, Shiela Valderrama Martinez, cannot be more thankful to return onstage after more than two years of merely doing live streaming for shows.

“I’m relieved,” Shiela admitted. “I’m not very techy, so it was quite a struggle for me, especially when there were technical issues for those DIY (do-it-yourself) shows. Above it all, I’m just happy to know that things are back to normal, we’re safe and hopefully past all that.”

Undoubtedly, Shiela missed most the live performances which all came to a halt during the pandemic.

“There’s a different high we get from live performances,” asserted Shiela. “The performers and the audience feed off energy from each other. And in live theater, you can completely escape and live in the world of your character. I miss that.”

After nearly three decades in the entertainment industry, Shiela has not rested on her laurels. She still has dreams to conquer, fulfill and achieve.

Shiela keeps her calendar busy with projects and performances even in the last quarter of 2023.

She is now busy rehearsing for the staging of the acclaimed musical, Rama Hari, the only work that features five of our National Artists together — Alice Reyes for direction and choreography, Salvador Bernal for production design, Bienvenido Lumbera for lyrics and libretto, Ryan Cayabyab for music and Rolando Tinio for the English translation.

“To play the role of Sita is a dream of mine,” Shiela honestly said. “Not only because of the role itself, but the once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to do this gorgeous masterpiece and get to work directly and personally with two National Artists — Alice Reyes and Maestro Ryan Cayabyab.”

Shiela was originally going to do Sita, one of her dream roles onstage, for the 2020 production of Rama Hari, but the staging got interrupted by the pandemic a week shy from the opening. Now that she finally gets to do Sita in this year’s full-length staging of Rama Hari, Shiela is excited.

“So when they invited me to do the role of Sita again, I was ecstatic,” Shiela allowed. “I was thrilled. It’s a big check off my bucket list, of course. There’s also a sense of closure from the halted 2020 run.

“But more importantly, I feel like I’m part of history, to do a project done by five National Artists and work personally with two of them for this run. That is truly an honor.”

With David Cosico as her personal manager under Stages Management, Shiela has previously done excerpts of Rama Hari for the ASEAN opening night in 2017, the visit of Indian President Ram Nath Kovind at Malacañang Palace in 2018 and the necrological tribute to National Artist Bienvenido Lumbera in 2021.

For this run of Rama Hari, Shiela will headline the opening night at The Metropolitan Theater on Sept. 15 and the closing gala show at The Samsung Performing Arts Theater on Sept. 24.

She will be joined by Arman Ferrer as Rama and from the 2020 cast, Audie Gemora as Dasarata and Poppert Bernadas as Ravana. They will be accompanied by the Orchestra of the Filipino Youth led by Toma Cayabyab.

“When we open on Sept. 15, it will be my first official full-scale show of Rama Hari,” beamed Shiela.

Breathing life into the female lead role in Rama Hari, Shiela will certainly give her personal touch to essaying the character.

“I can only answer for myself really,” she said. “We all have our own approach in studying scripts and characters. The process is different for every actor. I always put a little bit of myself in the roles I do to make it personal and uniquely mine.”

Playing opposite her is Arman, whom Shiela has previously worked with in a number of musicals.

“Arman and I have done a lot of shows together,” she disclosed. “Musical theater shows, concerts, events locally and abroad. We work well together because we’re both hardworking. That’s why we clicked from the start. We’re also very good friends, so work is fun, easy and comfortable.

“Arman was my leading man first in the musical adaptation of Maynila sa Kuko ng Liwanag in 2017 under Gantimpala Theater Foundation. He was Julio to my Ligaya. Then we did two runs of Binondo the Musical at the Solaire Theater in 2018 and 2019. He was Ahtiong and I played Lily. Both shows were directed by Joel Lamangan.”

The pandemic allowed Shiela to bond closer with her husband Lorenz Martinez, who is also an esteemed stage actor, as well as her 13-year-old daughter, Simone.

“It was challenging of course, but I’d like to think we did fairly well,” said Shiela. “We’re lucky and grateful for that. We were happy to have Simone, now 13 years old, day in and out by our side for a couple years.

“I’m glad I was there for her as she transitioned from a little girl to a young lady. We also took advantage of the time to explore other talents and hobbies, and finally finished the to-do list that we never had the time to do before.”