Theatre Group Asia's highly anticipated Philippine staging of Ang Tahanan ni Bernarda Alba begins on a positive note with the announcement of Lea Salonga as the controlling matriarch, Bernarda Alba.
Lea Salonga's last role with TGA was in the sold-out run of Into the Woods where she played the lovable Witch. But with Ang Tahanan ni Bernarda Alba, she will step into on the theater's most complex and commanding role of Bernarda.
Ang Tahanan ni Bernarda Alba is the Filipino translation of Federico Garcia Lorca's masterpiece- The House of Bernarda Alba, and is adapted by celebrated director-playwright Chay Yew wuth Guelan Valera Luarca who translated it to Filipino.
After the death of her second husband, Bernarda declares eight years of
mourning and imposes absolute obedience upon her five daughters. Behind the
closed doors of the Alba household, silence, discipline, tradition, and
appearances reign supreme. But beneath the carefully maintained order, her
daughters’ desires, jealousies, frustrations, and dreams refuse to remain
contained. When the arrival of a potential suitor disturbs the household’s
fragile equilibrium, tensions begin to mount, forcing each woman to confront
what she wants and what she is willing to sacrifice to have it.
At the center of it all stands Bernarda: fiercely protective,
uncompromising, and obsessed with respectability. She is both mother and ruler,
protector and oppressor, determined to hold her family together even as her
methods transform their home into a prison.
For Salonga, whose career has been defined by some of musical theater’s
most demanding roles, Bernarda marks a striking new chapter. Best known
internationally for her Tony Award-winning performance in Miss Saigon, Salonga
has also received the Olivier, Drama Desk, Outer Critics Circle, and Theatre
World Awards. She became the first Asian actress to play Eponine on Broadway in
Les Misérables and later returned to the musical as Fantine in its 2006
revival. Her Broadway credits also include Once on This Island, Allegiance,
Flower Drum Song, Here Lies Love, and Sondheim’s Old Friends. On TV, she was
last seen in Pretty Little Liars and The Cleaning Lady. She is a bona fide
Disney legend having lent her singing voice to Princess Jasmine in Aladdin and
Fa Mulan in Mulan and Mulan II. Most recently, Salonga voiced the dreaded
manananggal in the DreamWorks animation Forgotten Island.
Yet Ang Tahanan ni Bernarda Alba presents audiences with a Lea Salonga they
have never seen before.
Salonga says, “To be perfectly honest, I hadn’t encountered this play before, which may work in my favor as I have no preconceived notions or strong opinions. After reading both Chay’s English translation and then Guelan’s translation into Pilipino, despite the literal terror I feel in my soul, this is an absolutely important work to tackle. It fits our culture and is timely given the state of current events in the world.”
The “terror” Salonga speaks of emanates from two fronts: First, the striking difference in her parenting style compared to that of Bernarda’s, and second, because the play will be entirely in Filipino.
The iconic performer shares, “Bernarda is a mother who rules the roost and
raises her
children not with love but fear. This kind of parenting still exists, whether for cultural or familial reasons, and getting under the skin of such a mother may give me some empathy for her as well as plenty of sympathy for her children. Figuring out what her backstory is will be fascinating, and what her motivations are for ruling her home with an iron fist. Her rule is law for every person living under her roof, and that house is not a happy place. How does anyone reach that point? It’s definitely going to be, dare I say, fun playing detective and piecing all that out.”
She continues, “To borrow a line from Into the Woods, I’m ‘excited and scared’. My Tagalog, strangely enough, tends to lean towards the ‘matatas’ side. I once wrote a post on Threads in Pilipino from start to finish, trying not to incorporate either English or Spanish. A few folks might’ve been surprised. As for preparations, I’ve enlisted Guelan’s help in navigating the script, and am ready to ask questions about why he chose certain words over others in his translation. His use of the language isn’t just beautiful but adds so many layers of subtext and meaning.
With Lea Salonga at its center, Ang Tahanan ni Bernarda Alba promises not
merely a performance, but a confrontation and examination of our own Filipino
family dynamics and values.
TGA's Ang Tahanan ni Bernarda Alba is from February 11 to March 21, 2027 at the Power Mac Center Spotlight Blackbox Theater, Circuit Makati.
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