It takes a brilliant actress to be nice to kids offstage and terrifying on stage as the miserable Miss Hannigan in Resorts World Manila’s (RWM) upcoming family musical Annie. Menchu Lauchengco-Yulo is definitely the perfect actress for it.
Also serving as co-artistic director for RWM’s Full House Theater Company and president of new thespian foundation Original Pilipino Performing Arts, the award-winning actress, together with director Michael Williams, is currently enjoying the company of the musical’s kids cast during rehearsals, teaching them such technical elements as projection, performance energy, and going for the truth.
“Michael and I took the kids through a workshop the whole of May,” she shared. “We focused on both Annie and the orphans. Some have experience but a lot don’t and we needed to work on the children one on one to get them ready,” she added.
While admitting that she’s growing fonder of the adorable kids everyday, Lauchengco-Yulo stays focused on teaching the young ones Theater 101. “I keep telling them they have to stop hugging me because they have to hate me but it doesn’t work,” she said jokingly. “I have fallen in love with each and every one of those girls so it will entail a lot of acting on my part”.
As Miss Hannigan, Luchengco-Yulo needed to dig deeper into the character in order to create multiple dimensions of the same for audiences. “I always work inside out. I create a history of my character. Each character I play, particularly a “villain,” must stem from a reason or action. If I don’t justify why she behaves a certain way then my character will be one dimensional,” she revealed.
When asked what she discovered about Miss Hannigan during her character study, she shares a sad truth that quite many adults would be able to relate to. “I think there are a lot of Miss Hannigans out there. You start out idealistic about life, then in the blink of an eye, you are old and life has passed you by,” she shared.
Though very much adaptable to challenging roles, the First Lady of Philippine Musical Theater is all set and ready to play Miss Agatha Hannigan when Annie opens on Sept. 30 at RWM’s Newport Performing Arts Theater. “Hannigan is a drunk and she is always intimidated. I think she drinks to escape her problems,” she said of her role. “I will need to portray her intoxicated, but I will not make it too over the top. More like she is coping with being drunk,” she added.
In real life however, Lauchengco-Yulo is definitely no Miss Hannigan with her own children Nicole and Luis growing up. “Oh gosh… No! I wasn’t the disciplinarian at all. I always gave in to them but within reason,” she concluded.
Tickets for Annie are now available at the RWM Box Office and all TicketWorld outlets.
Visit www.rwmanila.com/web/annie-the-musical/ for more information.