Groomed by her parents to one day take an active role in the family business, this theater stalwart followed her heart instead, essaying roles from Shrek to Passion, Rama Harih to Once on this Island, without totally turning her back on her kin’s main source of bread and butter.
By ALEX Y. VERGARA
She may not be a household name yet, but to avid fans of the local theater scene, her name on the marquee is synonymous with quality productions and searing performances. Those who regularly brave Metro Manila’s traffic may even recognize her in person, thanks to her pretty, larger-than-life image splashed on several delivery trucks loaded with various bread products under the Marby brand.
It’s probably safe to say that the endorsement deal yielded her nothing, as she was most likely doing it pro bono for a higher purpose: to promote the family business her parents Mario and Baby started when she was born more than four decades ago.
To their credit, they didn’t stop their first-born from following her heart, which has eventually led her to blaze a trail no one in the family has yet to venture into. Had they insisted that she join the family business full time, Philippine theater would have been a dimmer place today for having lost a genuine triple threat talent in the person of singer-actress Shiela Valderrama.
Dream role
Deep into rehearsals for the Broadway rock musical Next to Normal, where she plays Diana Goodman, a wife and mother who suffers from bipolar disorder, Shiela takes a break to share with PeopleAsia how she manages to carve out a career in theater without completely turning her back on the thriving family business, which has since grown over the years, establishing its presence not only nationwide, but also in various parts of Asia, Australia, the Middle East and even the United States. Next to Normal ended its run last February to critical acclaim.
As the one in charge of Marby’s exports, she has had a direct hand in the company’s global expansion. Her three younger siblings are also part of the business.
It was more like child’s play to them, as Shiela and her siblings were exposed early on by their parents to Marby’s operations, teaching them to tackle various sundry tasks, especially during summer breaks. Apart from gaining knowledge, the series of on-the-job training has deepened their appreciation for the family enterprise.
“When I was pregnant, for example, I couldn’t perform on stage, so I did auditing work for Marby for a year. I’m not an accountant, but I’ve managed to do it because our parents trained us well,” says a smiling Shiela.
Shiela, a Business graduate from De La Salle University, also takes us back to one pivotal episode as a young student at O.B. Montessori. Had she not overcome a looming on-campus debacle, it would have probably spelled the end of her career even before it started.
“As early as I can remember, when I was about six or seven, I was already singing when we had guests at home,” the bright-eyed mother of one shares. “I didn’t know if I had the voice. I just sang. Di ako nahihiya. (I was undaunted).”
Before long, news of her raw talent and intrepid nature spilled over in school, where she was initially asked to sing and dance in front of the entire student body during intramurals. She was eight at the time.
Conquering stage fright
For some reason, she started getting cold feet while waiting for her cue. Her stage fright was so intense that she was soon reduced to tears. If it weren’t for the tough love treatment she got from one of her teachers, Shiela’s public debut wouldn’t have happened. Worse, she believes, it might have consigned her performing career forever to the world of what ifs.
“I was crying in the wings, but my teacher said, ‘No, you have to sing,” she recalls. The stern approach, coming from a male teacher at that, instantly removed whatever trepidations she had, allowing her to walk to the middle of the stage before belting out her rendition of Madonna’s “Papa Don’t Preach.”
“Had I allowed my fear to get the better of me, feeling ko, nakain na ako ng stage fright (stage fright would have swallowed me whole). I might never have recovered from it for the rest of my life.”
When Shiela turned 13, one of her good friends was moving to a new school. To make the most out of their remaining time together, they decided to enroll in a summer acting-and-singing workshop that was being offered by Repertory Philippines.
But as they began writing down their on-stage performances in school as required by Rep, Shiela readily edged out her dear friend by a mile. In short, they got separated, as she was assigned to Rep’s advanced classes.
One of the highlights of that summer to remember was Rep’s decision to open auditions for Cinderella. Together with tyros, newbies and a handful of pros, Shiela summoned enough courage to answer Rep’s call. Her audition piece? The Little Mermaid classic “Part of Your World.”
“Thank you…next”
The auditions became even more nerve-racking with the legendary Zenaida “Bibot” Amador and Baby Barredo, each armed with a flashlight, conducting them in a darkened theater. Just like what we usually see in the movies, some auditionees had barely opened their mouths before hearing the words “thank you” from the two, Shiela recalls. The pros, on the other hand, seemed much larger than life as they commanded the stage, unwittingly intimidating not a few nameless aspirants like her.
When her turn came, Shiela remembers waiting for a split second after finishing the song’s first stanza and asking herself if she should continue. With neither Bibot nor Baby cutting her off, she did.
“They made me finish my song,” she says. “I didn’t even know what part I was auditioning for. What I remember was I was trying to make myself appear bigger because I was so small. My fingers felt numb. Then after some time I got called back. I didn’t even know what that meant.”
She was asked to study a song in Cinderella. In the end, she landed the part of one of the fairies as well as an understudy for the title role.
Her stage debut resulted in several follow-up roles, including playing Princess Mei Li opposite a young actor playing Aladdin in a Chinese-inspired mashup of Aladdin.
As for “Part of Your World,” the song has since become one of her sentimental favorites. So much so that when she became a featured artist in the Cultural Center of the Philippines’ Triple Threat concert series last year, where she later won an Aliw Award for Best Female Performer, Shiela borrowed the song’s title for her 30th anniversary show.
Much as she wanted to continue, Shiela had to leave the theater scene sometime in the 1990s to focus on her studies. Back then, her parents viewed her foray in theater as a hobby.
It was understood that she would eventually take up Business and join Marby’s operations full time.
If it were up to her though, Shiela would have taken up Theater in college. Alas, no school in the country back then offered an undergraduate degree in that field. She gladly took up Business, majoring in Human Resource Management.
Seven-year hiatus
“For a time, I didn’t do theater,” she says. “In fact, I was on hiatus for seven years. After college, I lost contact with theater people. Even if I wanted to restart my career, I didn’t know where to begin.”
But, as that hit dinosaur movie once said, life always finds a way. Fresh from breaking up with her college sweetheart, the newly graduated Shiela was desperately looking for ways to forget and move on. Performing, she understood, could be an effective balm. But how?
Suddenly, actor Joel Trinidad, one of Shiela’s good friends, popped up and told her that he’d be joining Rep’s auditions for The Secret Garden. “He said, why don’t you come along with me to audition? I did, and I got in.”
That was in 2000. From then on, Shiela never looked back, going from role to role, stage to stage, and even doing hosting work on the side. Lately, she has begun to dabble in movies, most notably the yet-to-be-released John Arcilla-starrer Bagman. In all this time, she has never forgotten nor relinquished her real-life role in helping the family business grow.
Speaking of roles, are there any productions and juicy roles left on her bucket list after her demanding star turn in Next to Normal? “Ay, marami (oh, plenty),” she says empathically. “Evita, Satine in Moulin Rouge, Mary Magdalene in Jesus Christ Superstar, The Baker’s Wife, Once Upon a Mattress.”
As for countless starry-eyed youngsters out there dreaming of spending a long and fruitful career in theater, she advises them to work hard, hone their craft and, most importantly, be easy to work with.
“You may be the most talented person in the room, but if you’re difficult to work with, people wouldn’t want to work with you,” she concludes.
Photography by DIX PEREZ
Art direction by DEXTER FRANCIS DE VERA
Styling by GEO PALMIANO (MGP)
Makeup by JOAN CASTRO
Hair by JOSIE LACAP
All clothes by Self-portrait from MORESSI
