Menchu Lauchengco Yulo is Queen of Philippines Musical Theatre

MENCHU LAUCHENGCO YULO was introduced by Audie Gemora as the Queen of Philippine Musical Theatre. She will be very doubly busy come October as she’s playing the lead role of the bipolar heroine in Atlantis Productions repeat of the Broadway musical “Next to Normal” and she’s also directing Repertory-Stages co-production of the new version of “Peter Pan” starring Sam Concepcion. “It’s going to be tough but I welcome the challenge,” she says. “I told Director Bobby Garcia of Atlantis that I’ll just finish mounting ‘Peter Pan’ then I’ll devote my time to ‘Next to Normal’.”

As the new assistant creative director of Repertory Philippines, how’d she fill in the shoes of theatre pioneers Baby Barredo and the late Zeneida Bibot Amador? “My aim is to continue their legacy so I want to keep their vision alive in training theatre actors and giving them work. But I want to bring in a different energy by taking a more modern approach to theatre and experiment in ways of staging our newest productions. We’re excited with ‘Peter Pan’ as it’s a milestone as the very first co-production between Rep and Stages so we want to make it the biggest musical event of the year.”