Filipino American Artists Network

One of the fresh faces gracing the Broadway stage these days is Emily B. Morales. She will be playing the principal role of Liat in the South Pacific Broadway Revival (tomorrow) on Aug. 12-17 2008.

Emily B. Morales with best actor Paulo Szot

South Pacific, which is based on James Michener’s Tales of the South Pacific, starred Mary Martin as Nellie and Ezio Pinza as Emile when it opened at the Majestic Theatre on April 7th, 1949. Rodgers and Hammerstein’s second-longest running show at 1,925 performances, it won all of its 9 Tony nominations in 1950, including Best Musical. The show tells the story of the love affairs of two couples who are living on a Polynesian island during World War II. Both romances – those of Nellie Forbush and older Frenchman Emile de Becque, and Lieutenant Joe Cable and Liat – are threatened by racism and misunderstanding.

Currently, the revival has been a sell-out at Lincoln Center since receiving rave reviews and won a whopping 7 awards out of 11 nominations during the Tony Awards Night which includes the “Best Revival of a Musical.”

As Kim on "Miss Saigon"

Emily has already been performing internationally as a professional actress/singer from the Philippines before she moved to Chicago. A couple of years ago, she played one of her dream role as Kim on “Miss Saigon” at Jedlicka Performing Arts Center in Chicago. And did it again in Merry Go Round Playhouse in upstate New York last year. Then, her agent submitted her for the role of Liat understudy and she flew to New York to audition. Ever since, she has been part of the ensemble and also landed the Liat Understudy.

South Pacific rehearsal

In the interview, she said that,”I really enjoyed the whole creative process of doing a Broadway show. I enjoyed watching every actor experiment and develop each character as the rehearsal goes by. And we literally went through a bootcamp just to prepare for this show. We were given a lot of research materials, a military historian came to discuss with the cast, World War II veterans came to tell us stories when they were in South Pacific, people from US Navy and Marines came to answer questions, and someone from the medical field discussed post-traumatic stress from war. It was very educational. When tech rehearsals came, seeing the amazing set which consists of airplane and trucks and special effects reminds me every day that I’m definitely in a big budget Broadway production.”

I asked her what’s the difference in working as a stage actress in the Philippines and working on Broadway. She mentioned that,”..rehearsals in the US is like a full-time job. Unlike in the Philippines where the usual rehearsals are after office hours, like 7-10pm for two or three months. Here in Equity houses, rehearsals are usually 10am-6pm and we rehearse for two weeks or more if its a new show.”

One of her dream roles is to play Maria in “West Side Story” and Luisa in “Fantasticks.” She also hopes that someday, she’ll originate a role from a new musical. She also looks up to Johanna Ampil, Lea Salonga, Kelli O’Hara as actresses to emulate as a performer.

She agreed that there’s an emergence of Filipino Americans who are getting more roles in Broadway, “there’s definitely quite a few Filipino actors out there on Broadway. It’s great because they become the inspiration to a lot of Asian Americans pursuing theatre.”

Last but not the least, I asked her what message would she like to convey to aspiring musical theater actors/actress who wants to make it in Broadway? She strongly suggests that, “you just have to believe in yourself and reach for your dreams.”