New York, January 18, 2012 – TV, film, and Broadway actress J. Elaine Marcos can’t shy away from the fact that she’s a distant relative of the Marcoses, the Philippines’ most controversial political clan. Apart from the obvious last name and broadly similar facial features as Imee Marcos, the current governor of the northern province of Ilocos Norte, J. Elaine even made a cameo appearance as Imee’s mom, Imelda Marcos, the Philippines’ former first lady, in the Broadway musical comedy The Wedding Singer five years ago. Nonetheless, the Marcoses (and Filipinos around the world) should pay attention to this petite, brown-skinned, talented actress – J. Elaine happens to be carrying an impressive Broadway resume that includes Miss Saigon, Flower Drum Song, Wonderful Town, Sweet Charity, again The Wedding Singer, A Chorus Line, and her latest assignment, Priscilla: Queen of the Desert, where she does a show-stealing turn as Cynthia, a feisty Filipina mail-order bride who performs the late ‘70s hit single “Pop Muzik” (interspersed with lyrics in Filipino, e.g. “isa, dalawa, tatlo, I’m rapping in Filipino”) while blowing out ping-pong balls into the audience.
“Comedy, first of all, is something I absolutely love. If there’s one thing that I really know very well, it’s this character [Cynthia]. I’ve said many times that Cynthia’s like my mom: Cynthia's over-the-topness – that kind of exaggerated persona – is what I love to do because I don’t ever really get to do that at all in my real life. When it comes to other comedies, I tend to do it completely subtle and dry. With Cynthia, I feel completely at home doing it. I don’t feel artificial,” J. Elaine tells BroadwayWorld.com in an exclusive one-on-one interview. “However, I’m not really good at ping-pong. But, I’m good at bowling; I’d go for the big balls,” she bursts out.
American singer, actress, and comedian Bette Midler brings the screen-to-stage adaptation of Priscilla: Queen of the Desert to Broadway, which opened at Palace Theatre (1564 Broadway) in March 2011 and recently announced performance schedules running through September 2012. The Tony Award-winning musical (Best Costume Design for Tim Chappel and Lizzy Gardiner) tells the story of Bernadette (Tony Sheldon), Mitzi (Will Swenson), and Adam (Nick Adams) – three drag queens-cum-best friends who engage in their wildest road trip ever (driving the “Priscilla” bus across the Australian desert), where they meet J. Elaine’s Cynthia and husband to Cynthia, Bob (C. David Johnson), an Australian mechanic who eventually joins the drag queens’ expedition.
Except for Tony, who originated the role of Bernadette in Australia five years ago, J. Elaine, Will, Nick, C. David, and the rest of the original Broadway cast of Priscilla first performed their respective roles via the North American premiere of Priscilla in Toronto, six months prior to opening on Broadway. J. Elaine recalls, “The Canadians loved it. I’m not used to an audience getting up, dancing, pumping fists in the air, and wearing [pink] boas at the same time. Especially in the last show I was in, which was A Chorus Line, there wasn’t even an opportunity on that show at the very end for the audience to clap because we had this finale ["One"] which people think was our last number; but that was actually our bows. They were singing along with it; they were just sitting in their seats; but, they never had the opportunity to clap.”
