Shiela Valderrama: Zsazsa Zaturnnah’s Queen Femina
Shiela Valderrama will play Queen Femina in Zsazsa Zaturnnah Ze Parteeeh!. Wishbone Collective’s production is planned for April 2027, with Chris Millado returning as director for what is billed as the Filipino musical’s 20th-anniversary staging.
Composer, lyricist and musical director Vincent A. de Jesus has a specific brief for his new queen. He points to Shiela’s musical theater experience as the reason she fits the part, then spells out what the role requires:
“Kailangan dito ng comic timing, vocal power, at vavavoom physical presence. Hindi puwedeng puro awra lang, kailangan may ibubuga!”
Queen Femina of Planet XXX
Her full royal introduction is Intergalactic Queen Femina Suarestellar Baroux. She rules Planet XXX and leads the Amazonistas against Zsazsa Zaturnnah, the superhero alter ego of Ada, a gay beautician. Carlo Vergara created these characters in the graphic novel that became the basis for the musical, with stage adaptation by Chris Martinez.
De Jesus describes Vergara’s world as “hyper camp” and Femina as commanding, theatrical and a loose cannon. Her Vanessa Leon battle gown, he explains, downloads martial arts capabilities. He is leaving audiences to discover how that particular wardrobe feature works onstage.
Shiela joins the Feminas
Shiela sang Sita in Rama, Hari, Alice Reyes’s production with music by Ryan Cayabyab and a libretto by Bienvenido Lumbera. She also shared Diana Goodman with Nikki Valdez in The Sandbox Collective’s 2025 Next to Normal. Her other roles include Fosca in Stephen Sondheim’s Passion and Erzulie in Once on This Island.
Queen Femina comes with her own history of performers. Agot Isidro and Kalila Aguilos shared the role in the original 2006 production. Meliza Reyes-Uy followed in 2009, then Pinky Amador in 2011. Kakki Teodoro and Anyah de Guzman played her in blueREP’s 2023 staging.
At blueREP’s 2023 press conference, fellow press members and I got talking about how we related to Vergara’s graphic novel. Zsazsa was already a classic of my generation. I was curious about how a younger audience would meet her, and what they would find in a superhero story with a gay beautician at its center.
For the Wishbone Collective production, Shiela joins Esteban Mara, previously announced as Dodong, Ada’s love interest. Further casting announcements are still to follow.
Exact performance dates and ticket-booking details have yet to be confirmed.