Now that Gab Pangilinan has been cast as Mary Magdalene in GMG Productions’ staging of Jesus Christ Superstar, the question is not whether she can echo Yvonne Elliman. Imitation would be unoriginal and ultimately disappointing. Mary Magdalene is not a role that benefits from replication. But it demands interpretation.

Mary Magdalene entered global pop culture through Yvonne Elliman, who originated the role on the 1970 concept album of Jesus Christ Superstar, with music by Andrew Lloyd Webber and lyrics by Tim Rice, before portraying the character in the 1973 film adaptation.

Her recording of “I Don’t Know How to Love Him” became the musical’s most commercially successful song. It crossed into mainstream radio and defined Mary long before many audiences ever saw her onstage.

Mary Magdalene cannot be sung as a sequence of correct notes. The voice must carry spiritual conflict — devotion, doubt, longing, restraint — all at once. “I Don’t Know How to Love Him” is not merely a ballad. It is a confession. Every lyric is loaded, and every phrase should not be simply delivered.

The singing must reveal interior life. The confusion has to be audible. The tenderness must be contained rather than displayed. The spirituality must feel lived rather than indicated. If the portrayal stops at vocal polish, it will fall flat. Mary works only when the audience senses a woman thinking and feeling in real time, and not an actress executing a score.

Mary Magdalene’s power lies in vulnerability. And in a musical built on spectacle and confrontation, that restraint may be the harder achievement.

Pangilinan’s theatre credits include lead roles in The Last Five Years, Side Show, Ang Huling El Bimbo The Musical, and Mula Sa Buwan. She is a three-time Philstage Gawad Buhay nominee — for Pingkian: Isang Musikal (2024), The Last Five Years (2023), and Mula Sa Buwan (2022) — and won Best Leading Female Performance (Digital) at the 27th Asian Television Awards for Still: A Musical Narrative Series. She has worked with the Philippine Educational Theater Association (PETA), Tanghalang Pilipino, Atlantis Theatrical, and Full House Theater Company.

“We are incredibly happy to have Gab Pangilinan in the international company of Jesus Christ Superstar. Gab is a respected and accomplished artist, and her casting as Mary Magdalene highlights the strength of Filipino theatre talent,” Carlos Candal, CEO of GMG Productions, said. “The excitement from audiences has been truly remarkable, and this extension allows even more theatre fans to experience this production.”

While numerous performers have taken on the role in various stagings of the hit rock musical — including Melanie C, who portrayed Mary Magdalene in the 2016 UK tour and arena run — audiences continue to look to Elliman as the reference point.

The hope is that Pangilinan’s performance will go beyond national pride. The stage does not require Elliman, nor a symbol of Filipino representation. It requires Magdalene — fully inhabited, as written in the rock opera.

Presented in Manila by GMG Productions as part of its major international tour, the production will run at The Theatre at Solaire from 2 to 31 May 2026.