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Actress and dancer Nyeleti Tomás in 'The Book of Mormon'. TA
From Discovering Her Talent in Alicante to Performing in Spain's Best Musical

From Discovering Her Talent in Alicante to Performing in Spain's Best Musical

After setting her sights on Medicine, Nyeleti Tomás made a decision: "Mum, Dad, I want to dance"

Adrián Mazón

Alicante

Jueves, 30 de enero 2025, 20:10

Eight performances a week. This is the significant challenge Nyeleti Tomás faces in her current journey, in the musical 'The Book of Mormon'. Each evening, she transports herself to Uganda on the stage of Madrid's Teatro Calderón, living an anecdote - among many others - that hits close to home.

After the first songs of the musical, Spain's best in 2024, this actress takes the stage. Dressed in skins and fringes that portray, with satire as its banner, the African culture. When she takes the script, she delivers a line shared between person and character: "Thank you very much, have a good trip (to Uganda, she wishes the Mormons at the airport before departing on their mission). It must be amazing, I've never been."

It's here where the audience bursts into laughter, and Nyeleti Tomás herself also does when recounting the situation. Her father is originally from Mozambique, but she and her sister were born in the Alicante town of Dénia. The dancer and actress shares that "I am also black and have never been" to the land of her ancestors. This scene "is something that touches me deeply."

Musical 'The Book of Mormon'. TA

The laughter continues in every performance, on the same stage. "I haven't trained as an actress and can't hold back my laughter," she admits about the antics and 'gags' that occur in this musical and also when a colleague deviates from the script. Yet, this Alicante native knows how to maintain composure and integrate her emotions into the play, adding value to each performance.

Perhaps it's chance that still surprises her. The journey to 'The Book of Mormon', chosen as the best musical by the Talía Awards, Broadway World, and Musical Theatre; has been full of twists and turns. "I didn't expect it," she says before reflecting on her career, as "I realised quite late" that her destiny is dance.

This discipline, along with music, runs through Nyeleti Tomás's veins. Her father is a musician, something that influenced her early years in Dénia. It was there that she and her sister played the violin and danced flamenco at a dance school. Years later, the family moved to Barcelona, where "I followed the normal course of studies" until reaching the third year of Medicine.

At that moment, Tomás made a decision: "Mum, Dad, I want to dance." Thus, at 21, she got serious about dancing through urban dance. After her first steps, another change came with a new move to Madrid, where her academy friends are well-versed in the world of musicals, which "I had never been interested in."

However, chance is ever-present, and one of her friends sent her the casting for 'The Book of Mormon'. "I wasn't going to audition," she confesses because it required a lot of technique and "I'm urban." Even so, being past the deadline to submit the application, she decided to try her luck. The same luck that came when she was called and began to pass the stages. "The third was a surprise, I was very nervous."

Final scene of 'The Book of Mormon'. TA

During the auditions, Nyeleti Tomás recalls that "I didn't understand anything" about the text she was given. "It was a very obscene part" - it should be noted that this musical comes from the creators of 'South Park' - in which "I was in shock," she jokes after performing it almost daily. "When you see it in full (the play 'The Book of Mormon'), everything makes sense"; although the laughter continues despite knowing the script inside out.

This actress knows how to integrate them and gives an example of another scene, this time in the Ugandan village. The Mormons, once there with the mission to convert the inhabitants, tell the story of the book. Those, sitting in a circle around them, watch and react, although "depending on who is there, it can be quite critical because you have to pretend you're laughing at something happening, but you really laugh and disguise it."

'The Book of Mormon', with Nyeleti Tomás on the right. TA

It is these moments with the cast and technical team that have led Nyeleti Tomás to fall in love with musical theatre and 'The Book of Mormon'. "We have the feeling that we have done it together," as the adaptation to Spain and its culture "has been quite a challenge" in which they have participated. "There have been things where we've had to get involved."

Both in the translation of the text and adaptation of some scenes, as well as in the different gags that "have arisen from the live performance itself." From all this comes the feeling that the musical, "in a way, is ours." This has led them to celebrate the various awards achieved, among which the recognition of the audience stands out. "I have absolute admiration for the cast and a sense of personal pride" in building this story with an entire team.

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