Trisha Echeverria lives on!

IdeaFirst Live! is set to bring the 2015 LGBT comedy-drama film “Die Beautiful” to the stage later this year. This was revealed by Jun Robles Lana, co-Artistic Director and director of the 2015 film, during a press preview held for the upcoming stage adaptation of “Anino sa Likod ng Buwan,” set for March 2025.

“Die Beautiful” is one of the movies that IdeaFirst Live! is thinking of bringing on stage. They are also currently developing original materials for future productions. As for their motives behind their live production, Jun Robles Lana says that they want to be loud and clear about who they are and what they stand for as a company.

“If we go into musicals, the kind of materials that we will do would be something like ‘Die Beautiful.’ That’s who we are as a company and as entertainers. But definitely, one of the things we want to do is to make original materials for the stage; just because the films we made were successful doesn’t mean we’ll immediately adapt them to the stage.”

“Die Beautiful” by Jun Robles Lana

The film follows the life and story of Trisha Echevarria, a trans woman who died of a cerebral aneurysm after being crowned as Binibining Gay Pilipinas. Every day during her wake, Trisha is transformed into different female celebrities through her best friend Barbs’ skills in makeup.

The film was an entry to the 2016 Metro Manila Film Festival, where Paolo Ballesteros (Trisha Echevarria) and Christian Bables (Barbs) won the awards for “Best Actor” and “Best Supporting Actor”.  The film also competed in the Main Competition of the Tokyo International Film Festival, from Oct. 25 to Nov. 3, 2016, winning the “Best Actor” and “Audience Choice Award.”

It is followed by a sequel, “Born Beautiful” (2019), focusing on the life of Barbs, now portrayed by Martin del Rosario.