GIBBS CADIZ

Nonie Buencamino pays tribute to Daisy Hontiveros Avellana with haunting Sa Ugoy ng Duyan

noreply@blogger.com (gibbs cadiz) — Fri, 17 May 2013 12:44:00 +0000

Performed at the necrological rites for National Artist for Theater Daisy Hontiveros Avellana this morning, May 17, 2013, Tanghalang Nicanor Abelardo (Main Theater), Cultural Center of the Philippines.

With Ballet Philippines dancers (choreography by Denisa Reyes) and the Philippine Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by Olivier Ochanine. Music and lyrics of Sa Ugoy ng Duyan by National Artist for Music Lucio San Pedro.

The year’s performances to remember–so far

noreply@blogger.com (gibbs cadiz) — Fri, 10 May 2013 18:02:00 +0000

Philippine Daily Inquirer, 05.11.2013

COUNT THEM—22 PRODUCTIONS in just the first five months of the year, from the small two-character drama (“Red”) to the all-stops-out musical extravaganza (“Ibalong,” “Katy”). Local theater is at its most prolific and exciting in years; and so, before the last days of summer ring the curtain down on the old season to usher in the new by June—and with memory the only antidote to the ephemeral nature of theater—we thought we’d look back and salute the performances that lit up the stage and occasioned cheers in the previous months.

Here, our resident Inquirer Theater writers Walter Ang, Totel de Jesus and Cora Llamas, plus guest contributor Glenn Sevilla Mas, coordinator of Ateneo de Manila’s Theater Arts program and a jury member of the Philstage Gawad Buhay! Awards, share their thumbs-up list. (In no particular order, and only from the shows we saw, needless to say—hence my longer list; I caught all 22 productions, sometimes more than once for the cast alternates—Ed.)

Drum roll, please...

WALTER ANG
• Cheeno Macaraig (Tanghalang Pilipino’s “Ibalong”): Vivid and charismatic as Young Handyong, agile and acrobatic as Makusog.

• Pinky Amador (Atlantis Productions’ “Piaf”): Powerful and evocative.

• Jamie Wilson (Viva Atlantis Theatricals’ “The Full Monty”): Comes across as the most real of the characters, imbuing his performance with a natural ease.

• OJ Mariano (“The Full Monty”): Funny, earnest, tender, committed to his character.

• The ensemble of Peta’s “D’Wonder Twins of Boac”: Talented, tight and generous.

CORA LLAMAS
• Audie Gemora (Repertory Philippines’ “No Way to Treat a Lady”): It takes an excellent actor such as Gemora to play a bad one in all his miserable glory.

• Bart Guingona (The Necessary Theater’s “Red”): Brings his usual intensity, intelligence and depth to the role of Mark Rothko.

• Teetin Villanueva (Dulaang UP’s “Collection”): Commanding center stage every time she appeared, her poetic subtlety overshadowed the louder characters in the play.

• Nonie Buencamino, Menchu Lauchengco-Yulo (Resorts World Manila’s “The King and I”): Emotional clarity, restrained passion, musical precision—plus the undeniable chemistry between these two performers enabled their pairing to go beyond personal interaction to embody the cultural tension between East and West.

• Jamie Wilson (“The Full Monty”): That he managed to lend strong support while shining quietly on his own showed a master actor in control of his craft, who knew when to give in and when to pull back.

TOTEL DE JESUS
• Audie Gemora (“No Way To Treat A Lady”): Such ease in portraying a most complex character—a serial killer with a sense of humor.

• Red Concepcion (“Collection” and 4th Wall Theater Company’s “Rivalry”): He could jump from one play to another, English to Filipino or vice versa, and he’d be a standout among the veterans, even in a supporting role.

• Fred Lo (Culture Shock Productions’ “Sa Wakas”): Sang his way into the hearts of a new theatergoing generation with a breakthrough performance.

• Carla Dunareanu (Repertory Philippines’ “Boeing Boeing”): A natural, she created the most comic and lovable character in the play.

• Pinky Amador (“Piaf”): One could smell her liquor-nicotine breath—from the balcony. She was that powerful.

• Jamie Wilson (“The Full Monty”): The charming, funny, hug-magnet dude every mother would want to bring home after the play.

• The ensemble of “Ibalong”: Each actor contributing to a heightened experience and turning the original ethno-rock Filipino musical into a smashing experience.

GLENN SEVILLA MAS
• Cris Villonco (“D’Wonder Twins of Boac”): Perfectly cast as Viola, with the requisite charm and spunk to pull off this difficult cross-dressing Shakespearean role. What can Villonco, arguably the best and most versatile actress of this generation, not do?

• Shamaine Centenera-Buencamino (“D’Wonder Twins of Boac”): Pure comic gold. Buencamino owned the stage every time her eternally mourning Olivia made an entrance and struck a tragic heroine’s pose on it.

• The cast of “Himala: The 10th-Anniversary Celebration of the Musical”: Glorious singing and beautiful ensemble work, with Dulce, Kalila Aguilos and Cynthia Culig-Guico turning in powerful and nuanced performances.

• OJ Mariano, Jamie Wilson (“The Full Monty”): Nuanced and endearing performances, unlike most of their co-actors’ turns in this fun but ultimately forgettable production.

• Dulaang Sipat Lawin; Blanche Buhia (“Art,” “Sige, Ma” and “Isla Palasan”): The three plays showcased range, outstanding ensemble work and solid individual performances rarely seen in very young actors. Buhia stood out as an exciting young actress who could switch smoothly from comedy to tragedy in three disparate productions that played one after the other in only one day.

GIBBS CADIZ
• Isay Alvarez, Aicelle Santos, Tirso Cruz III (Spotlight Artist Centre’s “Katy”): The three pillars of this otherwise wobbly production—especially Santos who dazzled in her stage debut.

• Topper Fabregas, Carla Dunareanu (“Boeing Boeing”): Truly funny in a truly wacky vintage farce.

• Cris Villonco, Paolo Rodriguez, Shamaine Centenera-Buencamino, Gail Billones (“D’Wonder Twins of Boac”): Strong ensemble, but these four offered the most vivid characters, with Buencamino and Billones trading hilarious turns as Donya Olivia.

• Nikki Gil, Loi Martinez (9 Works Theatrical’s “They’re Playing Our Song”): Lovely pairing that lent magic and snap to a dated musical.

• Cheeno Macaraig, Delphine Buencamino, Jenine Desiderio (“Ibalong”): The fiercest performers in a rip-roaring, expertly staged musical pageant.

• Teetin Villanueva (“Collection”): Anchored a visually and intellectually restless play with her sublimely still presence.

• Bart Guingona, Joaquin Valdes (“Red”): An ideal tandem—unfakably intelligent actors in a compelling drama of ideas.

• Audie Gemora (“No Way to Treat a Lady”): Veteran versatility on display, despite the rather quaint material.

• Pinky Amador (“Piaf”): A compleat disappearing act that will be long remembered as an acting high point in contemporary local theater.

• Reb Atadero (Repertory Philippines’ “The Graduate”): Persuasive as Benjamin Braddock, the saving grace of this tedious stage adaptation of the classic novel/film.

• Jamie Wilson (“The Full Monty”): He’s too much of a team player to bask in this— but he acted circles around everyone and still didn’t come off as a show-off.

• Nonie Buencamino, Menchu Lauchengco-Yulo (“The King and I”): When the confrontation between Buencamino’s monarch and Yulo’s Anna over the whipping of the slave girl Tuptim suddenly packs a fresh, revelatory wallop, you know you’re watching master artists in an inspired matchup.

• Dulce, Isay Alvarez, Kalila Aguilos, May Bayot, Cynthia Culig-Guico, the ensemble of “Himala: The 10th-Anniversary Celebration of the Musical”: Splendid singing all around, the overall experience akin to an oratorio.

• Victor Robinson III, Fred Lo, Caisa Borromeo, the ensemble of “Sa Wakas”: Finally, a true Pinoy pop-rock musical, vibrantly sung and throbbing with youthful spunk.

• The cast of Dulaang Sipat Lawin’s “Isla Palasan”: Graduating theater students of the Philippine High School for the Arts delivering an adaptation of Martin McDonagh’s “The Cripple of Inishmaan” with quite startling skill and maturity.

[Photo 1: TheStageDoorCanteen.tumblr.com]

Sa Wakas--nothing less than a prototype for the Pinoy jukebox musical

noreply@blogger.com (gibbs cadiz) — Fri, 26 Apr 2013 16:14:00 +0000

Philippine Daily Inquirer, 04.27.2013

While we’re waiting for the definitive original Pinoy rock musical to appear, this production, borrowed music and all, will do–gloriously

OF THE 20 SONGS by Sugarfree featured in “Sa Wakas,” the jukebox musical woven around the music of the late great pop-rock band that’s on its last weekend at the Peta Theater Center, nearly every other number has been a chart-topper, or at least a staple of the radio-music TV loop for years.

Only one new song was written specifically for the show—“Bawat Daan,” the thrilling anthem that closes Act 1 which, weeks before the musical’s opening, had also made the rounds of social media via a well-produced music video.

And yet, despite the sheer familiarity of the songs, which envelops “Sa Wakas” in an electric wall of sound for close to three hours, not a hint of staleness or exhaustion marks the musical. The sensation felt is more like a blast of fresh air—at the way the show’s creators have transcended the limitations of the jukebox musical, the bold thematic and stylistic choices they’ve made, and, not least, the vitality of the young breakthrough talent on display.

For the record, “Sa Wakas” is not the first Pinoy jukebox musical. That distinction goes to Tanghalang Pilipino’s “EJ: Ang Pinagdaanang Buhay nina Evelio Javier at Edgar Jopson,” which used the songbook of the seminal rock band The Dawn to retell, in a fictional intertwining, the lives of two towering Atenean freedom fighters during the Marcos era.

The 2008 musical, as we wrote then, was waylaid by a didactic, hagiographical script, but “It did get one thing right: The Dawn. The pioneering band’s thrillingly rangy, full-bodied music, a creature of more recent vintage, perfectly captured the restless, activist spirit of the Marcos years. The exploding drums, the twanging guitar, Jett Pangan’s astonishingly forceful vocals—they galvanized to surging life the rage and mayhem, the fear and confusion of the country’s long dark night under martial law.”

Vibrant ensemble
Unlike Pangan, who played Jopson (opposite Ricky Davao’s Javier) in “EJ,” Sugarfree’s songwriter and lead vocalist Ebe Dancel hasn’t deigned to try his hand at musical theater by belting out his own songs in “Sa Wakas.”

Instead, he has let a vibrant ensemble do the honors for him, in a musical that, while honoring the music it borrows with imaginative reconfigurations of Sugarfree’s songs, also manages to show off the solid first-time efforts of creator-producer Charissa Ann Pammit, writers Andrei Nikolai Pamintuan and Marianne A.R.T. Abuan, and Pamintuan’s own thoughtful, unflashy direction.

For a measure of the youthful cheek that informs “Sa Wakas,” the show’s makeshift playbill (itself a model of its kind with well-written program notes and hip visuals) is a good starting ground. On its inside back cover is a quote from “Our Time,” the closing song of Stephen Sondheim’s 1981 musical “Merrily We Roll Along:” “Something is stirring, shifting ground/It’s just begun. Edges are blurring all around/And yesterday is done.”

One may take the lyrics as simply the producers of the show (Culture Shock Productions and FringeMNL) artfully announcing their entry into the local theater scene, with “Sa Wakas” as their inaugural effort. Seeing the show, however, reveals a deeper explanation—and ambition.

“Sa Wakas” takes not only after the inverted-time structure of the Sondheim musical, where the story moves backward in chronology and incident, but also its thematic preoccupation—the evolution of youthful hopes into grown-up disappointments (a subject the titan of American musical theater has delved into more than once, from “Follies” to “Into the Woods”).

Pat assumptions
In “Merrily We Roll Along,” it’s a trio of 1950s college graduates and fast friends transitioning into sellout versions of themselves by the ’70s. In “Sa Wakas,” the set-up is similar, though more tightly focused: three individuals—a struggling artist-photographer (Topper, played alternately by Victor Robinson III and Fred Lo); his fiancée of six years (Lexi, a neurosurgeon—Caisa Borromeo and Laura Cabochan); and the free-spirited woman (Gabbi, a writer-editor—Kyla Rivera and Justine Peña) who comes into their lives and, over the course of a few months, nudges the pat assumptions of their relationship into free fall.

Act 1 is a big chunk of exposition, as the messy aftermath of Topper’s infidelity plays out in scenes of recrimination and fury, Dancel’s loping melodies meanwhile providing commentary, elaboration or punctuation to the characters’ emotional states.

The matching of music with mood and scene is exemplary. In “Wala,” Lexi and Topper rage at each other to a rocking score that sears the mind and heart— though, occasionally, the pre-existing lyrics trip up the enterprise. In the middle of the tumult, for instance, the audience titters at Lexi singing “Wala nang Lotlot sa iyong Monching, wala nang Romnick sa aking Sheryl, wala nang Gabby sa ating Shawie.”

Ejay Yatco’s musical direction (he leads a five-member band onstage), while starting out strong with a soaringly rearranged and sung first number (“Kwarto”), raises early worry by settling quickly into a rather rote formula: The musical numbers typically rise to a climactic big moment, then taper off to an a cappella or pianissimo finish.

Fortunately both the story and Dancel’s music have legroom for stretching out. In Act 2, as the narrative moves from the one-note anguish of the early scenes to brighter, sunnier moments in the characters’ younger lives, the sound gets more agile and variegated, and the true breadth of Yatco’s reimagining of Sugarfree’s songs, from the grandly harmonic (“Mariposa”) to the sweetly delicate (“Tulog Na”), is admirably laid out.

Sincerity and wit
Pamintuan and Abuan’s book could stand some trimming, if not care (Gabbi at one point says she’s become the “feature editor” of her magazine, a line uncorrected in all three shows we saw; it’s “features editor”).

But whatever the sags here and there, the good-natured sincerity and wit of the material carry the day (the ubiquitous “Hari ng Sablay,” for instance, is utilized in unexpectedly delightful ways throughout the story). And the characters’ lines have a practical, commonsense ring to them. Take Topper: “Minsan kasi ang sarap lang malito. The idea of being in between and not choosing makes perfect sense.”

The topical pull also derives in part from the writers’ apparent trawling of experience close to their own skin. When Topper mentions going off to the Adelaide Fringe Festival, that’s Pamintuan—a habitue of such art fests—talking.

References to “hipsters,” Cubao X, Joss Whedon and Star Cinema movies populate the dialogue, imparting persuasive texture to the characters’ young-urban-professional milieu—while also turning the pop-culture shorthand into moments of ironic humor meant to blunt any whiff of either TV soap (Gabbi: “Ano ba tayo, nakikiuso? Teleserye, kabit movie?”) or rom-com treacle (Topper aping John Lloyd Cruz’s dramatics in “One More Chance”) souring the narrative.

Terrific actors
Pamintuan has kept the proceedings on a rigorously naturalistic plane, the artifice reduced to a minimum—not a single dance step or piece of choreography in any of the musical numbers, for instance, and the actors framed by a spare, impressionistic set (by Julian Vincent Cayabyab). The salutary effect is to bring the music into high relief, and the (mostly) terrific actors who sing it.

As Topper, Robinson and Lo are a study in contrasts. The latter has a clean, high, dashing sound in a charming dreamboat package, and brings a more pronounced actorly range to his conflicted character. But Robinson, who incarnates a darker if stiffer version of Topper, has the true rock star’s voice, an instrument so powerful and resonant that, whenever it is unleashed, the musical finds its most elemental, and exhilarating, reason for being.

The four girls, meanwhile, have uniformly vigorous voices, though a couple of songs meant for Gabbi (notably “Hintay” in Act 1) sit too low on Rivera and Peña’s vocal registers. Cabochan has a particularly gorgeous sound, but it’s Borromeo who creates a fully realized Lexi, her line readings as accomplished as her singing.

A four-member ensemble of three girls and one guy acts as a sort of Greek chorus-backup group. One deserves special mention for a memorable solo moment: Hans Dimayuga, as Topper’s OFW brother in the poignant number “Dear Kuya,” blows the roof off with his unexpectedly formidable pipes (Dimayuga used to be a child actor with Repertory Philippines, but, before “Sa Wakas,” has not appeared in a musical for years). When he and Robinson blend their voices, the musical reaches its most explosive aural moment.

Crossroads
For the care and integrity with which it has managed to merge contemporary Pinoy pop-rock into the musical-theater form (bypassing the traditional hallmarks of the local variety, from the requisite big themes to the larger-than-life staging and the indispensable takeaway moral at the end), “Sa Wakas” should mark a crossroads in the development of the Filipino musical.

In 1989, Inquirer editor in chief Letty Jimenez Magsanoc, then still writing a column for the paper, hailed “Katy!” and its makers (music by Ryan Cayabyab; libretto by José Javier Reyes) for having succeeded in creating “the prototype for the Filipino musical.”

“Sa Wakas” extends the envelope a bit further—as the prototype for the Filipino jukebox musical. If this genre is here to stay, think of the wealth of material out there—the music of the Apo (“I Do Bidoo Bidoo” is a movie musical quite itching for a stage counterpart), the Eraserheads, Gary Granada, Freddie Aguilar, George Canseco, Vehnee Saturno, Rey Valera, Odette Quesada, Willy Cruz, Joey Ayala, the Manila Sound pioneers (Viva Atlantis Theatricals has announced it is developing a musical based on the music of the Hotdog band), Ryan Cayabyab’s pop hits, the entire Viva songbook, and yes, The Dawn...

So, while we’re waiting for the definitive original Pinoy rock musical to appear, something like “Sa Wakas,” borrowed music and all, will do—gloriously.

Culture Shock Productions and FringeMNL’s “Sa Wakas” has remaining performances today and tomorrow, 3 and 8 p.m., at Peta Theater Center, 5 Eymard Drive, New Manila, Quezon City. Call 9115555 or visit www.sawakas.com.

[All photos by JORY RIVERA except #1 and #4]

First look: Christian Bautista and Karylle in Resorts World Manila's upcoming Cinderella

noreply@blogger.com (gibbs cadiz) — Tue, 23 Apr 2013 10:38:00 +0000

Christian Bautista and Karylle sing Ten Minutes Ago, a number from the Rodgers & Hammerstein musical Cinderella, which they will headline at Resorts World Manila beginning October 2013. They were presented to the media at the presscon for the show this afternoon, April 23, 2013.

Alternating with Christian as the Prince is Fred Lo; Karylle's Cinderella will have Julia Abueva as alternate, and Justine Pena as understudy. Menchu Lauchengco-Yulo will play the Fairy Godmother. Michael Williams directs.

Yes, this is the same Cinderella musical done by Lea Salonga and an international touring cast in 2008, at the CCP Main Theater under Bobby Garcia's direction.

Call (02) 9088833 or visit www.rwmanila.com for tickets, details and show schedules.

The Graduate on stage is not The Graduate we know

noreply@blogger.com (gibbs cadiz) — Sat, 20 Apr 2013 18:51:00 +0000

Philippine Daily Inquirer, 04.21.2013

THE RED FLAGS come up early in Repertory Philippines’ production of “The Graduate,” the screen-to-stage adaptation (running until April 28 at Onstage, Greenbelt 1) otherwise directed with customary gloss and professionalism by Jaime del Mundo.

Playwright Terry Johnson ostensibly sourced the text from both the original 1963 novel (more like a novella, actually—it was that slim and spare) by Charles Webb, and the screenplay by Calder Willingham and Buck Henry that became the basis for the classic 1967 film by Mike Nichols which turned Anne Bancroft into an improbable object of adolescent wet dreams for a generation or two of moviegoers, and launched Dustin Hoffman into stardom.

We say “ostensibly,” because while this adaptation incorporated a chapter from the book not included in the movie (that one about Benjamin’s solo jaunt among firemen and hookers), Johnson in fact altered the DNA of the material by hacking off or rewriting whole passages and adding four brand-new scenes, the unfortunate result of which turns the savage, razor-sharp human comedy we fondly remember in “The Graduate” into a limp, frazzled facsimile of itself.

Overdramatic
The first inkling of this comes minutes into the play: As Mr. Braddock (Del Mundo) coaxes Benjamin (Reb Atadero) out of his room to greet the posse of tanned, vacuous California well-offs partying in the Braddocks’ living room to toast his return from college, Benjamin refuses to meet them, finally blurting out: “They’re grotesque, Dad! I’m grotesque! We’re all grotesque!”

Huh? Benjamin, the disaffected 20-year-old rendered painfully awkward and near-inarticulate by his sense of ennui—“We see and hear the incomprehension in his very language, which is dull and inexpressive,” said the writer Hanif Kureishi—sounding this overdramatic?

The book and movie sketched no such thing, but a more nuanced moment with Benjamin asking for some time alone by telling his father: “I’m grotesque. This house is grotesque. It’s just this feeling I have all of a sudden. And I don’t know why.”

Cutting corners
Next comes the pivotal seduction scene. Mrs. Robinson (Pinky Marquez) barges into Benjamin’s room, lights a cigarette and tries to engage the boy in intimate talk by revealing she’s an alcoholic. When Benjamin asks her to leave, she asks him, instead, to drive her home.

At which point Benjamin sputters in embarrassed protest, ticks off Mrs. Robinson’s suspect actions so far—“You start opening up your personal life to me, you ask me to drive you home”—and then that famous question: “Mrs. Robinson, you’re trying to seduce me. Aren’t you?”

The movie dialogue, culled from the book, is this: “For God’s sake, Mrs. Robinson. Here we are, you got me into your house, you give me a drink, you put on music. Now you start opening up your personal life to me and tell me your husband won’t be home for hours.”

Mrs. Robinson: “So?” (Sitting on a bar stool, she lifts one knee—cut to that iconic image of Hoffman framed by the crook of her leg.)

“Mrs. Robinson, you’re trying to seduce me. Aren’t you?”

For the play to transpose the seduction scene from the Robinsons’ empty house to Benjamin’s room while his parents, as well as Mrs. Robinson’s husband and a whole menagerie of their nosy friends, are downstairs—and for Benjamin to arrive at his moment of realization merely after Mrs. Robinson’s request for a drive home—comes off as disingenuous, a cynical way to cut corners.

Webb’s original sardonic voice, hilarious in the book and movie for its precision and irony, is clearly being forced into the guise of farce, and the slip shows.

Fatal tone
The clearest confirmation of that fatal shift in tone comes minutes later, when, with Mrs. Robinson safe in the bathroom after having appeared in the altogether before a shocked Benjamin, the woman’s husband (Jeremy Domingo) comes in, barely missing the scene. Noticing the sweaty, distraught boy, he asks what the matter is. “I’m just worried about my future,” says Benjamin.

The audience laughs at this, of course. How could they not, when the play sets it up as a punchline?

But worrying about the future is exactly Benjamin’s honest dilemma. It’s a sentiment he has expressed at least twice before, to his dad and Mrs. Robinson, in scenes the play had apparently cut out. It’s also the heart, not incidentally, of why “The Graduate” became such a touchstone piece of pop culture in its time (an early poster of the film carried the tagline: “This is Benjamin. He’s a little worried about his future.”).

That sense of uncertainty was what fired up the generational rebellion brewing up in Benjamin and his real-life peers—their rejection of the deadening materialism (“Plastics!”—enthused Mr. McGuire, a businessman-associate of his dad; in the play, it becomes Mr. Robinson’s line) and sclerotic worldview of their parents and the larger establishment.

To treat this line now as a fib, a throwaway riposte in a bedroom gag, renders nonsensical much of Benjamin’s angst and virtually robs the “The Graduate” of its satirical snap. The play must now strain at desperate comedy, at one point even involving Mr. Robinson, in a (badly-written) new scene near the end, wielding an ax at Benjamin.

Soggy lines
The sentimentalism kept at bay by Webb’s lean dialogue, adopted wholesale by the film, also manages to run riot here, as Johnson burdens the protagonists, notably Mrs. Robinson’s daughter Elaine, with soggy lines and characterization.

Cara Barredo plays the girl with a high-pitched, saccharine edge—an Elaine contemporized into a well-traveled woman passionate about art and civil-rights issues but who, in Benjamin’s presence, wilts and frets that she’s an intellectual inferior. And in a wholly gratuitous drunken scene between mother and daughter after Mrs. Robinson’s secret is revealed, she is given lines such as: “Love is littler and littler until it’s gone… I’m gonna have a forever love.”

Johnson must have confused “The Graduate” with that benchmark movie of a different decade, “Love Story.”

Imperious relish
So how does Marquez’s Mrs. Robinson fare in this overripe environment? She works hard for the allure, certainly. Marquez’s early scenes gleam with imperious relish, her arch line readings sometimes approaching high camp (“Dahling,” she calls Benjamin; asked about her college course, she replies, “Aht”).

But Marquez’s naturally warm, maternal exterior proves hard to subvert, especially with embellished scenes meant to show her character in a more sympathetic light that, in the end, only saddles Mrs. Robinson (Kureishi again: “One of the great monstrous creations of our time”) with verbose explanation and backstory.

Ultimately, it’s a performance that recalls what The Daily Mirror’s Tony Purnell said of Kathleen Turner’s much-ballyhooed debut of the part in the West End: “It will not win her a Bafta but she deserves a medal for bravery.”

(Don’t ask us why he cited the British Academy of Film and Television Arts instead of the Olivier Awards—which snubbed Turner’s Mrs. Robinson, by the way.)

Winning Benjamin
The medal for accomplishment should go, instead, to Atadero, who creates a winning Benjamin of nervy intelligence and fine tragicomic flair. Even at its most off-putting (Johnson’s tacked-on scene at the church, for instance, has Benjamin badgering Elaine to marry him ad nauseam), Atadero’s profile of youthful dysfunction is never less than sympathetic.

Because of the parade of skin-baring middle-aged vixens who have become associated with the stage Mrs. Robinson, from Turner (who also brought it to Broadway) to Anne Archer and Jerry Hall in London, the part has all but overshadowed the emblematic role of the restless young man whose grand act of giving the old taboos and proprieties the finger—having an affair with a married older woman, then running off with her daughter—in fact constitutes the vital central drama of “The Graduate.”

How many do remember that it was Jason Biggs—of “American Pie”—who squared off against Turner in New York? Here, Atadero’s smartly measured turn has the effect of righting the balance for his hapless alter-ego.

Fair comparison
Is it fair to judge the stage adaptation against the book and movie? Well, other than the fact that the play itself claims to be more faithful to the original text, the theatrical version has no qualms borrowing from and regurgitating tropes made familiar by the film.

It opens, for instance, with the heavy, anxious breathing Benjamin makes inside the scuba diver’s mask given to him by his dad—a device that Nichols used to brilliant effect in the film to underline the young man’s sense of alienation and disorientation.

Mio Infante’s perspective set of louvered walls and panels not only reinforces that sense of isolation with its often dead-center framing of the action; when lighted (by John Batalla), it also relives the shaded, broken lighting of Benjamin and Mrs. Robinson’s hotel trysts in the film, a visual cue to the illicit nature of their relationship.

There, too, is the essential music of Simon and Garfunkel accompanying crucial moments in the play, or their words sometimes employed as inner monologues (sung as a cappella voice-overs by Atadero) to punctuate or frame scenes.

And a couple of visual jokes—Benjamin and the hotel bellboy (Joel Trinidad, also the hippie psychologist and a couple of other characters) inadvertently fighting over the bell, and Mrs. Robinson blowing smoke after Benjamin’s first gawky attempt at kissing her—come straight from the movie.

All these are efficiently and quite seamlessly directed by Del Mundo. But because he has hewed to the adaptation’s newfound spirit of inflated, knowing flippancy, the material, for all its giddy energy, seems a diminished version of its antecedents, far flatter and flimsier than it ever was. In academic terms, this “Graduate” would be a squeaker.

Rep's The Graduate opens tonight, runs until April 28

noreply@blogger.com (gibbs cadiz) — Fri, 05 Apr 2013 12:57:00 +0000

Repertory Philippines presents the stage adaptation of one of the most powerful stories of sexual awakening and coming-of-age ever told, “The Graduate”--originally a novel by Charles Webb published in 1963, then made into a Hollywood film in 1967 directed by Mike Nichols and starring Dustin Hoffman, Anne Bancroft and Katharine Ross.

The song from that movie--“Mrs Robinson”, popularized by Simon & Garfunkel--became a chart-topping pop hit when it was released in 1968.

Rep's “The Graduate” is based on Terry Johnson’s adaptation and on the screenplay by Calder Willingham and Buck Henry, with direction by Jaime del Mundo. It stars Pinky Marquez as Mrs. Robinson and Reb Atadero as Benjamin Braddock, the young university graduate played by Dustin Hoffman in the movie.

At the center of the story is the affair that blooms between Benjamin Braddock and Mrs. Robinson. Restless and wondering what to do now that he has graduated from college, Braddock is drawn to the older, seductive temptress. Braddock’s parents, unaware of what is going on—and wanting to get their son to commit to something—set him up on a date with Robinson’s daughter Elaine. Although the date gets off on the wrong foot, the two young people eventually fall in love, with explosive consequences.

Also in the cast are Cara Barredo, Jeremy Domingo, Jaime del Mundo, Angela Padilla, Nathalie Everett and Joel Trinidad.

“The Graduate” opens tonight and runs until April 28 at Onstage, Greenbelt 1. For ticket reservations, call Repertory Philippines 5716926 or Ticketworld 8919999.

Open auditions for Tanghalang Ateneo's Ang Mandaragit: Isang Orestaya

noreply@blogger.com (gibbs cadiz) — Mon, 01 Apr 2013 16:20:00 +0000

Tanghalang Ateneo's 35th season-opener, "Ang Mandaragit: Isang Orestaya," will be holding OPEN AUDITIONS on April 15 (Monday) and April 17 (Wednesday), 5-8 p.m., at the Fine Arts Black Box Studio, Fine Arts Annex (Old Communication Building), Ateneo de Manila University.

The play is an adaptation of "Oresteia" by Aeschylus, with text written by Jay Crisostomo IV. The production design will be by Gino Gonzales, sound and music design by Teresa Barrozo and direction by Ricardo Abad and Myra Beltran.

It will be staged at the Ateneo Loyola Schools this July 2013.

The auditions will be for the roles of Agamemnon, Klytemnestra, Agisthos, Cassandra, Orestes, Electra, Pylades, Koro (6-8 people).

(1) Please be prepared to read a text piece or two in Filipino.
(2) Please show a one-minute movement routine following a given piece of music.
(3) Please be ready as well to explore sounds through voice.

All who pass the auditions are expected to join the movement workshop with Myra Beltran before a final cast selection is made. The workshop will be held every Monday, Wednesday and Friday for 3 weeks from April 24 (Wednesday) to May 10 (Friday), 5–8 p.m.

Selected cast members will continue with movement workshop and regular rehearsals. By late May or June, rehearsals will proceed daily from 7 to 10 p.m.

Workshop venue will be announced after the auditions.

Ateneo students who complete the three-week workshop will be entitled receive a three-unit credit upon enrolment in the course FA 190 (Special Topics) during the First Semester of SY2014-2015.

For details and queries, visit www.facebook.com/tanghalangateneo or the Facebook events page at www.facebook.com/events/631834763509186.

Gantimpala Theater opens summer musical theater workshop

noreply@blogger.com (gibbs cadiz) — Mon, 01 Apr 2013 15:21:00 +0000

Starting today up to May 11, Gantimpala Theater will hold the 2013 Summer Musical Theater Workshop for teens and young adults.

Gantimpala Theater is 36-year-old dramatic arts company with a theater season of the Four Classics such as “Florante at Laura”, “Kanser (Noli Me Tangere)”, “Ibong Adarna” and “El Filibusterismo”; also the historical drama “Katipunan: Mga Anak ng Bayan” and the children’s Filipino musical “Ang Prinsepe at ang Pulubi”.

Once headed by the late theater icon Tony Espejo, the company has yielded talents like Joel Lamangan, Jose Javier Reyes, Soxie Topacio, Bonifacio Ilagan, Ed Maranan, Jose Victor Torres, Jose Dennis Teodosio, Lou Veloso, Arnell Ignacio, Manny Castañeda, Beverly Salviejo, Tessie Tomas, Ricky Davao, Tommy Abuel and Pen Medina.

Classes, which are every Monday, Wednesday and Friday, 1 p.m. to 5 p.m., will teach workshop participants how to act, sing and dance in musical theater production, under the guidance of singer and director Roeder Camañag.

“If you really are serious and passionate about acting then enroll in my class. There are lots of things to learn and discover not just acting techniques, also lessons in life that will make you a better person. I believe that art is created so that we can all be better human beings,” Camañag says.

Enrollment is ongoing at the 2nd floor of the Open-Air Auditorium building, in Luneta, Manila. Tuition fee is P5,000. This year’s summer workshop is in partnership with Santa Isabel College, Manila and the National Parks Development Committee (NPDC).

For inquiries, call 5280603 or 0921-5286308. For updates, like Gantimpala Theater at www.facebook/gantimpala or follow @gantimpala_tf on Twitter.

London's Royal Academy of Dramatic Art holds Musical Theater workshop at Peta Theater Center, May 21-26

noreply@blogger.com (gibbs cadiz) — Mon, 01 Apr 2013 15:11:00 +0000

London's most prestigious drama school, The Royal Academy of Dramatic Art (RADA), holds a workshop in Asia for the first time through a course on Musical Theater at The PETA Theater Center this May 21 to 26.

Founded in 1904 and one of the oldest drama schools in United Kingdom, RADA's roster of graduates include Sir Anthony Hopkins, Clive Owen, Vivien Leigh, Tom Hiddleston and Maggie Gyllenhaal, among others.

The Musical Theater course is a week-long intensive training offered to professional actor-singers who have undergone formal vocal training and are intending to pursue a career in Musical Theater. Participants will work with RADA instructors to develop necessary skills for a successful career in Musical Theater, working on solo pieces, a duet or trio and an ensemble number.

Participants will also be given guidance on casting and with developing an audition repertoire. At the end of the course, students will perform selected pieces for an invited audience then followed by individual feedback.

The course is also rare chance for Filipino performers to earn a RADA certificate upon completion of the workshop.

2013 PETA Summer Program
Children, teens, young professionals and theater enthusiasts of all ages are also invited to explore the world of theater through this year's PETA Summer Program from April 9 to May 11.

Basic courses include Children's Theater 1 (for ages 6-9), Children's Theater 2 (ages 9-12), Teen Theater (for ages 13-16), and Theater Arts (for ages 17 and up), while the advanced courses for ages 17 and up are Basic Acting, and Creative Musical Theater.

Every course uses PETA's unique Integrated Theater Arts Approach, which blends the five different disciplines in theater, namely creative drama, body movement and dance, creative sound and music, creative writing and visual arts.

PETA's student-centered workshops also highlight the limitless potential for creativity in each participant. The classes offer a means for individuals to express themselves fully and to boost their confidence and creativity.

The Summer Program ends with the participants' final showcase at the PETA-PHINMA Theater, in which they will present their own production.

True to this year's tagline "Your Story Takes Centerstage," the program's final showcase draws inspiration from the participants' experiences, turning their stories into memorable theater productions.

To join the PETA Summer Program, please schedule an interview for enrollment through 7256244, 4100821, 0916-3090707, or petatheater@gmail.com. To join RADA's Musical Theater Workshop at PETA, please contact 0906-2115003, or meann.espinosa@petatheater.com

9 Works Theatrical holds summer workshops with Stage Camp

noreply@blogger.com (gibbs cadiz) — Mon, 01 Apr 2013 15:03:00 +0000

Fresh from its staging of the romantic Broadway comedy musical “They’re Playing Our Song” which starred Nikki Gil and Lorenz Martinez, one of the country’s leading theater companies, 9 Works Theatrical, holds Stage Camp, a series of summer theater workshops in partnership with The Rockwell Club, from April 8 to May 26, 2013.

9 Works Theatrical dedicates itself to sharing the experience of live theater to its campers through improv activities, acting exercises and rehearsals, with a culminating showcase at the Carlos P. Romulo Auditorium at the end of the six-week workshop period. This year, the company is doing it under the tagline, “Reach for your Dreams!”

Many of Stage Camp’s celebrated alumni have realized their own dreams of performing and have gone on to do professional shows within the local theater circuit. Sisters Rachel and Becca Coates who are graduates of Teen Camp have gone on to do Resorts World Manila’s “The Sound of Music”. Joseph Perez, a graduate of Kiddie & Pre-Teen Camp, appeared in Tanghalang Pilipino’s celebrated productions of “Noli Me Tangere” and “Walang Sugat”. Meanwhile, Sarah Facuri who is alumna of Adult Camp has gone on to appear in shows like Resorts World Manila’s “The Sound of Music” and “The King and I”.

“It was because of Stage Camp and my director Robbie Guevara that I gained back the confidence I had before,” says Sarah. “It was that push, plus the tools that were taught to us in Stage Camp that made me realize that dream.”

Running for a total of six weeks at The Loft @ Manansala Tower, Rockwell Center, Makati, camps will begin on April 8, with a culminating showcase on either May 25 or 26 at the Carlos P. Romulo Auditorium in RCBC.

Kiddie & Pre-Teen Camp (ages 5–11) will be held Monday to Friday, 1pm–3pm, and will be spearheaded by Onyl Torres and Peachy Atilano.

Teen Camp (ages 12–17) will be held Monday to Friday, 4–6pm, and will be taught by Gemini Quintos and Bym Buhain.

Adult Camp (18 and above) will be held Monday to Friday, 7–9pm, and will be mentored by 9 Works Theatrical’s Artistic Director and theater veteran Robbie Guevara, and Carlos Canlas.

Robbie says, “We continue to do workshops because it is the next best way to train future performers. We help people reach for their dreams because in Stage Camp, we give our students the opportunity to fulfill their dreams of being on stage.”

Stage Camp is presented by 9 Works Theatrical, 9PO, and The Rockwell Club.

For inquiries, call 5867105 or 0917-5545560, or email info@9workstheatrical.com. Visit www.9workstheatrical.com or www.facebook.com/9workstheatrical.

San Pedro Calungsod's life and example celebrated in stage play

noreply@blogger.com (gibbs cadiz) — Mon, 01 Apr 2013 14:48:00 +0000

Francis O. Villacorta’s historical drama “San Pedro Calungsod, Batang Santo” tells the story of a young Visayan-Filipino from the 17th century who was canonized last October 21, 2012 at St. Peter’s Square, Vatican City and became the second Filipino saint in history.

The dramatic presentation is designed to increase awareness and appreciation of San Pedro Calungsod’s martyrdom.

“San Pedro Calungsod, Batang Santo” stars BJ “Tolits” Forbes, Jojo Riguerra, Robert Correa, Abel Napuran, Juan Miguel Severo, Francis Cruz, Jamieson Tracy Lee, Richard Manabat, Perry Escano, James Lomahan, Joey de Guzman, Ronald Regala, Jack Falcis, Leo Priscilla, Bobby Tamayo and Emlyn Olfindo Santos.

On April 2, 1672, Pedro Calungsod, a migrant missionary catechist, was martyred while doing missionary work among the Chamorro natives of the Marianas Islands (Guam). He died along with a group of Spanish Jesuit missionaries and workers of the San Diego Mission to the Marianas.

Calungsod was the Visayan-Filipino companion of Jesuit missionary Blessed Diego Luis de San Vitores. Together, they traversed the perilous islands of the Marianas preaching the Christian faith, baptizing children and adult natives.

Known to the Spaniards as Pedro Calungsor and to his superior, Father Diego, as “Indio Bisaya”, Calungsod was educated in a Jesuit boarding school for boys headed by Father Pedro Chirino. At a very young age, he learned Spanish and Latin, the visual arts and carpentry.

Under the Jesuits, he was trained in service of the Holy Mass and the teaching of Catholic catechism. He helped the Catholic church perform its functions in the Visayan communities.

Calungsod joined the San Diego Mission led by superior Father Diego Luis de San Vitores to what was then known as Islas de las Ladrones (later to be renamed the Marianas and is known today as Guam). As a mission assistant, Pedro helped the Spanish missionaries in baptizing the Chamorro natives and sharing with them the Gospel. Along with other young Filipino boys, many of whom were Pampangos and Visayans, he also helped in building churches in the villages.

History records that a month after the killing of Father San Vitores and Pedro Calungsod, the process of beatification was initiated for the mission superior. The process however was overtook by many political and religious conflicts that followed.

In 1981, the 1673 cause for the beatification of Father Diego was uncovered from the archives. This revived the process which resulted in San Vitores’s beatification on October 6, 1985. This paved the way to the recognition of Pedro Calungsod who was later beatified himself.

During the celebrations of the Jubilee Year 2000, Pope John Paul II, in recognition of the work of young Asian laypersons, approved the decree super martyrio of Pedro Calungsod on the first month of the same year. This led to the beatification of Calungsod on March 5, 2000 at Saint Peter’s Square in Rome.

For inquiries about the play's touring schedule, call 0917-4682045, 3841009 or 5248454.

First look: Dirty Dancing in Manila (opens July 2013)

noreply@blogger.com (gibbs cadiz) — Fri, 15 Mar 2013 09:04:00 +0000

"Dirty Dancing" stars Gareth Bailey and Bryony Whitfield perform a sneak-peek version of the iconic dance finale of the film-turned-stage musical, at the lunch presscon at the Manila Diamond Hotel earlier today. The show opens at the Cultural Center of the Philippines' Main Theater on July 4, for 22 shows only.

For the whole month of March, Visa cardholders in the Philippines can purchase tickets and enjoy 10-percent discount when they use their Visa credit, debit or prepaid card to purchase tickets online or in any TicketWorld outlet.

Call 8919999 or visit www.ticketworld.com.ph. Ticket prices for weekdays are P6,240, P5,200, P4,680,P3,640, P2,080, and P1,560. For weekends, P6,760, 5,720, P4,680,P3,640, P2,080, and P1,560.

For more information and updates, check out www.dirtydancingasia.com and like www.facebook.com/ConcertusManila on Facebook.

Theater Actors Guild sponsors opening night of Himala, The Musical: the 10th Anniversary Concert

noreply@blogger.com (gibbs cadiz) — Sun, 10 Mar 2013 15:07:00 +0000

Ten years since it was first staged and earned commercial and critical acclaim, the Filipino musicale “Himala” goes onstage once again starting March 15 at the PETA Theater Center.

“Himala, The Musical” is the theater adaptation of the film with the same title that starred Nora Aunor and was directed by National Artist for Film Ishmael Bernal. It has been recently digitized by Star Cinema and shown along with an accompanying documentary on the making of the film.

Ricky Lee, who wrote the screenplay, co-wrote the libretto for the musical adaptation with composer Vince de Jesus.

“The musical is very close to everyone in the cast. We've been planning to mount this musical for the past five years and finally, in its 10th anniversary, everything fell into place,” says de Jesus.

De Jesus says the upcoming version will be a concert-type staging, not theatrical. Blocking and choreography are reduced to a minimum, and will instead highlight the songs.

The anniversary presentation is sponsored by the Philippine Theater Actors Guild as its first major venture. Librettist and composer De Jesus is chairman of TAG’s membership committee.

Kalila Aguilos, TAG president, says, “We have always been rooting for original Filipino productions. 'Himala, The Musical' seems to be the right material for us at this point of the organization, The cast is composed mainly of TAG members.”

TAG, formed two years ago, aims to protect the rights and uphold the welfare of theater actors.

Aguilos joins the cast that includes May Bayot as Elsa and Cynthia Guico as Chayong, with Isay Alvarez, coming fresh from the success of “Katy”, playing Nymia.

Other member of the cast are Dulce, Oj Mariano, Mia Reonal Bolaños, Myke Salomon, Melvin Lee, Lionel Guico, Angeli Bayani, Mayen Estanero, Neomi Gonzales, Joann Co, Bong Cabrera, Carlon Matobato, Red Nuestro and Onyl Torres.

Also featured are Viva Voce and the UST Singers Alumni. Soxie Topacio directs.

The 10th anniversary concert of “Himala, The Musical” will have its gala presentation on March 15 at the PETA Theater Center, 8 p.m.

Tickets are at P2,000 for VIP seats, P1,000 for orchestra seats, and P650 for balcony seats. For reservations, call Ria Pangilinan 0917-5378313.

Trumpets Playshop celebrates 20th year with blockbuster summer workshops, events

noreply@blogger.com (gibbs cadiz) — Sun, 10 Mar 2013 14:49:00 +0000

To celebrate its 20th year, Trumpets Playshop goes full force this summer 2013 with a dynamic line-up of workshops and events.

Playshop 2013 jumpstarts the summer on April 8 by welcoming participants to its Children's Theater, Musical Theater, Starpower, Streetdance, Modelling and Public Speaking and Hosting workshops, to be held at the Podium, Alabang, Global City and other satellite branches throughout the country. All Playshoppers cap off the workshop with their very own showcase festival at RCBC Theater.

Playshop has served as the training ground for now well-known artists such as Christian Bautista, Sam Concepcion, Tippy Dos Santos and Fred Lo.

This year, Playshop is also making history with its Grand Alumni Homecoming Concert on June 1 at the RCBC Theater, with performances by notable graduates, as well as a sneak peek into the highly anticipated "Bluebird", Trumpets' new musical.

2013 is also the start of Trumpets Playshop's "Full Force Dance-Off", a summer inter-school street dance competition headed by no The Manoeuvres and showcasing the best dance groups of Metro Manila high schools.

Join Trumpets Playshop by calling 6362842/6317252. Or drop by Trumpets Musicademy (5th Level, Shangri-la Plaza Mall) for inquiries. Visit www.trumpetsplayshop.com to know more about Trumpets classes and download the complete schedule, or join the Facebook fan page.

Sa Wakas, a new Pinoy rock musical featuring the music of Sugarfree, opens April 13

noreply@blogger.com (gibbs cadiz) — Sun, 10 Mar 2013 14:28:00 +0000

Culture Shock Productions, in cooperation with Fringe MNL, presents “Sa Wakas”, a new Pinoy rock musical.

The show weaves together the songs of one of the country’s most beloved rock bands, Sugarfree, into a bittersweet love story that chronicles the end of one relationship and the beginning of another. Co-written by Andrei Nikolai Pamintuan and Mariane Abuan with music arranged by Ejay Yatco, “Sa Wakas” promises to bring together the world of pop rock and musical theater in one groundbreaking show.

“Sa Wakas” shall have a limited run of 14 shows at the PETA-PHINMA Theater with matinee and evening performances on April 13, 14, 19, 20, 21, 26, 27, 28.

Sugarfree was an alternative rock group led by Ebe Dancel that spawned beloved hits such as “Mariposa”, “Burnout”, “‘Wag Ka Nang Umiyak”, “Hari ng Sablay” and “Makita Kang Muli”. Though the group disbanded in 2011, its music still resonates today. “Sa Wakas”, also the title of the band’s first album, aims to re-introduce these songs to a new generation and present them with a fresh and distinct sound.

The company is proud to have in its roster the best and most talented young stars of Philippine theater. The title character of Topper will be alternately played by TV5’s Fred Lo (9 Works Theatrical’s “Rent”) and Gawad Buhay Award nominee Vic Robinson (PETA’s “Si Juan Tamad, Ang Dyablo at Ang Limang Milyong Boto”).

Female leads include Gawad Buhay Award winner Caisa Borromeo (Repertory Philippines’ “Little Women”) and nominee Kyla Rivera (Repertory Philippines’ “I Love You Because”). Completing the cast are Laura Cabochan and Justine Peña.

Check out the following videos online:

TVC http://vimeo.com/60624957
“Telepono” (from the staged reading): http://vimeo.com/58987721
“Dear Kuya” (from the staged reading): http://vimeo.com/59130689

Tickets are available at all Ticketnet outlets. For inquiries and reservations, please call 9115555 or visit www.sawakas.com.

Rep's 'musical-comedy thriller' No Way to Treat a Lady opens March 1

noreply@blogger.com (gibbs cadiz) — Wed, 20 Feb 2013 14:05:00 +0000

Repertory Philippines' second offering for the year 2013 is “No Way To Treat A Lady”, a musical comedy thriller with book, music and lyrics by award-winning author/composer Douglas J. Cohen. Direction is by Audie Gemora.

The musical is based on the 1964 novel of the same name by William Goldman which was made into a motion picture in 1968.

The cast of five (portraying 17 characters!) includes Audie Gemora as Christopher ‘Kit’ Gill; Joel Trinidad as Morris Brummel; Carla Guevara-Laforteza as Sarah Stone; Sheila Francisco as Flora Brummel; Pinky Marquez as Alexandra Gill; and Jamie Wilson as Christopher Gill (stand-in).

Set in summer 1970’s New York City, “No Way to Treat a Lady” tells the story of Christopher Gill, an unsuccessful actor-turned-serial killer, a maniac with mommy issues who is on a rampage, and the NYPD detective on his trail, Morris Brummell. Woven into the main story of cop vs. killer are two subplots--what made Kit a killer and Moe's relationship with his mother and his new girlfriend.

The musical received a Fred Ebb Award for Musical Theatre Songwriting, a Richard Rodgers grant, and a nomination for Best Revival by the New York Outer Critics Circle.

The show runs March 1-24 at Onstage, 2/F, Greenbelt 1, Paseo de Roxas cor. Legazpi St., Makati City.

Co-presented by the City of Makati, the artistic team of “No Way To Treat a Lady” is composed of Baby Barredo (artistic director); Audie Gemora (director); Liesl Batucan (assistant director); Dingdong Fiel (musical director); Mio Infante (set designer); Raven Ong (costume designer) and John Batalla (lighting designer).

“No Way To Treat a Lady” is presented through special arrangement with Samuel French Ltd. Inc.

Call 5716926 or 5714941, email info@repertory.ph or visit www.repertory.ph. Tickets also available through Ticketworld 8919999, or visit www.ticketworld.com.ph.

Visit www.repertory.ph, subscribe to youtube.com/repertoryphils, and “like” Repertory Philippines on Facebook.

Bart Guingona and Joaquin Valdes in John Logan's Red--Feb. 22-23, March 1-2

noreply@blogger.com (gibbs cadiz) — Wed, 20 Feb 2013 13:48:00 +0000

From Inquirer.net: The Necessary Theatre proudly announces the Asian premiere of “Red”, the 2010 Tony Award winner for best play written by American writer John Logan about the famous abstract expressionist artist Mark Rothko.

“Red” by John Logan won almost every major award in London when it premiered in 2009 and went on to do the same in New York the following year. This brilliant play by John Logan (“The Last Samurai,” “Gladiator,” “Any Given Sunday”) speculates about one of the most enigmatic incidents in the 20th Century art world.

The play is set to open on February 22, 7:30 p.m., at the CSB-SDA Theater, 5/F College of St. Benilde School of Design and Arts located at Pablo Ocampo St. (formerly Vito Cruz), Malate, Manila. The other play dates are on Feb. 23; March 1 and 2, 2013.

In 1958, the abstract expressionist painter Mark Rothko was commissioned, for an astounding sum, to paint a series of murals for the cutting edge Seagram Building on Park Avenue. After completing the works, he decides to keep them and returns every penny of his commission. Years later, he donates the works to the Tate Gallery in London and commits suicide.

The play introduces a fictitious assistant who engages Rothko in arguments and conversations that ultimately make us understand why he might decide to withdraw his work from the commission.

Playing Rothko is theater veteran Bart Guingona who also directs. He is matched line for line by a young veteran, also a director, Joaquin Valdes playing the fictional assistant Ken.

Bart is known for playing intense, driven characters (Hamlet, John Proctor, Oedipus, etc.) while Joaquin, who started his career at the age of nine (“The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe”), is carving out a name for himself as a film and commercial director.

People sat up when he won the award for his first short “Bulong” at the Beijing Film Festival and then took further notice of his considerable skill and talent when he released “Dagim.”

Although these two directors now find themselves busy doing work outside the theater, each one finds himself gravitating back to what both consider a “true love.”

“Red” the play is a dramatic look at the artistic process and it is both gripping and emotional and never less than intelligent. In a series of scenes, the two characters trade wit and barbed emotions provoking us to think about the tension between art and commerce; the cycles of fashion and obsolescence; the dynamic between teacher and student, and most touchingly, the relationship between forebear and offspring.

“Red” is produced by Actor’s Actors Inc. and CSB’s The Vito Cruz Project. Tickets are available at Ticketworld 8919999 or through 09159108098. Like us, www.facebook.com/TheNecessaryTheatre.

DLSU Harlequin Theatre Guild presents Sky Over Dimas, March 14-16

noreply@blogger.com (gibbs cadiz) — Mon, 18 Feb 2013 14:36:00 +0000

DLSU Harlequin Theatre Guild (HTG), the premier and only recognized theatre organization of De La Salle University, presents on its 46th season Vicente Garcia Groyon’s “Sky Over Dimas”--adapted for the stage by Tim Dacanay of CSB-School Of Design And Arts and directed by 2012 Aliw Awards nominee Romualdo R. Tejada, a senior artist-teacher of the Philippine Educational Theatre Association.

A synopsis: In the heart of Bacolod’s high society dwells the Torrecarions, a notorious hacienda family with lives ruled by greed, deceit, betrayal and secrets. But one person will try to do everything to end this destructive cycle: George Torrecarion. As his great-grandfather Faustino’s memoirs reveal more lies about the origin of the Torrecarions, George exiles himself to Hacienda Dimas where it all began, and works to expose the sins of his family’s past.

The production, starring TV actor, director and producer Toby Alejar, will be staged at the Teresa Yuchengco Auditorium, DLSU Manila on the following dates: March 14 (Thursday), 6:30pm; March 15 (Friday), 10:30am, 3pm, and 6:30pm; and March 16 (Saturday), 10:30am, 3pm, and 6:30pm. Ticket price is P200.

For tickets/details, call Kyle Mariah Chelsea Bulut 0917-8962239, or email viaharlequintheatreguild@gmail.com.

Open auditions for Trumpets' new musical The Bluebird: A Magical Musical

noreply@blogger.com (gibbs cadiz) — Mon, 18 Feb 2013 13:50:00 +0000

Trumpets, Asia's first professional gospel theater group, announces open auditions for “The Bluebird: A Magical Musical”, a brand-new original Filipino musical based on the play “The Bluebird”, by Belgian playwright Maurice Maeterlinck.

The play was also popularized by the Shirley Temple film of the same title. Filled with spectacle, song, dance, colorful sets, costumes and a solid moral message, The Bluebird tells the story of two poor children named Mytyl and Tyltyl and their search for
the Bluebird of Happiness.

Trumpets is is looking for 7- to 15-year-old little girls, 7- to 13-year-old little boys, and male and female adults aged 20 or older who are able to sing, act and dance.

All auditionees must bring a minus-one or sheet music of an English song, preferably from a musical, and a headshot (at least 3R in size).

The open auditions will be held on Sunday, February 24, 2013, 2-7 p.m., at the Talent School of Academics and Arts, 1157 Don Chino Roces Avenue, Makati City.

With book and lyrics by Jaime del Mundo and music by Rony Fortich, “The Bluebird: A Magical Musical” is scheduled to open in September 2013.

For details and updates, call the Trumpets office 9014364 or visit the musical's Facebook page (https://www.facebook.com/BluebirdbyTrumpets).

Choose. Pick. Go. Or--watch all!

noreply@blogger.com (gibbs cadiz) — Thu, 17 Jan 2013 14:24:00 +0000

ONGOING

Tanghalang Ateneo’s ‘The King of the Birds’ at Rizal Mini Theater, until Feb. 2

Tanghalang Ateneo closes its 34th season with the first Philippine staging of “The King of the Birds,” from the classic Persian poem by Farid ud-Din Attar, as scripted by Jean Claude Carriere and Peter Brook. It tells the story of a nation of birds embarking on a difficult journey to meet their one true King.

Capinding, Gawad Buhay! 2012’s Outstanding Original Script awardee for Peta’s “William,” directs. Production design by Gigi de Jonghe and choreography by Jason Vitorillo, with Ricky Abad as artistic adviser.

“The King of the Birds” runs Jan. 17-19, 23-26, and Jan. 30 to Feb. 2 at 7 p.m., with 2 p.m. on Saturday matinees on Jan. 19 and 26 and Feb. 2 at the Rizal Mini Theater, Ateneo de Manila University.

For tickets, call Angelique Basa 0917-6309097.

OPENING

Repertory Philippines’ ‘Boeing Boeing’ at OnStage Greenbelt 1, Jan. 25

Rep’s first production for 2013 is the award-winning comedy “Boeing Boeing”, which won the 2008 Tony Awards and Drama Desk Awards for Best Actor (Mark Rylance) and also received four additional Tony nominations.

Directed by Miguel Faustmann, “Boeing Boeing” runs Jan. 25-Feb. 17 at OnStage, Greenbelt 1. It stars David Bianco and Topper Fabregas, joined by Giannina Ocampo, Carla Dunareanu and Jen Bianco. Rep artistic director Baby Barredo (alternating with Joy Virata) returns to the stage in featured role.

The creative team also includes John Batalla (lighting designer), Miguel Faustmann (set designer) and Raven Ong (costume designer). “Boeing Boeing” is presented through special arrangement with Eric Glass Ltd.

For inquiries, call Repertory Philippines 5716926 or 5714941, or 8919999. Visit www.ticketworld.com.ph.

4th Wall Theater Company’s ‘Rivalry: Ateneo-La Salle, The Musical’ at Meralco Theater, Jan. 25

4TH WALL Theater Company’s “Rivalry: Ateneo-La Salle The Musical” is back onstage starting Jan. 25, 2013, at the Meralco Theater in Ortigas Avenue, Pasig City.

The creative team responsible for the production—musical director Ed Gatchalian, lyricist Joel Trinidad and director Jaime del Mundo—continue to make fresh adjustments to make the show even more compelling.

A fresh face will also grace the return of “Rivalry” with the addition to the cast of Cara Barredo (most recently, Dorothy in Repertory Philippines’ “The Wizard of Oz” and one of the leads in “Camp Rock, The Musical”). The lead cast composed of theater actors Athena Tibi, Red Concepcion and Mako Alonso will reprise their roles.

Ryan Cayabyab was one of the many who enjoyed the first run of “Rivalry.” “It’s a thoroughly enjoyable, professional and polished production,” he said. “The music was great and I found myself singing already in some parts. It was a good show.”

Tickets are now available at all Ticketworld outlets. Call tel. 8919999 or visit www.ticketworld.com.ph.

PETA’s ‘D Wonder Twins of Boac’ at PETA Theater Center, Feb. 1

The Philippine Educational Theater Association (Peta) closes its 45th theater season with “D Wonder Twins of Boac,” a modern adaptation of William Shakespeare’s comedy of errors, “Twelfth Night.”

Adapted by Rody Vera and directed by Peta artistic director Maribel Legarda, the play transposes “Twelfth Night” into the Philippine film industry in the late ’60s, during its transition years from the first golden age of local cinema.

The play stars Cris Villonco and Chrome Cosio as Viola and Bastian, joined by theater veterans Sharmaine Centenera-Buencamino, Bodjie Pascua and seasoned actor Arnel Ignacio. They are joined by Juliene Mendoza, Gino Ramirez, Paolo Rodriguez, Carlon Matobato, Riki Benedicto, Gie Onida, Eric de la Cruz, Roi Calilong, Kiki Baento, Kat Castillo, Tricia Huseña and Divine Aucina.

Music by Jeff Hernandez, choreography by Carlon Matobato, costumes by John Abul, set design by Lex Marcos and lighting design by Jon Jon Villareal.

“D Wonder Twins of Boac” will have 30 shows from Feb. 1 to March 3 at the Peta Theater Center. Call 7256244, 0916-5675400, or petatheater@gmail.com

Tanghalang Pilipino’s ‘Ibalong’ at CCP Little Theater, Feb. 8

Tanghalang Pilipino caps its 26th season with a dance-musical adaptation of the Bicolano epic “Ibalong,” adapted for the stage by playwright Rody Vera and directed by Tuxqs Rutaquio, with musical direction by Carol Bello and choreography by Alden Lugnasin.

“Ibalong” opens with a gala premiere on February 8, 8 p.m., at the Tanghalang Aurelio V. Tolentino, Cultural Center of the Philippines. The musical runs until March 3, 2013.

“Ibalong” tells the story of Handyong and his warriors who come to Bicol, formerly known as Ibalon, and wage war against beasts and monsters pillaging the land.

The cast includes Jenine Desiderio, May Bayot, Myke Salomon, Red Nuestro, Delphine Buencamino, Trixie Esteban, Cheeno Macaraig, Tara Cabaero, Hazel Maranan, Opaline Santos, Kristofer Kliatchko, Cyril Balderama and Philip Palmos, with the TP Actors’ Company as ensemble, featuring Jonathan Tadioan, Marco Viaña, Remus Villanueva, Nicolo Magno, Ralph Mateo, Regina De Vera, Jovanni Cadag and Doray Dayao.

For tickets, call 8919999, 8323704, 832-1125 local 1620/1621; 0917-7500107, 0918-9593949. Visit www.tanghalangpilipino.org.ph or email ccptanghalan@yahoo.com or cherry_edralin888@yahoo.com.

9 Works Theatrical’s ‘They’re Playing Our Song’ at RCBC Theater, Feb. 8

9 Works Theatrical’s first production for 2013 is the Marvin Hamlisch-Carole Bayer Sager musical “They’re Playing Our Song,” copresented by The Rockwell Club and The Peninsula Manila.

The musical will star Nikki Gil and Lorenz Martinez, under Robbie Guevara’s direction. Other cast members are James Stacey, Reb Atadero, Noel Rayos, Peachy Atilano, Anna Santamaria and Jill Peña.

“They’re Playing Our Song” will run at the Carlos P. Romulo Auditorium, RCBC Plaza, Makati City, Feb. 8 to March 3, 2013.

For tickets, call 9 Works Theatrical 5867105, 0917-5545560 or Ticketworld at 8919999. Visit www.9workstheatrical.com or follow on Facebook (9workstheatrical) or Twitter (@9WT).

Presented by special arrangement with Samuel French Inc.

Dulaang UP’s ‘Collection’ at Guerrero Theater, Feb. 13

To end its 37th Season, Dulaang UP presents “Collection,” a new play by multiawarded playwright Floy Quintos. This dark comedy, centering on the discovery of a 16th-century ivory image of the Virgin, paints a picture of a society obsessed with conspicuous consumption, surface glamour, and the endless pursuit of the next big thing.

The cast includes Jeremy Domingo, Alya Honasan, Adele Victorino, Charlene Elechi, Arkel Mendoza, Jean Judith Javier, Janine Santos, Leo Rialp, Red Concepcion, Sigmund Pecho, Roeder Camanag, William Manzano, Via Antonio, Teetin Villanueva, Natasha Cabrera, Jules Dela Paz, Fitz Bitana, Mark Dalacat and Marynor Madamesila. Director is Dexter Santos.

“Collection” runs Feb. 13-March 3 at the Wilfrido Ma. Guerrero Theater, Palma Hall, University of the Philippines Diliman. For sponsorship and ticket inquiries, contact the Dulaang UP Office 9261349, 9818500 local 2449 or 4337840 (look for Camille Guevarra or Samanta Clarin).

NARS, from Rody Vera's Filipino translation of Jean Genet's The Maids, at Miriam College-QC Feb. 6-9

noreply@blogger.com (gibbs cadiz) — Thu, 17 Jan 2013 13:22:00 +0000

The first-ever graduating batch of Miriam College’s Theater Arts Program presents their recital acting thesis, "NARS", adapted from Rody Vera’s Filipino translation of Jean Jenet’s "The Maids", under the guidance of Tuxqs Rutaqio and artistic direction by Emmanuel Feliciano.

NARS runs February 6, 7, 8 and 9, 7 p.m., at Miriam College’s Paz Adriano Hall (Little Theater), Miriam College, Katipunan Avenue, Quezon City.

Two sisters work as private nurses of a wealthy Hollywood celebrity. But they have never seen the beauty of LA. They are illegal workers and their permits are already expired. But the lady they call Madame needs them for her vanity, so she keeps them locked in her mansion. As the sisters endure hardships, abuse and loneliness, they wait for the perfect time to make their great escape...

For ticket inquiries/reservations, call Gianina Francisco 0927-7621556, email franciscogianina@yahoo.com

Tanghalang Ateneo presents The King of the Birds, Jan. 17-Feb. 2

noreply@blogger.com (gibbs cadiz) — Wed, 16 Jan 2013 09:54:00 +0000

"The King of the Birds", a philosophical fable turned theater piece about humanity’s search for salvation and meaning, closes Tanghalang Ateneo’s 34th season, with shows slated on January 17-19, 23-26, and January 30 to February 2 at 7 p.m., with 2 p.m. Saturday matinees on January 19 and 26 and February 2, at the Rizal Mini Theater, Ateneo de Manila University.

Drawn from a Persian poem by Farid ud-Din Attar and a performance text by Jean Claude Carriere and Peter Brook, the play tells the story of a nation of birds embarking on a difficult journey to meet their one true King, only to discover an unexpected truth about themselves.

Domileo Espejo and Tarek El Tayech alternate as Hoopoe, the leader of the flock. The rest of the cast are a mix of Tanghalang Ateneo alumni and student actors.

Ronan Capinding, Gawad Buhay 2012’s Outstanding Original Script awardee for PETA's "William", adapts and directs the play. Set and costumes by Gigi De Jonghe, choreography by Jason Vitorillo, and music design by Reamur David.

The central insight of "The King of the Birds", about a new kind of spirituality that binds all people, stems from Sufism, a worldview that antedates Islamic teachings. The birds’ perilous journey becomes a metaphor for people’s quest for meaning and the discovery of truth at the end of the play, and redemption from ignorance, fear and bitter conflict.

For inquiries and ticket reservations, contact Angelique Basa 0917-6309097.

Video: Lea + People = my Christmas gift to you

noreply@blogger.com (gibbs cadiz) — Mon, 24 Dec 2012 08:03:00 +0000

From my baul of video clips, this recording from Lea Salonga: The Broadway Concert, unavailable on YouTube until now. This track, the final encore, was included in the TV broadcast, from which this clip is excerpted, but not in the DVD release, which ended with the songs Something Wonderful/Being Alive. The concert was held at the Philippine International Convention Center, 2002.

Because--what better message for the season, indeed, than "People who need people, are the luckiest people in the world"? And in that precious voice, no less. Merry Christmas, folks!

BRAVO! BEST OF THEATER 2012: Ancient problems--but the market, wherever it is, is growing

noreply@blogger.com (gibbs cadiz) — Fri, 14 Dec 2012 16:07:00 +0000

Philippine Daily Inquirer, 12.15.2012

NATIONAL ARTIST FOR LITERATURE F. Sionil José, in a recent column, called it “the ancient problems of our theater”—the lack of resources, say, and more gravely, the continuing lack of audiences, which was the prevalent lament during the sparsely populated National Theater Festival held in November this year at the Cultural Center of the Philippines.

The NTF wasn’t the only casualty of the public indifference. Its crown jewel, Mario O’Hara’s “Stageshow,” the inaugural production of the festival, also suffered through an anemic run in terms of audience attendance (see related story on Page D4).

And yet the year drove home the point more than ever that there is an audience out there for theater—perhaps not just the kind that would go out of its way to patronize the season offerings of Tanghalang Pilipino (producer of “Stageshow”) and similar companies.

The international touring production of “The Phantom of the Opera,” after all, attracted full-house crowds throughout its three-month extended run. And its producers now consider Manila a viable market to sustain at least two big-ticket productions a year from its roster of international blockbuster shows. (Before “Phantom,” there was “Mamma Mia!”, “The Music of Andrew Lloyd Webber” and “Cats.” Up next, from the grapevine: “Dirty Dancing” in 2013, “Wicked” in 2014?)

Even the movie studios appear to be cashing in on an improving theater market. Viva has announced a partnership with Atlantis Productions to produce a season of musicals distinct from Atlantis’ own offerings (though how distinct is the question—the lineups bared so far still predictably consist of Broadway imports). And ABS-CBN is reportedly considering a similar move.

Which should occasion the rather alarming thought that the industry might be overrun by film and TV stars and starlets—the price to pay for more mass-based patronage, perhaps?

But this year, too, showed again that, done right, borrowing celebrities could work, in terms of both luring new fans and enthusiasts to the theater, and developing fresh talent for it. Three of the brightest performances this year were by young TV/film actors making their debut in professional theater—Edgar Allan Guzman in Peta’s “Bona”; Nadine Samonte in Dulaang UP’s “Ang Tagak”; and Tom Rodriguez in Atlantis’ “Disney’s Aladdin.”

Last year we saw 68 big and small productions; this year that number dropped to 62—and that already included Ballet Philippines’ rousing revival of “Rama, Hari,” which, along with the regional offerings at the NTF, somewhat righted the balance for original Filipino productions (and not merely foreign musicals, the common lot on Manila stages in 2012) by drawing cheering crowds to its 11-show run at CCP.

Though we’re not including “Rama, Hari” in our roundup below of the best musicals for the year (it being a hybrid, more dance than book musical), let it be said that the evergreen work of Alice Reyes (dance), Ryan Cayabyab (music) and National Artist for Literature Bienvenido Lumbera (lyrics) featured five of the year’s outstanding vocal performances: OJ Mariano, Kalila Aguilos, Christian Rey Marbella, Lani Ligot and Noel Rayos.

By the light of their excellent work, and those of others we propose below as the best of Manila theater in 2012, we’d like to think there remains much to hope for and look forward to.

Best Play (One-Act)
No citation.

Honorable Mentions: “Dula Ta” (Mindanao State University Kabpapagariya Ensemble; Romeo Narvaez, director); “Magkano” (Riley Palanca, playwright; Ric Salcedo, dir.); “Ang Sistema ni Propesor Tuko” (Al Santos; Richard de Guzman, dir.)

Best Play (Full-Length/ Non-Filipino material)
“The Seagull” (Anton Chekhov, English translation by Tom Stoppard; Tony Mabesa, dir.). Not a seamless production by any stretch, but when this thoughtful, conscientious take on Chekhov’s masterwork hit its stride, the stage all but shimmered with pathos, humor and aching humanity. Ana Abad Santos was an exceptional Arkadina (while the Filipino version featured the beguiling stage debut of TV star Nadine Samonte as Nina).

Honorable Mentions: “Mind’s Eye” (Paul Fleischman; Jaime del Mundo, dir.); “Fireflies” (Suzue Toshiro, English translation by David Goodman; Ricky Abad and BJ Crisostomo, dirs.); “God of Carnage” (Yasmina Reza; Bobby Garcia, dir.); “The Woman in Black” (Stephen Mallatratt; William Elvin Manzano, dir.); “Next Fall” (Geoffrey Nauffts; Audie Gemora, dir.)

Best Play (Full-Length/ Original Filipino Material or Filipino Adaptation)
“Battalia Royale” (Sipat Lawin Ensemble with David Finnigan, Jordan Prosser, Sam Burns-Warr and Georgie McAuley, loosely adapted from Koushun Takami’s novel “Battle Royale”; JK Anicoche, dir.). A mind-blowing immersive experience that attempted to meld theater and live video game, to roaring approval from its mostly young audiences. Certainly not for the conventional-minded or faint-hearted, but it may point the way toward theater that engages the young on their own terms. Mark our words: For its whipsmart fearlessness, the Sipat Lawin Ensemble (composed of alumni of Philippine High School for the Arts) represents robust new hope for local theater.

Honorable Mentions: “Ang Tagak” (Anton Chekhov’s “The Seagull”, Filipino translation by Rolando Tinio; Tony Mabesa, dir.)

Best Actor-Play
Edgar Allan Guzman (“Bona”). In a play that abandoned its spare filmic origins to embrace a bloated, maximalist approach to storytelling and character development (built on the undeniable star wattage of its lead actor, Eugene Domingo), Guzman’s instinctively human-scaled performance proved to be the most compelling. May this stage natural’s auspicious debut lure him away every now and then from TV/movie work to do more theater.

Honorable Mentions: Jeremy Domingo (“The Woman in Black”); Leo Rialp (“Forsaken House”); Adrian Pang (“God of Carnage”); Bart Guingona and Matt Bianco (“Next Fall”); Arnell Ignacio (“Sayaw ng mga SENIORita”); Sandino Martin and Noel Escondo (“Magkano”); Dante Balois (“Pagsubli”)

Best Actress-Play
Joy Virata (“Mind’s Eye”). In the words of ABS-CBN.com’s Vladimir Bunoan: “Virata has never been this effective as an actress … and gave probably the performance of her life.” We can do away with “probably.” Virata, all of 77, was amazing in an extraordinarily taxing role, hitting all the right spots to lift the play up from cloyingly chatty to movingly transcendent.

Honorable Mentions: Ana Abad Santos (“The Seagull”); Nadine Samonte (“Ang Tagak”); Jenny Jamora (“Mind’s Eye”); Frances Makil-Ignacio (“Ang Tagak”); Menchu Lauchengco-Yulo (“God of Carnage”); Thea Yrastorza (“Battalia Royale”); Sherry Lara (“Isa Pang Soap Opera”); Che Ramos (“Pagsubli”)

Best Featured Actor-Play
Juliene Mendoza (“Bona”). The mark of a good actor—Mendoza had the thankless job of uttering some of the hoariest lines in the play, but somehow he made every single one of them sing, or at least throb with endearing plausibility. Like Guzman’s, his rigorously unfussy scenes were a breath of fresh air every time.

Honorable mentions: Leo Rialp (“The Seagull”); Niccolo Manahan (“Next Fall”); Jelson Bay (“Symposium”); Nor Domingo and Garry Lim (“Haring Lear”)

Best Featured Actress-Play
No citation.

Honorable Mention: Olive Nieto (“Bona”); Cris Villonco (“Leading Ladies”)

Best Musical (Non-Filipino Material)
“The King and I” (music by Richard Rodgers, lyrics by Oscar Hammerstein II; Freddie Santos, dir.). Conventional wisdom had long held that local productions of musical (invariably Broadway) material brimmed with A-grade Filipino talent, but production values were no match to the foreign franchise. Resorts World Manila might be changing that perception for good. Its take on “The King and I” is truly world-class in terms of lavishness and spectacle—but, more importantly, is held together by the tight professionalism and polish of Freddie Santos’ direction.

Honorable Mentions: “Jekyll and Hyde” (music by Frank Wildhorn, lyrics by Leslie Bricusse; Menchu Lauchengco-Yulo, dir.); “You’re a Good Man, Charlie Brown” (music and lyrics by Charles Gesner and Andrew Lippa; Michael Williams, dir.); “Forbidden Broadway” (script by Gerard Alessandrini; Joel Trinidad, dir.); “Rock of Ages” (book by Chris D’Arienzo; Bobby Garcia, dir. / Erratum: Chari Arespacochaga, dir.)

Best Musical (Original Filipino Material or Filipino Adaptation)
“Stageshow” (script by Mario O’Hara; directed by Chris Millado). Perhaps the most significant theatrical work to emerge of late, not only because it affirms O’Hara’s place in the pantheon of Filipino creative colossi, but also because, as we asserted in our review, “it helps map out a crucial lost era in the history of Filipino pop culture, and fills a gap in our understanding of a fundamental part of ourselves—what makes us the Scheherazades of the world, singing and dancing for our lives in the face of death and destruction.”

Honorable mention: “Rivalry: Ateneo-La Salle, The Musical” (music by Ed Gatchalian, lyrics by Joel Trinidad; Jaime del Mundo, dir.)

Best Actor-Musical
Nonie Buencamino (“Stageshow”). His character, as written, wasn’t even front and center of the show, often disappearing from the action for long stretches and quite broadly sketched. But as Buencamino played him, the part of the charming, hard-living roué-bandleader appeared to grow before our eyes, becoming a dreamy, luminous embodiment of the raunchy passion coursing through O’Hara’s paean to a vanished art form.

Honorable Mentions: Michael Williams (“Jekyll and Hyde”); Bo Cerrudo (“The King and I”); Tom Rodriguez (“Disney’s Aladdin”); Jett Pangan (“Rock of Ages”); Tonipet Gaba (“You’re a Good Man, Charlie Brown”); Reb Atadero (“Bare”); Lorenz Martinez (“Forbidden Broadway”)

Best Actress-Musical
Shamaine Centenera-Buencamino (“Stageshow”). A tour-de-force performance that, in sheer range alone, is untouchable by anyone in this or perhaps any other year. The Job-like part of the singing-dancing-wisecracking-self-sacrificing Ester is simply a gold standard for any actress, and here, no doubt helped along by her onstage chemistry with husband Nonie, but certainly also by dint of her own formidable chops, Centenera-Buencamino notched another high point in her already much-garlanded career.

Honorable Mentions: Kalila Aguilos (“Jekyll and Hyde”); Liesl Batucan (“Stageshow”); Sheila Valderrama (“The King and I”); Cris Villonco (“Walang Sugat”); Liesl Batucan (“Forbidden Broadway”); Carla Guevara-Laforteza (“You’re a Good Man, Charlie Brown”); Athena Tibi (“Rivalry: Ateneo-La Salle, The Musical”)

Best Featured Actor-Musical
Mig Ayesa (“Rock of Ages”). What a voice, and what a presence. When that ultra-lean rockstar frame swaggered into the Carlos P. Romulo Auditorium stage—despite the fact that the role was in fact a minor one (puffed up in the movie version only to accommodate Tom Cruise)—Ayesa’s romp of a performance, spiky yet hilarious, showed his Filipino compatriots why he thoroughly owned this part on Broadway: Stacee Jaxx seemed like second skin to the man.

Honorable Mentions: Junix Inocian (“Jekyll and Hyde”); Lorenz Martinez (“You’re a Good Man, Charlie Brown”); Rody Vera (“Stageshow”); Anton Posadas (“The King and I”); Raul Montesa (“Disney’s Aladdin”); Noel Trinidad and Raymund Concepcion (“Rivalry: Ateneo-La Salle, The Musical”)

Best Featured Actress-Musical
Gina Respall (“The King and I”). Drop-dead gorgeous singing that pays full homage to the transporting musical landscape created by Rodgers and Hammerstein in this classic work. Her “Something Wonderful,” first heard at the West End where Respall played Lady Thiang to such eminent Annas as Elaine Paige and Marti Webb, is a ringing highlight of the show (its run, by the way, now extended until May 2013, at Resorts World Manila’s Newport Performing Arts Theater).

Honorable Mentions: Cherie Gil (“Nine”); Cris Villonco (“Jekyll and Hyde”); Aiza Seguerra (“Rock of Ages”); Angelina Kanapi and Mae Paner (“Stageshow”); Menchu Lauchengco-Yulo and Carla Guevara-Laforteza (“Nine”); Geraldine Pancho (“Duha ka Alimpo sa Habagat … Bohol 1700”); Apple Chiu (“The King and I”); Sheila Francisco (“Rivalry: Ateneo-La Salle, The Musical”)

Best Director
Chris Millado (“Stageshow”). For the marvel that was “Stageshow,” which Millado expertly shepherded to complex, pulsating life, even as it remained a quintessential Mario O’Hara work. Other directors might have opted to put their own idiosyncratic stamp on the material (O’Hara died in June this year before the production was put together). Here, as in “Insiang” in 2007, also an O’Hara-Millado collaboration, the directorial instinct seemed a becoming self-effacement, to let the work speak for itself—in both cases, but especially in “Stageshow,” to definitively memorable results.

Honorable Mentions: Ricky Abad and BJ Crisostomo (“Fireflies”); Tony Mabesa (“The Seagull”); Freddie Santos (“The King and I”); Jaime del Mundo (“Mind’s Eye”); Menchu Lauchengco-Yulo (“Jekyll and Hyde”); JK Anicoche (“Battalia Royale”); William Elvin Manzano (“The Woman in Black”)

Artistic and technical standouts
Denisa Reyes’ scintillating choreography for “Stageshow”; Lawyn Cruz’s scenery for “God of Carnage”; Ceejay Javier’s lush-sounding musical direction and orchestration for both “Nine” and “Disney’s Aladdin”; Jonjon Villareal’s lighting for “Fireflies”; Raven Ong’s costumes for “Jekyll and Hyde”; Meliton Roxas Jr.’s lighting for “The Woman in Black”; Aksana Sidarava’s costumes and Jo Tecson’s opulent set design for “The King and I”; Paolo Infante’s choreography for “Disney’s Camp Rock: The Musical,” easily the year’s most explosive dancing in a new work; Lex Marcos’ set and lights, Don Salubayba’s visual design, and Leeroy New’s costumes for “Umaaraw, Umuulan, Kinakasal ang Tikbalang,” already cited here last year but rendered even more full-scale elaborate with the play’s transfer this year to the bigger Wilfrido Ma. Guerrero Theater; and another Lex Marcos work, his austerely beautiful set for “Mind’s Eye.”

[PHOTO CREDITS: #1/Jude Bautista; #2/Dale Bacar; #4/Raul Montesa; #5/TheStageDoorCanteen.Tumblr.com]

More Christmas cheer--Jingle Bells by way of Lea by way of Barbra

noreply@blogger.com (gibbs cadiz) — Fri, 07 Dec 2012 16:54:00 +0000

Lea sings the Christmas carol in the offbeat, gleefully demented arrangement originated by La Streisand in her 1967 A Christmas Album:

Here's how the original franchisee did it (incidentally--she was 25 years old at that time, and a Jew making a Christmas album. Whattawoman.):