Oliver Oliveros - Page 34

Members of the press that attended the preview performance of the much-anticipated revival production of Ryan Cayabyab and Jose Javier Reyes's landmark musical "Katy" at the Cultural Center of the Philippines (CCP) on Wednesday last week felt the production was far from technically perfect. Nevertheless, this Spotlight Artists Centre's take on the beloved original Filipino musical, based on the life and times of bodabil queen Katy dela Cruz, directed by the show's original director, Nestor U. Torre, opened last weekend, and was rewarded with extended standing ovations from the audience.

Love is in the air; and 9 Works Theatrical is ready to woo audiences with several evenings of music, laughter, and romance as the theater company presents the hit Broadway musical "They're Playing Our Song" (TPOS) at Carlos P. Romulo Auditorium in Makati City from Friday, February 8 to Sunday, March 3.

Dulaang UP, together with its media partner BroadwayWorld Philippines and exceptional photographers Dino Dimar and Jojit Lorenzo, brings you a first look at the stellar cast of "Collection," a new dark comedy by multi-awarded playwright, TV and stage director Floy Quintos ("Ang Bagong Harana," "Isang Panaginip na Fili").

For the entire month of March, Joel Trinidad ('Crush Hour,' 'Defending the Caveman') returns to the Repertory Philippines's (Rep) stage with 2012 BroadwayWorld PH Award nominee Carla Guevara-Laforteza ('Nine,' 'You're A Good Man, Charlie Brown') in Douglas J. Cohen's 'No Way to Treat a Lady,' described as a 'theatrically-charged musical comedy thriller,' based on the bestselling book by William Goldman.

Tanghalang Ateneo presents "The King of the Birds," an enchanting Persian fable turned into a stage play, at Ateneo de Manila University's Rizal Mini Theatre from Thursday, January 17 to Saturday, February 2.

"Les Miserables" fans in the Philippines had to wait a little longer for the Tom Hooper-helmed stage to screen adaptation of the famous musical, based on Victor Hugo's novel, because cineplexes, primarily in Metro Manila, were booked for the annual Metro Manila Film Festival, which showcases local movie productions, over the holidays.

BroadwayWorld.com recently got a hold of Spotlight Artists Centre's brand new publicity photos of its revival production of Filipino landmark musical "Katy!," directed by Nestor U. Torre, which runs at the Cultural Center of the Philippines' Tanghalang Aurelio Tolentino from tonight, January 17 to Sunday, January 27, 2013.

A HANDFUL OF KEYS, one of South Africa's longest-running two-hander musical revues, which pays humorous tribute to famous classical and contemporary pianists/performers -- from Bach and Beethoven to Elton John and Vanessa Carlton, made its Off-Broadway debut during its special two-night only performance at the York Theatre Company's St. Peter's Church Theatre at CitiCorp in Midtown Manhattan on January 14 to 15.

"To love another person is to see the face of God" - Colm Wilkinson's Bishop Myriel of Digne and Anne Hathaway's Fantine, together with Hugh Jackman's Jean Valjean, sung those arguably the most indelible lyrics by tail end in the Tom Hooper-helmed musical motion picture, "Les Miserables," a faithful film adaptation based on the 1987 Tony Award-winning musical, written by Claude-Michel Schonberg, Alain Boublil, and Herbert Kretzmer, which in turn was inspired by the French historical novel of the same name, published in 1862, by Victor Hugo, a well-known French Romantic poet and novelist who had evident antipathy toward the leaders of the Roman Catholic Church; but, interestingly, had high regard for the Church's doctrines.

BroadwayWorld.com, through Filipino-American journalist Elton Lugay, mingled with Hollywood's A-list actors and Broadway favorites Justin Bartha, Glenn Close, Tom Hooper, Katharine McPhee, Jessica Chastain, Anne Hathaway, Hugh Jackman, Amanda Seyfried, Denzel Washington, and more at the 70th Golden Globe Award red carpet rolled out at Beverly Hilton Hotel last night.

2012 BroadwayWorld PH Award nominee Giannina Ocampo (Gabriella), Carla Dunareanu (Gretchen), and Jen Bianco (Gloria) join the cast of Repertory Philippines' (Rep) new season opener "Boeing-Boeing," 2008 Tony Award and Drama Desk Award-winning revival of a play, written by French playwright Marc Camelotti, which in turn was translated into English by Beverly Cross and Francis Evans in the early '60s.

MCA Music (Universal Music Philippines) encourages "Les Miserables" fans in the Philippines to avail of limited free tickets to the advance screening of "Les Miserables" at Greenbelt 3 Cinema 2 on Tuesday, January 15 by pre-ordering the best-selling soundtrack album "Les Miserables: Highlights from the Motion Picture" at PhP 495.00 from today 'til Sunday, January 13.

London-based stage actress Joanna Ampil seems to have all the luck having "Miss Saigon" (Kim), "Jesus Christ Superstar" (Mary Magdalene), "Les Miserables" (Fantine), and "Avenue Q" (Christmas Eve), among others under her belt. However, luck does not have anything to do with her success in musical theater because this hard-working thespian believes that her continuous drive to learn more, and her quest to be the best that she can be are responsible for every good thing that comes her way.

British actors Gary Trainor and Jesse Briton come full circle when POTTED POTTER: The Unauthorized Harry Experience - a parody by Dan Clarkson and Jeff Turner - returns to Carlos P. Romulo Auditorium, RCBC Plaza, in Makati City for nine performances only at the end of the month and the first week of February.

Spotlight Artists Centre will open its revival production of Filipino landmark musical "Katy!" in two weeks; and BroadwayWorld would like you to meet the rest of the production's hard-working cast - while everyone else shopped and partied during the Christmas season, "Katy!'s" triple-threat cast spent the holidays polishing their tap-dancing skills, and sitting through a sitzprobe with the show's musical director, Mel Villena, and his AMP big band.

BroadwayWorld Philippines, the country's premier online news source for everything theater, received an award for promoting original Filipino plays and musicals from the Philippine Stagers Foundation (PSF), a non-profit, non-stock theater organization that has produced multi- award winning musical "Cory ng Edsa" and the Palanca Award-winning play "Ang Bangkay."

The cast of the North American tour of "Million Dollar Quartet" (MDQ), led by Cody Slaughter as Elvis Presley and Lee Ferris as Carl Perkins; South Korean rapper Psy, whose viral hit song "Gangnam Style" recently earned more than one billion views on YouTube; and Canadian singer-songwriter Carly Rae Jepsen, the artist behind the catchy pop hit song "Call Me Maybe'; among others pumped up more than one million revelers yesterday at the 2013 New Year's Eve Ball Drop in Times Square, a tradition dating back to 1907.

- 9 Works Theatrical, which produced last year's professional theater production of Clark Gesner's '60s musical comedy "You're A Good Man, Charlie Brown," is currently working on a revival production of Marvin Hamlisch and Carol Bayer Sager's late '70s hit Broadway musical "They're Playing Our Song," which pairs up for the first time TV and recording artist Nikki Gil (who plays disorganized, quirky lyricist Sonia Walsk) and veteran stage actor Lorenz Martinez (who plays accomplished composer Vernon Gersch). Tony winner Lea Salonga and Singaporean actor/director Adrian Pang played Walsk and Gersch respectively in a previous local production of "They're Playing Our Song."

"To love another person is to see the face of God" - Colm Wilkinson's Bishop Myriel of Digne and Anne Hathaway's Fantine, together with Hugh Jackman's Jean Valjean, sung those arguably the most indelible lyrics by tail end in the Tom Hooper-helmed musical motion picture, "Les Miserables," a faithful film adaptation based on the 1987 Tony Award-winning musical, written by Claude-Michel Schonberg, Alain Boublil, and Herbert Kretzmer, which in turn was inspired by the French historical novel of the same name, published in 1862, by Victor Hugo, a well-known French Romantic poet and novelist who had evident antipathy toward the leaders of the Roman Catholic Church; but, interestingly, had high regard for the Church's doctrines.

It is Christmas Eve in the Philippines; and BroadwayWorld believes this is the best time to share your favorite theater actors and directors' wishes for the theater industry.