Menchu Lauchengco-Yulo News

Voting is now well underway for the 2011 Philippines Awards and here is the latest update! Now, it's time for you to get out and vote for your favorites in the hopes that they will be the recipients of a 2011 BroadwayWorld Philippines Award. No time to waste, click on the voting link and make your opinion count! Below are the stats so far as of Monday November 21, 2011.

The first-ever BroadwayWorld (BWW) Philippines Awards, an audience initiative project that encourages BWW readers from the Philippines to nominate and vote for their favorite plays, musicals, and theater personalities of the past year, revealed its list of nominees two weeks ago to an overwhelming response. Related web pages on my blog and BWW have around 2,000 hits, 100 comments, 2,000 likes, and 100 shares to date.

BroadwayWorld (BWW) Philippines Awards' nominees Menchu Lauchengco-Yulo (Best Leading Actress [Musical] for 'Next to Normal'); Jay Glorioso (Best Leading Actress [Play] for 'Love, Loss, and What I Wore'); Vince Tañada (Best Direction of a Musical and Best Leading Actor [Musical] for 'Cory ng EDSA'); Frances Makil Ignacio (Best Actress in a Featured Role [Play] for 'The Joy Luck Club'); and 'Cory ng EDSA' (Best Musical) were big winners at the 24th Aliw Awards, an award-giving body that recognizes excellence among Filipino practitioners in the fields of theater, opera, dance, live vocal performance, and instrumental performance.

Congratulations to BroadwayWorld.com (BWW) Philippines Awards' nominees, whose names are below, and were shortlisted from around 500 nomination entries sent from October 6 to 31.

When esteemed actress-director Menchu Lauchengco-Yulo visited the Big Apple a few months ago, she handed BroadwayWorld.com a copy of her latest CD album titled "Light," which contains recordings of some of the best Broadway musicals that she's been a part of; among the tracks, "Light" from NEXT TO NORMAL, whose positive message of family survival overrides the general downward spiral themes of the Pulitzer Prize-winning drama, was reassuring, and which Yulo (Diana Goodman) has recorded with co-actors, Jett Pangan (Dan Goodman), Jake Macapagal (Dr. Madden), Felix Rivera (Gabe Goodman), Bea Garcia (Natalie Goodman, and Markki Stroem (Henry), became our instant favorite.

Repertory Philippines (REP), the country's premier English-language theater company, and Stages Production Specialists Inc. (Stages), a fast growing event and talent management firm, have started their month-long run of Anthony Drewe and George Stiles' musical incarnation of PETER PAN at Meralco Theatre.

Repertory Philippines (REP), the country's premier English-language theater company, and Stages Production Specialists Inc. (Stages), a fast growing event and talent management firm, will bring to the Meralco Theatre Anthony Drewe and George Stiles' musical incarnation of PETER PAN from September 29 to October 30.

Repertory Philippines (Rep), the country's premier English-language theater company, lays off 'Sleeping Beauty,' 'Cinderella' and other fairy tale conventions for its children's theater season running from August 13 to December 11 at the Onstage Theatre, Greenbelt 1.

Atlantis Productions brings to Filipino audiences the first licensed English language production outside the United States of rock musical "Next to Normal" at the RCBC Theater in Makati City from March 12-27.

Atlantis Productions, which celebrated it's 2010 Season with hit productions of AVENUE Q (the fifth run of the musical), LEGALLY BLONDE, XANADU and the Manila and Singapore runs of A LITTLE NIGHT MUSIC, opens it's 2011 Season with the Tony Award and Pulitzer Prize winning rock musical NEXT TO NORMAL.

Repertory Philippines ("Joy Luck Club", "Little Women"), the country's premier live theatre company, holds its last day of auditions for George Stiles and Anthony Drewe's musical adaptation of literary hero's "Peter Pan" on Saturday, January 29, 2011 at Repertory's headquarters at Unit 520 AIC Burgundy Empire Tower ADB corner Sapphire and Garnet Streets, Ortigas Center in Manila starting 3 p.m.

Atlantis Productions, which celebrated it's 2010 Season with hit productions of AVENUE Q (the fifth run of the musical), LEGALLY BLONDE, XANADU and the Manila and Singapore runs of A LITTLE NIGHT MUSIC, opens it's 2011 Season with the Tony Award and Pulitzer Prize winning rock musical NEXT TO NORMAL.

For the first time, the electrifying and nearly sung-through masterpiece about your average dysfunctional American family, created by Tom Kitt (music) and Brian Yorkey (book and lyrics), reaches the Asia-Pacific region through Atlantis Productions Inc.'s staging of 'Next to Normal' at the Carlos P. Romulo Auditorium, RCBC Plaza, Makati City, Manila, Philippines on March 11 through March 27, 2011.

Rounding out 2010's bumper crop of live theatre productions, we can now add the short-lived Broadway musical 'Little Women' to Repertory Philippines's roster of outstandingly produced shows.

Repertory Philippines' year-end production is the Broadway musical 'Little Women,' based on Louisa May Alcott's 1867 semi-biographical novel of the same title. 'Little Women,' the musical, features music by Jason Howland, lyrics by Mindi Dickstein and book by Allan Knee.

Repertory Philippines' year-end production is the Broadway musical 'Little Women,' based on Louisa May Alcott's 1867 semi-biographical novel of the same title. 'Little Women,' the musical, features music by Jason Howland, lyrics by Mindi Dickstein and book by Allan Knee.

Repertory Philippines' acclaimed production of Stephen Sondheim's 'Sweeney Todd' earned five PHILSTAGE Awards Friday night (March 26, 2010) in Manila, Philippines taking home acting honors for its lead cast Audie Gemora (Best Male Lead Performance in a Musical), Menchu Lauchengco-Yulo (Best Female Lead Performance in a Musical), Liesl Batucan (Best Female Featured Performance in a Musical), and Marvin Ong (Best Male Featured Performance in a Musical). 'Sweeney Todd's' musical director Gerard Salonga also won the Best Musical Direction award.

Repertory Philippines' year-end production is the Broadway musical 'Little Women,' based on Louisa May Alcott's 1867 semi-biographical novel of the same title. 'Little Women,' the musical, features music by Jason Howland, lyrics by Mindi Dickstein and book by Allan Knee.

Repertory Philippines, the country's premier professional theatre company, has garnered a total of 18 nominations at the 2009 'Gawad Buhay!' Philstage Awards for the Performing Arts. Now on its second year, The Philstage Awards is the first-ever industry awards given to outstanding individuals and groups, who have been part of Philstage.

Manila musical theatre fans are expected to flock to the Rockwell Tent on Valentine's Day to witness first-hand a rare, back-to-back tandem of siblings Raymond Lauchengco ('King and I,' 'Rama at Sita') and Menchu Lauchengco-Yulo ('Miss Saigon,' 'Sweeney Todd') in a concert dubbed 'Sibling Revelry.'