Bart Guingona News

Despite fear and stress that Philippine cinema icon Cherie Gil had to go through producing and starring in FULL GALLOP, a play based on the life of Diana Vreeland (1903-1989), noted fashion columnist and editor of Harper's Bazaar and Vogue, Gil manages to depict Vreeland as a funny, rapid-fired talker as opposed to being languid and bitchy ala Miranda Priestly in the novel-turned-movie 'The Devil Wears Prada.'

Proving that theater is a powerful tool not just to entertain, each performance showed unforgettable life lessons for the audience. BroadwayWorld.com has narrowed down to 13 of these theatrical productions: 2013's most unforgettable plays and musicals.

It has been a tough year for us, Filipinos, but we were able to rise above the challenges and showed the world how strong and resilient we are. We wish that for the coming new year our hearts be filled with love and compassion for everyone. BroadwayWorld.com has recently surveyed some of our friends in the Philippine theater industry about their New Year's wishes!

BroadwayWorld.com, the largest theater site on the Internet covering Broadway, London's West End, and beyond to 100 U.S. cities and 30 countries worldwide, and whose contents are catalogued in the Library of Congress, has recently announced its annual theater awards nominees from more than 50 regional markets across the globe, including the Philippines.

'Closer,' the 1999 Tony Award nominated play by Patrick Marber, opens Red Turnip's first season, which runs until Sunday, October 27 at Whitespace (2314 Chino Roces Ave. Extension, Makati City).

Tanghalang Pilipino's "Ibalong," a dance-musical reimagining of the Bicolano epic, topped the 1st/2nd-quarter citations of the 2013 Gawad Buhay!, the Philstage Awards for the Performing Arts, with 15 citations in the performance and technical categories.

Actor's Actors Inc.'s The Necessary Theatre, in cooperation with the U.P. School of Economics Alumni Association, will transfer the 2010 Tony Award-winning play 'Red' from the College of Saint Benilde-School of Design and Arts in Taft Avenue, Manila to Teatrino, Greenhills, San Juan today, August 23, to Saturday, August 24, at 7 p.m.

Actor's Actors Inc.'s The Necessary Theatre, in cooperation with the U.P. School of Economics Alumni Association, will transfer the 2010 Tony Award-winning play "Red" from the College of Saint Benilde-School of Design and Arts in Taft Avenue, Manila to Teatrino, Greenhills, San Juan on Friday, August 23, to Saturday, August 24, at 7 p.m.

American playwright and screenwriter John Logan's ('Any Given Sunday,' 'Aviator') Tony Award-winning play 'Red,' which won six awards at the 2010 Tony Awards, including Best Play, enters its last weekend at College of Saint Benilde-School of Design and Arts Theatre on Friday, March 1 and Saturday, March 2.

American playwright and screenwriter John Logan's ('Any Given Sunday,' 'Aviator') Tony Award-winning play 'Red,' which won six awards at the 2010 Tony Awards, including Best Play, and Best Featured Actor in a Play for Eddie Redmayne, best known as the actor who played Marius in the Oscar-nominated film 'Les Miserables,' will run at College of Saint Benilde-School of Design and Arts (CSB-SDA) Theatre for four days only, tonight, February 22-23 and March 1-2.

American playwright and screenwriter John Logan's ("Any Given Sunday," "Aviator") Tony Award-winning play "Red," which won six awards at the 2010 Tony Awards, including Best Play, and Best Featured Actor in a Play for Eddie Redmayne, best known as the actor who played Marius in the Oscar-nominated film "Les Miserables," will run at College of Saint Benilde-School of Design and Arts (CSB-SDA) Theatre for four days only, February 22-23 and March 1-2.

BroadwayWorld.com, the premier theater news website in the United States, in the United Kingdom, and in more than 20 other countries, has expanded, updated, and is now ready for this year's BWW Awards that are conducted simultaneously across all local and international markets, including the Philippines.

Repertory Philippines (Rep.), the country's premier English-speaking theater company, is celebrating 45 years in business by opening its 75th season with New York University Tisch School of the Arts alumnus and playwright Geoffrey Nauffts' Broadway dramedy NEXT FALL, a moving story of a gay couple whose religious differences add tensions and contradictions to their five-year romantic relationship. Rep.'s staging of NEXT FALL runs from January 13 to February 5, 2012 at Onstage, Greenbelt 1, Makati City; evening performances are on Fridays and Saturdays at 8:00 p.m., and matinee performances are on Saturdays and Sundays at 3:30 p.m.

Repertory Philippines (Rep.), the country's premier English-speaking theater company, is celebrating 45 years in business by opening its 75th season with New York University Tisch School of the Arts alumnus and playwright Geoffrey Nauffts' Broadway dramedy NEXT FALL, a moving story of a gay couple whose religious differences add tensions and contradictions to their five-year romantic relationship. The play "takes a witty and provocative look at faith, commitment, unconditional love, and what goes beyond a typical love story," according to Rep.

Repertory Philippines (Rep.), the country's premier English-speaking theater company, is celebrating 45 years in business by opening its 75th season with New York University Tisch School of the Arts alumnus and playwright Geoffrey Nauffts' Broadway dramedy NEXT FALL, a moving story of a gay couple whose religious differences add tensions and contradictions to their five-year romantic relationship. Rep.'s staging of NEXT FALL runs from January 13 to February 5, 2012 at Onstage, Greenbelt 1, Makati City; evening performances are on Fridays and Saturdays at 8:00 p.m., and matinee performances are on Saturdays and Sundays at 3:30 p.m.

Repertory Philippines (Rep.), the country's premier English-speaking theater company, is celebrating 45 years in business by opening its 75th season with New York University Tisch School of the Arts alumnus and playwright Geoffrey Nauffts' Broadway dramedy NEXT FALL, a moving story of a gay couple whose religious differences add tensions and contradictions to their five-year romantic relationship. Rep.'s staging of NEXT FALL runs from January 13 to February 5, 2012 at Onstage, Greenbelt 1, Makati City; evening performances are on Fridays and Saturdays at 8:00 p.m., and matinee performances are on Saturdays and Sundays at 3:30 p.m.

I just have to write about Lara Fabregas; she's my kind of a leading lady of the theater: enigmatic, elusive, complex, sultry, and divine. If she were to star as Hedda Gabler, the original, quintessential "desperate housewife" in Henrik Ibsen's 1890 play, in the big city, which versatile and accomplished actresses Cate Blanchett and Mary-Louise Parker did in 2006 and 2009, respectively, I'd be the first to fall in line for show tickets. Alas, Ms. Fabregas' much-awaited stage comeback after almost seven years is happening back home in Manila. At times like these, I wish I were a bridge that could stretch across the Pacific.