Caisa Borromeo News

The Fringe Arts Festival, the world's largest multi-arts festival, which took root in Edinburgh, Scotland seven decades ago and remains robust till this day--hosting 49,497 performances, 3,193 shows in 299 venues in its latest annual edition in Edinburgh--is finally setting foot in Manila, Philippines from today, February 12 through Sunday, March 1.

If you haven't had the chance to catch up on your theater news, look no further than today's recap of all things theater - exclusive features, interviews, reviews and more! - around the Broadway World for the week of April 29!

Fred Lo, Caisa Borromeo, and Kyla Rivera, cast of 'Sa Wakas,' an original Pinoy romantic rock musical, share their real-life thoughts about their play's central theme: love and romance.

The musical's plot may be simple: a typical love triangle seen in the movies. But what makes 'Sa Wakas' totally different is the style of how the story is told: it starts from where it's supposed to end. Instead of a linear storytelling, the play tells its story backwards. Every scene makes you ask yourself, 'How did that happen?'

'Sa Wakas' has garnered mostly rave reviews since the new Filipino musical opened at PETA-PHINMA Theater two weeks ago. After finally catching the show last weekend, we were glad to see that it isn't all hype. 'Sa Wakas' is the type of show you will tell your friends about because you want to share something special with them. It is the type of show you would want people to see because they may have walked the same path once similar to one of the characters. Seeing it onstage also calls to mind gut wrenching conversations you may have had over a few rounds of beer.

One of the hardest things when writing a review is doing our best not to be influenced by others' opinions, especially when we know something is amiss. While there is no question about how skilllfully Off-Broadway director Andrei Nikolai Pamintuan is able to fuse different theatrical elements to bring the spirit of alternative rock band Sugarfree's songs on stage, the lack of organic storytelling in Act One makes “Sa Wakas: A New Rock Musical” confusing to us.

In the video below, (together with the cast of "Sa Wakas") Ebe Dancel, vocalist, guitarist of Sugarfree, performs his new composition, "Bawat Daan," specifically written for the musical.

A bittersweet love story that chronicles the end of one relationship and the beginning of another, that is the plot of the new rock musical 'Sa Wakas,' by Culture Shock Productions, in cooperation with Fringe MNL.

BroadwayWorld.com (Philippines) photographer JR Sala shares some his photos taken at the first registration day for the much-talked-about "Miss Saigon" auditions in Manila, which will be conducted from Monday, November 19 to Thursday, November 22 at the Philippine Opera Company's headquarters in Makati City.

Upstart Productions brings back Off-Broadway smash FORBIDDEN BROADWAY(Greatest Hits), a musical revue that parodies old and new Broadway musicals, at Carlos P. Romulo Theater, RCBC Plaza, Senator Gil Puyat Avenue, Makati City tonight, August 24 and Saturday, August 25.

When he was younger, 2011 BroadwayWorld Philippines Awards' Best Featured Actor in a Musical, Ramon Enrique Mariano aka OJ Mariano always had an interest in the theater arts. At 10 or 11 years old, he and his family would go to Rajah Sulayman Park in Malate, Manila and watch stage plays.

Upstart Productions brings back Off-Broadway smash FORBIDDEN BROADWAY(Greatest Hits), a musical revue that parodies old and new Broadway musicals, at Carlos P. Romulo Theater, RCBC Plaza, Senator Gil Puyat Avenue, Makati City on Friday, August 24 and Saturday, August 25.

Upstart Productions brings back Off-Broadway smash FORBIDDEN BROADWAY(Greatest Hits), a musical revue that parodies old and new Broadway musicals, at Carlos P. Romulo Theater, RCBC Plaza, Senator Gil Puyat Avenue, Makati City on Friday, August 24 and Saturday, August 25.

Theater actor, writer, and director Gerard Alessandrini's brainchild, the 30-year-old Off-Broadway hit parody series FORBIDDEN BROADWAY, finally premiered at Carlos P. Romulo Auditorium, RCBC Plaza in Makati City last weekend. Joel Trinidad, Upstart Productions' president and the show's director, had picked FORBIDDEN BROADWAY'S GREATEST HITS, which has two volumes to date, and features some of the more popular spoofs of Broadway musicals and theater legends culled from more than a dozen FORBIDDEN BROADWAY editions.

Joel Trinidad, Upstart Productions' president, announced at a press conference on Tuesday that theater bigwigs Lea Salonga, Aiza Seguerra, Nyoy Volante, Jett Pangan, Iya Villania, Nikki Valdez, Markki Stroem, and Gabe Mercado will guest star in the theater company's summer production of Off-Broadway parody "Forbidden Broadway's Greatest Hits," written and originally directed by Gerard Alessandrini, and top-billed by Liesl Batucan, Caisa Borromeo, OJ Mariano, and Lorenz Martinez. The musical will run at Carlos P. Romulo Auditorium, RCBC Plaza on Sen. Gil J. Puyat Avenue from May 11 to 27.

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.

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.