Edwin Josue News

The 60th-anniversary production of Noli Me Tangere, The Opera, which J&S Productions Inc. premiered in New York City in 2013, and performed to packed audiences at the Cultural Center of the Philippines (CCP) in 2017 and 2019, brought home some of the top prizes at the first Philippine Live Entertainment Arts and Festivals Awards (LEAF Awards) held 8 February 2020.

The Cultural Center of the Philippines (CCP) and J&S Productions Inc., together with the Department of Education (DepEd), the National Commission for Culture and the Arts (NCCA), and Enrique Zobel Foundation Inc., bring back the smash-hit landmark production of 'Noli Me Tangere, The Opera,' to the Tanghalang Nicanor Abelardo of the CCP for one weekend only, from June 21 to 23, 2019.

Gone are the days when the opera is treated like an old-world passion and a cultural event where people are required to dress to the nines. The arrival of National Artists Guillermo Tolentino and Felipe Padilla de Leon's “Noli Me Tangere, The Opera” for the nth time in Manila was welcomed mostly by young people who were just too eager to bring to life the characters whom they only met in school. For only a limited run of just three shows, “Noli” at the Cultural Center of the Philippines' (CCP) Main Theatre became a hotspot where teachers, students, and music enthusiasts converge to celebrate a novel, written by National Hero Jose Rizal, that awakened a sleeping nation towards consciousness and obscurity.

For more than 25 years, Jerry Sibal, New York-based event stylist-theatrical producer, has been creating magical settings, corporate retreats, charity balls, and opera premieres in the Northeastern United States and in Asia, particularly in Macau and the Philippines.

The Explore Islands Philippines expo invites visitors to discover, experience, and invest in the Philippines.

Olivier Award-nominated actor Jon Jon Briones will present the honorary "Nepales" awards at the Friends of the Philippines Society USA's maiden benefit dinner, titled "2018 Unity Gala," on Today, May 11, 6 p.m. at Cipriani 42nd Street.

Olivier Award-nominated actor Jon Jon Briones will present the honorary "Nepales" awards at the Friends of the Philippines Society USA's maiden benefit dinner, titled "2018 Unity Gala," on Friday, May 11, 6 p.m. at Cipriani 42nd Street.

60 years after its original run in Manila, 'Noli Me Tangere, the Opera' is back for a limited engagement at the Cultural Center of the Philippines (CCP) Main Hall. The show's producers, Jerry Sibal (also the show's director) and Edwin Josue, Filipinos both based in the United States, are going all out in making this production worth their trip back to the Philippines. Read to see what our critic thinks.

While many of us are caught in heavy traffic--or out and about consuming pop culture--Jerry Sibal has been conjuring the most elaborate production ever conceived at the Cultural Center of the Philippines (CCP).

The Cultural Center of the Philippines (CCP) and J&S Productions Inc., in cooperation with Ayala Foundation, will co-present the Philippines' first full-length opera Noli Me Tangere, The Opera's 60th-anniversary production at the CCP's Tanghalang Nicanor Abelardo from January 28 (gala premiere) to February 3, 2017.

For better or worse, Filipino identity is shaped by a legacy of mixed heritage. For Jerry Sibal--a Filipino of Chinese descent living in Manhattan--returning to his native Manila is a source of pride and creative renewal.

In its fifth edition, The Outstanding Filipino Americans in New York (TOFA-NY) Awards honor 15 organizations and individuals who have inspired the community with their passion, conviction, and achievements. Presented by AARP, TOFA-NY caps the month-long Filipino American Heritage celebrations in the New York tri-state area. This year's TOFA-NY Awards ceremony is slated for 8 p.m. on October 31 at Carnegie Hall's Weill Recital Hall.

Tony Award winners Bobby Lopez ('The Book of Mormon,' 'Avenue Q') and Jhett Tolentino ('Here Lies Love,' 'A Gentleman's Guide to Love and Murder'), among others, receive Filipino American community honors.

Prior to the sold-out closing weekend of the international touring production of National Artists Felipe De Leon and Guillermo Tolentino's magnum opus 'Noli Me Tangere: The Opera,' which played the Newport Performing Arts Theatre at Resorts World Manila, BroadwayWorld.com was able to sit down with the production's longtime stars Antoni Mendezona (Maria Clara, Sisa) and Sal Malaki (Juan Crisostomo Ibarra), who have been part of the production since its New York premiere in the fall of 2013.

Jose Rizal, who wrote the 1887 classic romantic novel 'Noli Me Tangere' ('Touch Me Not'), which inspired the creation of 1957 opera of the same name--the country's first full-length grand opera--was a staunch advocate for education. For that same reason: educating and interacting with young Filipino students, international producers Loida Nicolas Lewis, Jerry Sibal, and Edwin Josue are staging the opera, which has already been seen in Chicago, New York City, and Washington, D.C., at Resorts World Manila's Newport Performing Arts Theater (Newport Boulevard, Newport City Pasay) from Friday, September 12, to Sunday, September 28.

Heroism and excellence in the nursing profession won the predominantly Filipino American audience that gave a well-deserved standing ovation to NYU Langone nurse Menchu De Luna Sanchez--superstorm Sandy's hero nurse--when she personally received her The Oustanding Filipino Americans in New York (TOFA-NY) award from Deputy Consul General Zaldy Patron and Southern District of New York Judge Lorna Schofield at the Weill Recital Hall in Carnegie Hall Saturday night.

Philippine National Artists Felipe Padilla de Leon and Guillermo Tolentino's 1957 opera NOLI ME TANGERE made its New York stage debut last night at The Kaye Playhouse in Hunter College (68th Street and Lexington Avenue).

BroadwayWorld.com had the first glimpse of Philippine National Artists Felipe Padilla de Leon and Guillermo Tolentino's 1957 opera NOLI ME TANGERE'S impending New York stage debut when we visited its dress rehearsal at the Danny and Sylvia Kaye Playhouse in Hunter College last night.

This year's The Outstanding Filipino Americans in New York Heritage Award recipient The Foundation for Filipino Artists Inc., together with executive committee members Loida Nicolas Lewis, Aida Bartolome, Jerry Sibal, Michael Dadap, Dr. Angie Cruz, Edwin Josue and Robert Perlstein, brings to New York Felipe Padilla de Leon, Philippine National Artist for Music, and Guillermo Tolentino's 1957 opera 'Noli Me Tangere,' based on the 1887 classic romantic novel by Dr. Jose Rizal, the Philippines' national hero.

Drama Desk and Obie Award-winning theater organization Ma-Yi Theater Company, which originally produced Filipino and Filipino-American plays prior to shifting gears toward exploring more of the Asian-American experience via theatrical workshops and presentations, and Filipino-American set and costume designer Eduardo Sicangco ("Gentlemen Prefer Blondes") accepted "The Outstanding Filipino Americans in New York" (TOFA-NY) Heritage Award (2012) and the TOFA-NY Arts and Culture Award (2012) respectively at TOFA-NY's awarding rites held at the Weill Hall, Carnegie Hall Saturday, October 27.