Oliver Oliveros News

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.

Perceived as a boy-next-door type by many young theater habitues and TV 5 viewers, Fredison Lo (Fred Lo to his theater colleagues and former schoolmates at De La Salle University-Manila), has started out a career niche in the theater by essaying lead roles in major musical productions of RENT (Mark Cohen) and Trumpets' N.O.A.H (Narrator/God); and has recently been exploring acting on mainstream television too via TV 5's remake of the '70s-'80s popular sitcom ISKUL BUKOL, where he played the role of the young professor Rude Valentino. Lo's currently playing Rolf in Resorts World Manila's production of THE SOUND OF MUSIC.

Philippine-based ABS CBN lifestyle program host and entertainment reporter MJ Felipe recently flew all the way to Zurich, Switzerland to meet and conduct a behind-the-scenes tour with MAMMA MIA's international touring company's stage manager, James Anderton and its cast. The touring production marked its 2,000th performance on the road in Zurich last November; its next stop is the Cultural Center of the Philippines, with limited engagement performances from January 24 to February 12.

London-based musical theater actress Joanna Ampil (MISS SAIGON, AVENUE Q), who's been playing the coveted role of postulant Maria Rainer (with Cris Villonco as alternate actress) in Resorts World Manila's local production of Oscar Hammerstein II and Richard Rodgers' beloved musical THE SOUND OF MUSIC(SOM) for over three months now, would need to postpone her planned visit to New York City this winter because Resorts World has just announced SOM's extended performances till February 12, 2012.

Last year's New York Musical Festival's (NYMF) participant PRISON DANCER, a musical inspired by the world-renowned dancing prisoners from Cebu, Philippines, featuring music and lyrics by Romeo Candido, and book by Candido and Carmen de Jesus, is now a web series. PRISON DANCER, a 12 episode web series premiering this Spring, stars CANADIAN IDOL Season One finalist Mikey Bustos and MAMMA MIA! on Broadway's current Ali, Catherine Ricafort.

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.

Ivory Music & Video, the exclusive licensee of Sony Music in the Philippines, has a neat Christmas treat for Cirque Du Soleil and Michael Jackson fans in the Philippines: the music company has just announced that the highly anticipated deluxe double CD soundtrack for Cirque du Soleil's tribute to the late Michael Jackson, IMMORTAL World Tour, which opened in Las Vegas at Mandalay Bay Resort last weekend, is now available in music stores nationwide. Ivory Music & Video has also launched its Facebook-based photo contest whose winner will win a trip for two to Los Angeles to see IMMORTAL - simply take a photo of you and your friend holding the IMMORTAL CD and email to mj@pongr.com.

Manila-based theater company Atlantis Productions Inc.'s Asian premiere of Disney's The Little Mermaid could have been a spectacular float addition in today's Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade in Times Square.

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.

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.

Young, bold and enterprising Atlantis Productions wraps up its 2011 season with the Asian premiere of Disney's stage adaptation of The Little Mermaid from November 18 to December 11 at the Meralco Theatre -- This comes right on the heels of Atlantis Productions' own productions of Broadway's smash musicals Next to Normal, Disney's Aida and In The Heights.

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.

Dulaang UP's RIZAL X's head writer Katte Sabate, and composer and lyricist William Elvin Manzano have just formed a new theater group called Dulaang Kalay whose inaugural offering is an original play titled 'Series Finale: Saan Hahantong ang Tagpong Ito?', a satirical look at Filipinos' incurable obsession toward soap operas.

"I'll always find the time to go back to my theater roots; everything I know now, I learned it from my professors and directors." - JM De Guzman

It's rather unusual to see Lea Salonga, a Tony Award-winning actress whose name has been synonymous with all things musical, flexing her acting muscles in a straight play; she did that once in the Manila run of David Auburn's PROOF back in 2001, and she's set to do that again via the impending Manila premiere of Yasmina Reza's GOD OF CARNAGE in July next year.

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.

Lea Salonga, Adam Jacobs, Ali Ewoldt, Jose Llana, and Angel Desai led a company of mostly Filipino-American Broadway actors in SUITES BY SONDHEIM, a tribute concert to American musical theater icon Stephen Sondheim, at Alice Tully Hall, Lincoln Center last night. THE BOOK OF MORMON's co-book writer, co-composer, and co-lyricist Robert Lopez, who's part-Filipino, was also honoured with an Award of Excellence at the concert.

Hottest Articles on BroadwayWorld.com from this weekend Sunday, November 6, 2011 - Sunday, November 6, 2011.