BroadwayWorld brings you the Best of Philippines in the year 2012. Check out the Top Theatre Stories from each month during in the year 2012. We look forward to another exciting year of theatre in 2013!
Filipino musical creators Romeo Candido and Carmen de Jesus' PRISON DANCER, a new musical loosely based on the five-year-old viral video featuring the dancing inmates of Cebu, Philippines' Provincial Detention and Rehabilitation Center, won Excellence in Choreography for its director and choreographer, Jenn Rapp; Outstanding Ensemble Performance for its all-Filipino cast led by Broadway actors Jose Llana, Catherine Ricafort, and Albert Guerzon; and Outstanding Individual Performance for Filipino Canadian actor Jeigh Madjus, who plays Lola, a cross-dresser who teaches his fellow convicts how to dance, at the 2012 New York Musical Theatre Festival's Awards for Excellence ceremony held last night at Hudson Terrace.
One of New York Musical Theatre Festival's fastest-selling shows, PRISON DANCER, an original screenplay turned into a web series turned into a stage musical by Romeo Candido (music, lyrics, and book) and Carmen de Jesus (book), veers away from the hugeness of its viral hit inspiration - a video uploaded to YouTube in 2007 that boasts around 1,500 male inmates of Cebu, Philippines' Provincial Detention and Rehabilitation Center dancing in sync with Michael Jackson's "Thriller" - by using its two-hour storytelling to explore more about the personal lives of a handful, fictitious prisoners instead, interspersed with a lively dose of Filipino cultural and religious quirks, and with a heavy R&B/club-ish score not often used for a musical.
THE NEW YORK MUSICAL THEATRE FESTIVAL (NYMF) and PRISON DANCER LIVE, LLC. presents Romeo Candido and Carmen De Jesus' PRISON DANCER, music supervised by Alexander Rovang, and directed by Jenn Rapp. PRISON DANCER plays a limited engagement at Off-Broadway's Theatre at St. Clement's (423 West 46th Street, New York, NY 10036). Performances begin tonight, Jul 20th, 2012 at 8:00 pm and continue through Saturday, Jul 28th, 2012 at 9:00 pm. Press are invited Sunday, Jul 22nd, 2012 at 3:00 pm and any subsequent performance.
THE NEW YORK MUSICAL THEATRE FESTIVAL (NYMF) and PRISON DANCER LIVE, LLC. is pleased to announce Romeo Candido and Carmen De Jesus' PRISON DANCER, music supervised by Alexander Rovang, and directed by Jenn Rapp. PRISON DANCER will play a limited engagement at Off-Broadway's Theatre at St. Clement's (423 West 46th Street, New York, NY 10036). Performances begin Friday, Jul 20th, 2012 at 8:00 pm and continue through Saturday, Jul 28th, 2012 at 9:00 pm. Press are invited Sunday, Jul 22nd, 2012 at 3:00 pm and any subsequent performance.
Filipino musical theater artists Anna Maria Perez de Tagle ("Godspell" - Broadway), Rachelle Ann Go (Disney's "The Little Mermaid" - Manila), Ryan Cayabyab ("Katy!," "Larawan,"), Kirby Asunto ("Child Access Broadway'), Liz Casasola ("Imelda," "Girl Crazy"), Ryan Cayabyab Singers, Broadway Barkada, a group of New York-based Filipino actors, singers, and dancers that have been performing in various Broadway and Off-Broadway productions, and GMA Pinoy TV talents Dingdong Dantes and Aljur Abrenica headlined the Philippine Independence Day Council's (PIDCI) well attended 114th Philippine Independence Parade and cultural show held on Madison Avenue Sunday afternoon.
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.
Videos
