(10/19/2011) - Longtime cast members of the dance, percussion, and visual comedy show STOMP Angus H. Little, Melanie Joseph, Johannes Bohun, Nigel Clarke, Mikey Lantis, and Andy Pang enthusiastically promoted their show and wowed the crowd at Greenbelt 3, Trinoma, and Glorietta malls last weekend. STOMP's currently playing for a limited run at the Cultural Center of the Philippines until Sunday, October 23.
(09/29/2011) - Repertory Philippines (REP), the country's premier English-language theater company, and Stages Production Specialists Inc. (Stages), a fast growing event and talent management firm, have started their month-long run of Anthony Drewe and George Stiles' musical incarnation of PETER PAN at Meralco Theatre.
(09/27/2011) - Rodgers and Hammerstein's Broadway musical THE SOUND OF MUSIC, which was adapted into a highly successful full-length film in 1965, and won five Academy Awards including Best Director; Best Sound; Best Musical Score, Best Film Editing, and Best Picture, is set to hit the center stage of Resorts World Manila's Newport Performing Arts Theater on October 15 'til December 11.
(09/16/2011) - Repertory Philippines (REP), the country's premier English-language theater company, and Stages Production Specialists Inc. (Stages), a fast growing event and talent management firm, will bring to the Meralco Theatre Anthony Drewe and George Stiles' musical incarnation of PETER PAN from September 29 to October 30.
(09/05/2011) - Atlantis Productions Inc., the theater company that recently brought to Manila smash rock musicals NEXT TO NORMAL and AIDA, breaks new ground again with the first licensed production of IN THE HEIGHTS in Asia (Its next feat is Disney's THE LITTLE MERMAID). IN THE HEIGHTS, a Broadway musical that presents a portrait of the Hispanic community in Washington Heights, Manhattan, runs at the Carlos P. Romulo Auditorium, RCBC Plaza in Makati City until Sunday, September 18.
(08/29/2011) - On Saturday August 27, 2011, BroadwayWorld.com's CEO/Editor-in-Chief Robert Diamond, in the midst of Hurricane Irene married actress Jennifer Hallie Rosen after a 17 month engagement. The two were introduced by a friend of Rosen's, who wasn't able to make the wedding, as a result of the weather and warnings throughout all the boroughs. The BroadwayWorld.com News Desk stayed feverish all weekend while the couple said 'I Do', as news was coming fast about theatre cancellations, schedule changes and travel advisories in addition to all things that were happening in other parts of the country and the world, not affected by the Northeast's local weather.
(08/29/2011) - James Cundall, Lunchbox Theatrical Productions chief executive, recently presented British actors Sara Poyzer (Donna Sheridan), Charlotte Wakefield (Sophie Sheridan), Rosie Heath (Ali), Tasha Taylor Johnson (Lisa) and Kelly Edwards to the local media. These lead actors, together with some 30 cast members, will headline MAMMA MIA! at the Cultural Center of the Philippines (CCP) Main Theatre starting January 24, 2012.
(08/19/2011) - Ateneo Blue Repertory (HAIR, EDGES), a student-led musical theater organization at Ateneo de Manila University (ADMU), kicks off its 20th anniversary with Alan Menken and Howard Ashman's rock musical LITTLE SHOP OF HORRORS, which is running until Saturday, August 27 at ADMU's Fine Arts Theatre.
(08/14/2011) - Repertory Philippines (LITTLE WOMEN, EQUUS), the country's premier English-language theater company, opened its five-month run of Stephen Flaherty and Lynn Ahren's Tony Award-nominated children's musical, SEUSSICAL, yesterday at the Onstage Theatre, Greenbelt 1, Makati City. The musical runs until December 11.
(08/06/2011) - Nikki Gil (Charity Hope Valentine) and newbie theater actor, Kris Lawrence (Oscar Lindquist), led the opening of the classic Broadway musical comedy, SWEET CHARITY, at the Carlos P. Romulo Auditorium in Makati City last night.
(07/30/2011) - BroadwayWorld.com has been following the progress of Broadway-bound musical, ALLEGIANCE, since its first reading in Los Angeles two years ago up to its final workshop presentation held at the Baryshnikov Arts Center yesterday. What we just saw certainly bore little likeness to its initial working draft while some aspects of the production have remained the same, like its central story on the Japanese American experience during and after the World War II internment; and its composer and lyricist Jay Kuo's uplifting and emotionally charged music and lyrics.
(07/25/2011) - The launch of the Northern Philippines tour of Cory ng EDSA, a new musical based on the life and times of the nation's icon of democracy, former President Corazon Aquino, couldn't have been more timely considering the country is commemorating the 25th anniversary of the 1986 EDSA People Power Revolution this year.
(06/29/2011) - Nikki Gil plays a dancer for hire, Charity Hope Valentine; Ciara Sotto plays one of Charity's best friends, Helene; OJ Mariano dabbles in double roles as an Italian film star, Vittorio Vidal, and as a charismatic religious leader of the Rhythm of Life Church, Daddy Johann Sebastian Brubeck; and Sheree Bautista plays one of Charity's co-dancers, Carmen; when SWEET CHARITY opens on Friday, August 5 at the Carlos P. Romulo Theater, RCBC Plaza Makati City.
(06/25/2011) - Elton John and Tim Rice's contemporary take on AIDA, a tale of star-crossed lovers based on Giuseppe Verdi's opera of the same title, made it to Manila through Atlantis Productions Inc.'s local production that opened at the Carlos P. Romulo Auditorium, RCBC Plaza, Makati City Friday night. (The musical runs until Sunday, July 10)
(06/08/2011) - Tony Award winner Lea Salonga is currently in New York City for an exclusive three-week return engagement, featuring an all-new program entitled Lea Salonga: New York in June, at the Café Carlyle at The Carlyle beginning last night and running until June 25.
(06/07/2011) - Tony Award winner Lea Salonga's pristine voice once again fills the ultra-chic Cafe Carlyle at The Carlyle as she returns for her second exclusive three-week cabaret-style show entitled "New York In June," which is opening tonight and is running until June 25.
(05/25/2011) - Filipino actor and Obie Award winner Arthur Acuña shares the stage with Michael Louis Wells and Charlie Hudson in Ensemble Studio Theatre's (EST) repeat of Qui Nguyen's 2007 one act dark comedy play Bike Wreck. The play is part of EST's "Marathon 2011: The 33rd Festival of 1Act Plays - Series A" running from May 20 to June 18 at the EST Theatre on West 52nd Street.
(03/13/2011) - Atlantis Productions brings to Filipino audiences the first licensed English language production outside the United States of rock musical "Next to Normal" at the RCBC Theater in Makati City from March 12-27.
(02/21/2011) - Tony award-winning actress Lea Salonga turns 40 on Tuesday, February 22, 2011. It coincidentally falls on the same day when "Les Miserables" 25th Anniversary Concert at the O2 Arena, where Salonga played Fantine, is released on DVD and Blu-ray in the United States.
(02/12/2011) - Jonathan Larson's ground breaking rock musical 'Rent' has arguably developed a life of its own. And 9 Works Theatrical's third endeavour of mounting the show is one tangible proof -- 'Rent' runs anew at the Carlos P. Romulo Auditorium, RCBC Plaza, Makati City in Manila from Saturday, February 12 to Sunday, March 6, 2011.
(01/30/2011) - 'Do you like it in America?' 70-year-old recent immigrant from the Philippines Aying (played by Obie award-winning actress Ching Valdes-Aran) and her new friend and teenage flip Redford (played by former 'Sesame Street' child actor Carlo Albán) had been truthful enough to admit that they didn't seem to like much America. Aying's daughter Vangie (played by young Asian American thespian Tina Chilip) had thought otherwise -- these clashing personal views on family, relationships and cultural assimilation are bluntly thrown at you in Ma-Yi Theater Company's first revival of its critically-acclaimed one act play 'Flipzoids'. Written by Ralph B. Peña and directed and designed by Loy Arcenas, the production runs through Sunday, February 6, 2011 at the Peter Jay Sharp Theater of the Playwrights Horizon (416 W 4nd Street, between 9th and 10th Avenues).
(12/26/2010) - A GLEE-ful and Potterific Christmas descended on the Trinoma mall in Quezon City, Philippines November 22, 2010 as Darren Criss of hit TV show 'Glee' and 'A Very Potter Musical' serenaded shoppers and fans with tunes from the teen show and online musical.
(12/11/2010) - Rounding out 2010's bumper crop of live theatre productions, we can now add the short-lived Broadway musical 'Little Women' to Repertory Philippines's roster of outstandingly produced shows.
(10/29/2010) - Broadway and US television stars Lea Salonga (Gloria Suzuki), George Takei (old Sam Omura), Telly Leung (young Sam Omura), Allie Trim (Hannah Campbell), Michael K. Lee (James Omura), Paolo Montalban (Ben Chin/Mike Masaoka), Christine Toy Johnson (Kimiko Omura), Alan Ariano (Tatsuo Omura) and Jason Tam (Frankie Suzuki) led two public staged readings of 'American Idiot' associate producers Lorenzo Thione and Jay Kuo's Broadway bound musical 'Allegiance' on Monday, October 25, 2010 at the Julia Miles Theatre, 424 W55th St. New York, NY. BroadwayWorld.com has been covering the new Asian American play's different stages of development since its private staged reading in Los Angeles, CA last year.
(10/27/2010) - In Theater Down South's hilarious production of Stephen Sondheim's 'A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum', theatre stalwart Michael Williams mentors his junior thespian apprentices, and contributes a lot to this delightful madness!
(10/25/2010) - Four-time Tony Award-winning playwright Terrence McNally ('Master Class', 'Kiss of the Spiderwoman') was formally introduced to revered Filipino film and television actress Cherie Gil at the writer's home in Brooklyn, New York. Ms. Gil recently received rave reviews from both media critics and theatre-goers when she essayed the larger-than-life role of 'La Divina' Maria Callas thrice (two seasons in Manila and a touring production in Dumaguete City, Southern Philippines) in Mr. McNally's 1996 Tony Award-winning play 'Master Class'.
(10/17/2010) - Being named new UN goodwill ambassador in action against hunger may probably be Tony winner Lea Salonga's biggest role so far in her more than 30 year illustrious career in theatre, film and recording.
(10/12/2010) - BroadwayWorld Philippines correspondent Bing Shimizu was in the midst of the huge crowd that gathered during the two live concert performances celebrating epic musical LES MISÉRABLES 25th anniversary at the O2 Arena, Greenwich, South-East London on Sunday, October 3, 2010. Ms. Shimizu, a loyal supporter of the Pride of the Philippines and Tony winner Lea Salonga, shares her own photographs of some of the concert's highlights to avid BroadwayWorld.com readers.
(09/29/2010) - Korean American playwright Lloyd Suh's Off-Broadway play 'American Hwangap' holds its Asian premiere in Manila through a co-production arrangement between the Cultural Center of the Philippines' (CCP) resident theatre company Tanghalang Pilipino, and New York-based Lark Play Development Center. Top billed by the Philippines' most respected actors on stage, television and film - Mario O' Hara, Celeste Legaspi, Gina Pareño and Bembol Roco - 'American Hwangap' is presented in its original English form, and in a Filipino translation written by Philippine literature professor and writer Joi Barrios-Leblanc. The play runs until Sunday, October 3, 2010 at the CCP Little Theatre.
(09/20/2010) - Together with Tony winner Lea Salonga, husband Rob Chien, and Joanna Ampil's manager Girlie Rodis, BroadwayWorld Philippines attended Ms. Ampil's second solo concert in Manila Saturday evening, September 18, 2010 at Onstage, Greenbelt 1, Ayala Malls, Makati City.
(09/12/2010) - Moonlight Stage Productions (MSP) fills the Brengle Terrace Park in Vista, California - not just with local residents and tourists on a picnic but also with a giant statue of Vietnamese communist revolutionary Ho Chi Minh, and a US military helicopter falling from the sky on Wednesday through Sunday - as MSP concludes its 2010 summer season with a grand presentation of Tony award-winning musical 'Miss Saigon' at the Moonlight Amphitheatre running until Saturday, September 25, 2010 at 7:30 p.m. 'Miss Saigon' alums Filipino-American stage actress Jennifer Paz (Kim) and Johann Michael Camat (The Engineer) reunite onstage in this lavish open air production.
(09/03/2010) - Tony award-winning actress Lea Salonga ('Miss Saigon', 'Les Miserables') took time out to watch one of the most popular shows playing on Broadway Greenday's 'American Idiot' at St. James Theatre in New York City Wednesday evening, September 1, 2010. Ms. Salonga was accompanied by composer and lyricist Jay Kuo ('Worlds Apart', 'Insignificant Others'), who is also one of the associate producers of 'American Idiot'.
(08/26/2010) - International child performer Martin Delos Santos' ('Mammoth', 'Jollitown') natural actor's instincts when essaying 10-year-old protagonist Abel in Philippine Educational Theater Association's (PETA) Filipino adaptation of Bengali Rabindranath Tagore's 'Dakghar' or 'The Post Office' (1912) brings out a delightful and charming portrayal.
(08/21/2010) - The Silliman University Cultural Affairs Committee and the Philippine Opera Company bring 'Master Class' to Dumaguete City, a Philippine province of Negros Oriental, over the weekend. Ms. Gil performs alongside Florence Aguilar (Sophie de Palma), Juan Alberto Gaerlan (Anthony Candolino), Ana Feleo (Sharon Graham), Francis Amora (pianist), and Chino Veguillas (stagehand). Michael Williams directs.
(08/05/2010) - The international producers of 'Cats: Now and Forever' in Manila -- Lunchbox Theatrical Productions, David Atkins Enterprises, Concertus and All Youth Channels in association with The Really Useful Company Asia Pacific - have been kind enough to share with BroadwayWorld.com their first set of official production shots of the Broadway musical that is currently taking Manila by storm.
(07/27/2010) - On its tenth anniversary, the Philippine Opera Company ('La Boheme', 'Harana') brings back its critically acclaimed production of Terrence McNally's 1996 Tony award-winning play 'Master Class', starring Philippine cinema icon Ms. Gil in the role of the opera world's grand dame Maria Callas (1923-1977). Presented in a master class format, the straight play explores what could have transpired inside the opera's classroom with Callas at the Juilliard 1971-72, at the time when the dramatic soprano had already lost her voice.
(07/12/2010) - BroadwayWorld Philippines joined first-time straight play director Audie Gemora ('High School Musical On Stage') open Repertory Philippines' 73rd season ender 'Equus' Friday evening, July 9, 2010 at the OnStage Theatre in Greenbelt One, Ayala Malls, Makati City. With seasoned Repertory Philippines actors Miguel Faustmann, who plays middle-aged psychiatrist-narrator Martin Dysart, and Red Concepcion, who portrays seventeen-year-old dangerously atypical Alan Strang, up the marquee, Mr. Gemora has showed his own firm grip of Peter Shaffer's material before his curious audience.
(07/06/2010) - Ballet Manila, one of the Philippines' major ballet companies, had recently staged the two-act classic ballet 'Giselle' at Manila Broadcasting Company's Aliw Theatre, Cultural Center of the Philippines Complex, Pasay City, Manila. The ballet stars 45-year-old prima ballerina Lisa Macuja-Elizalde in the title role.
(06/29/2010) - Although the piece had been staged in other Asian countries like Korea, Japan and Hong Kong already, 'The Full Monty' that opened at the Drama Center Theatre on June 18, 2010 was the first one in Singapore.
