Oliver Oliveros - Page 22

Theater and film actress Cherie Gil ('Master Class,' 'Full Gallop') makes her Philippine Educational Theater Association (PETA) debut via theater director-scenic designer Loy Arcenas ('Corpus Christi,' 'Love! Valour! Compassion!') and playwright Rody Vera's ('The Merchant of Venice,' 'D' Wonder Twins of Boac') reimagining of Anton Chekhov's masterwork 'The Cherry Orchard,' now titled 'Arbol de Fuego,' a flowering tree that bears no fruit, which frames the main entrance to the nearly bankrupt estate Balay Dako in Negros Occidental, Southern Philippines, during the '70s.

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.

Rob Marshall ('Chicago,' 'Pirates of the Caribbean') helms the long overdue film adaptation of the 1987 Tony Award-winning musical INTO THE WOODS, featuring music and lyrics by Stephen Sondheim ('Sweeney Todd,' 'Assassins') and book--now a moderately revised screenplay--by James Lapine ('Passion,' Falsettos').

Manila, Philippines--The first-ever international touring production of the Broadway hit musical Disney's 'Beauty and the Beast,' based on the 1991 Oscar-winning full-length animated feature film, and now--after 20 years--has reunited its original 1994 Broadway collaborators: director Robert Jess Roth, choreographer Matt West, scenic designer Stan Meyer, costume designer Ann Hould-Ward, lighting designer Natasha Katz, bookwriter Linda Woolverton, composer Alan Menken, and lyricists Tim Rice (and the late Howard Ashman), is extending its Asian kickoff for another week from Sunday, February 1, to Sunday, February 8, at the Cultural Center of the Philippines (CCP). The show was originally announced to close Sunday, January 25.

The first-ever international touring production of the Broadway hit musical Disney's 'Beauty and the Beast,' based on the 1991 Oscar-winning full-length animated feature film, and now--after 20 years--has reunited its original 1994 Broadway collaborators: director Robert Jess Roth, choreographer Matt West, scenic designer Stan Meyer, costume designer Ann Hould-Ward, lighting designer Natasha Katz, bookwriter Linda Woolverton, composer Alan Menken, and lyricists Tim Rice (and the late Howard Ashman), is extending its run at the Cultural Center of the Philippines (CCP) until Sunday, February 1. (The show was originally announced to close Sunday, January 25.)

Theater and film actress Cherie Gil ('Master Class,' 'Full Gallop') makes her Philippine Educational Theater Association (PETA) debut via theater director-scenic designer Loy Arcenas ('Corpus Christi,' 'Love! Valour! Compassion!') and playwright Rody Vera's ('The Merchant of Venice,' 'D' Wonder Twins of Boac') reimagining of Anton Chekhov's masterwork 'The Cherry Orchard,' now titled 'Arbol de Fuego,' a flowering tree that bears no fruit, which frames the main entrance to the nearly bankrupt estate Balay Dako in Negros Occidental, Southern Philippines, during the '70s.

Manila, Philippines--The first-ever international touring production of the Broadway hit musical Disney's 'Beauty and the Beast,' based on the 1991 Oscar-nominated full-length animated feature film, and now--after 20 years--has reunited its original 1994 Broadway collaborators: director Robert Jess Roth, choreographer Matt West, scenic designer Stan Meyer, costume designer Ann Hould-Ward, lighting designer Natasha Katz, bookwriter Linda Woolverton, composer Alan Menken, and lyricists Tim Rice (and the late Howard Ashman), is currently playing at the Cultural Center of the Philippines (CCP) until Sunday, January 25.

On the day BroadwayWorld.com was scheduled to sit down with Broadway actor Jacob Keith Watson ('Violet'), who is on tour with 'Chicago'--bound for Manila next--New Orleans' The Times-Picayune has just showered him with praises for his latest stage role: Amos Hart, Roxie Hart's gullible, negligible husband.

9 Works Theatrical ('The Last 5 Years,' 'Sweet Charity') brings back one of its hit productions last year, GREASE, to relive the teenage '50s at Carlos P. Romulo Auditorium, RCBC Plaza, in Makati City until Sunday, December 7.

The day after the opening night (October 7) of the 16th National Tour of Broadway smash CHICAGO, Rick Pessagno (Broadway's 'Sophisticated Ladies,' '42nd Street'), who also starred as Roxie Hart's unscrupulous lover, Fred Casely, in CHICAGO's First National Tour in 1997, and now dabbling in backstage work as one of the touring production's three stage managers, generously gave us--BroadwayWorld.com and a small group of Filipino journalists--a glimpse of CHICAGO's rather simple backstage setup at the Saenger Theatre, New Orleans' famed atmospheric theatre.

The fall season official began, but it felt like summer in the lower 80s °F, when BroadwayWorld.com, alongside a small group of Filipino journalists, huddled around Tony Award-winning sound designer Scott Lehrer ('Chicago,' 'Honeymoon In Vegas') at the dim-lit main floor of the famed Saenger Theatre early October.

PETA Theater Center (No.5 Eymard Drive, New Manila) hosts the two-weekend run of Off-Broadway's family-friendly magic show WALLY WATTHEAD AND HIS LOST GLOW, which kicked off yesterday, November 14, and will run until Sunday, November 23.

CHICAGO on Broadway's Terrra C. MacLeod and Bianca Marroquin are back on the road as the accused celebrity killers and reluctant vaudeville partners Velma Kelly and Roxie Hart, respectively, whose combination delivers equally strong lead performances.

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.

THE VOICE of the Philippines Season One coaches Lea Salonga, Sarah Geronimo, apl.de.ap, and Bamboo Manalac are back for the reality singing competition's highly anticipated second season, whose premiere episode, which leads up to the contest's trademark blind auditions, will air Sunday, October 26, on ABS CBN, one the Philippines' major commercial television networks.

Stage actor Morgan Reynolds, who is currently reaping rave reviews for his portrayal of Carmen Ghia, the flamboyant assistant of untalented director Roger De Bris in Arizona Broadway Theatre's production of 'The Producers,' has recently released on YouTube his very own tribute to Broadway Musicals, titled 'Live YOUR Musical.'

Cocktails named after some of the show stopping musical numbers from the smash Broadway musical CHICAGO greeted the cast, crew, and guests at a post-performance party at Marti's, a bistro in the French Quarter, late Tuesday night. CHICAGO's current tour cast, headlined by Bianca Marroquin (Roxie Hart), Terra C. MacLeod (Velma Kelly), John O'Hurley (Billy Flynn in select cities), Jacob Keith Watson (Amos Hart), Roz Ryan (Matron 'Mama' Morton), and C. Newcomer (Mary Sunshine), kicked off CHICAGO's 16th U.S. Tour at the newly reopened atmospheric theatre in NOLA, the 2,736-seater Saenger Theatre along Canal Street, with a rapturous standing ovation from a packed audience earlier that evening.

In its fourth year, presented by AARP, The Outstanding Filipino Americans in New York (TOFA-NY) Awards, the grandest celebration that caps the monthlong Filipino American History Month in New York City, has announced today that Filipino-American EGOT holder Bobby Lopez ('Frozen,' 'The Book of Mormon'); fashion designer and philanthropist Josie Natori; Dean of Academic Affairs at Columbia University Sheila Coronel; the people behind Fiesta In America, an annual trade and cultural expo; and the medical mission volunteers of Philippine Medical Association in America (PMAA) will be feted with the highest honors--The Heritage Awards--at TOFA-NY Awards ceremony, which will be held at Carnegie Hall's Weill Recital Hall (881 7th Ave, New York, NY) on Saturday, October 25, at 7 p.m.

I was able to watch the unstoppable, nearly nine-year-old touring production of two-time Olivier Award nominees Daniel Clarkson and Jefferson Turner's parody POTTED POTTER: The Unauthorized Harry Experience twice: the first time was at Little Shubert Theatre Off-Broadway, which starred Clarkson and Turner, in 2012; the second time was at Carlos P. Romulo Auditorium in Manila, which now stars British actors Benjamin Stratton and James Percy, last Tuesday.

The creators of the international hit parody POTTED POTTER, Daniel Clarkson and Jefferson Turner, are indeed inseparable!