Young thespians at Ateneo Blue Repertory pay tribute to Benj Pasek and Justin Paul, the youngest recipients of the prestigious Jonathan Larson Award and the team behind musical revue "Edges", by presenting their own production of the writing duo's most popular work to date. Ateneo Blue Repertory's "Edges: A Song Cycle" runs at the Gonzaga Fine Arts Theatre, Ateneo de Manila University until Saturday, July 31, 2010.
Pasek and Paul wrote "Edges" when they were undergraduate students, majoring in musical theatre, at the University of Michigan. Originally written with four actors (playing various characters), the musical poses these perennial rants: "Who Am I?" and "Who Do I Want to Become?" Confronting emotions, escaping expectations, and deciphering complicated relationships--the songs cover universal issues such as love, commitment, identity, and meaning. One of its more popular songs is "Be My Friend", also commonly known as the "Facebook Song".
The musical's first professional production premiered at the Capital Repertory Theatre in Albany, New York in 2007, where Paul was musical director. "Edges" has since been staged in North America, Australia, Europe, and Asia.
Having seen productions sprouting in U.S. colleges including New York University, Carnegie Mellon University, Westminster Choir College, Emerson College, University of Miami, Northwestern University, Boston Conservatory, Elon University, and the University of Alabama since 2007, "Edges" has earned a reputation as a new favorite show for campus-based theatre organizations.
Ateneo Blue Repertory is the premier musical theatre organization at Ateneo de Manila University. In the past years, Ateneo Blue Repertory has staged old and new musicals originating from the U.S. like "Batboy", "All Shook Up", "The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee", "Pippin", "Into the Woods", "The Wiz", "Bare", "Sweet Charity" and the Asian theatrical premieres of Disney's "High School Musical On Stage" and "Footloose". The Company has also staged originally-written productions like "Stages of Love" by Filipino musical creators Rony Fortich and Andrei Pamintuan, and "Breakups and Breakdowns" by Filipino stage actor Joel Trinidad.
"Edges" by Ateneo Blue Repertory is presented through special arrangement with Music Theatre International (MTI). The show is directed by Mahar Mangahas ("Summer of '42", "Monday Nights New Voices") with lighting design by Tina Barayoga ("Rock and Rule", "Zanna Don't"), set design by J.J. Ignacio ("The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee", "Summer of '42"), and musical direction by Ejay Yatco ("All Shook Up", "tick, tick...BOOM!").
For tickets, contact Tine Balbuena at (63) 9174670080. Tickets: PhP 150.00 each.
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