Who was it that ‘walked on,’ stayed briefly and left an indelible mark in your heart? When I was a little girl, I spent much time in rehearsal halls and backstage at the Metropolitan Theater with my mother. I could hum the overture of “La Boheme” and whistle the violin parts for “La Traviata.”
‘Okay, I’m nuts!’ When she was about to play Mary Tyrone, the drug-addled mother of a dysfunctional family in Eugene O’Neill’s “Long Day’s Journey into Night,” Daisy Avellana went to a well-known doctor to research on drug addiction. She needed guidance on how an addict—a woman at that—moved, thought and comported herself.
Cris Villonco has been cast in English and Filipino productions, plays and musicals, dramas and comedies, classic and contemporary material, in character and lead roles, and, earlier this year, even in a male role (well, a female cross-dressed as a male, as Viola/Cesar in Philippine Educational Theater Association’s “D’ Wonder Twins of Boac,” an adaptation of Shakespeare’s “Twelfth Night”).
COUNT THEM—22 productions in just the first five months of the year, from the small two-character drama (“Red”) to the all-stops-out musical extravaganza (“Ibalong,” “Katy”). Local theater is at its most prolific and exciting in years; and so, before the last days of summer ring the curtain down on the old season to usher in the new by June—and with memory the only antidote to the ephemeral nature of theater—we thought we’d look back and salute the performances that lit up the stage and occasioned cheers in the previous months.
What a thrill it must have been to be present during artistic collaborations between performing arts legends like George Balanchine and Igor Stravinsky.
The strip show of six grown men is just the come-on and crowd-drawer of Viva Atlantis Theatricals’ “The Full Monty.” The centerpiece of this musical really lies in the gradual revelation of the male heart and soul, piece by poignant piece.
When Joseph Matheu was born, no one knew he was going to become a brother to twin Francis just two minutes later. “The doctor didn’t know because during our mom’s check-ups, he would hear only one heartbeat,” says Joseph.
The romance could never be overt. Still, at the end of the day, it is the relationship between the titular characters in Rodgers and Hammerstein’s “The King and I,” and the actors who play them, that can make or break any new incarnation of this beloved musical.
Except in the year 2011, Dennis Teodosio holds the distinction of being the only playwright to have been produced in every single installment of the Virgin Labfest (VL) since it began in 2005.
Even in modern times, the character of Mrs. Robinson— from the acclaimed film “The Graduate”—remains the subject of much controversy and abuse.
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