In 2010, young lyric tenor Antonio (Arman) Ferrer auditioned for the role of the hero Tenyong in the iconic zarzuela “Walang Sugat” at the Irwin Lee Theater of the Ateneo de Manila, which was celebrating its centennial.
Facing him were a formidable duo: composer Chino Toledo, the music director, and Ricardo Abad, veteran stage director.
Ferrer was asked to sing a kundiman and he obliged with “Magbalik Ka Hirang” by Nicanor Abelardo, which he interpreted beautifully. After all, he was (and still is) a voice student of soprano Camille Lopez-Molina at the UP Diliman College of Music. Toledo, who had worked on the orchestration for the Tolentino-Reyes zarzuela, was suitably impressed.
Then Abad asked him, “Do you have an acting background?” The singer replied, “None at all, sir.” He timidly ventured to say that he had played Joseph in Andrew Lloyd Webber’s “Joseph and the Amazing Technicolored Dreamcoat” while in high school at Claret.
Coveted role
The director was nonplussed. Then and there, he summoned his students at Tanghalang Ateneo and they conducted an exclusive workshop for one, a crash course on acting for this trainee, an operatic tenor who, in effect, wanted to be a musical theater star.
And that was how Ferrer landed the coveted role of Tenyong, who joins the revolution against Spain at the turn of the century. Playing his sweetheart Julia was Laura Cabochan alternating with Janine Santos.
I caught this performance of “Walang Sugat” and was impressed by Ferrer’s singing (“solid tones,” said a woman beside me); and his acting wasn’t bad either. The singer, however, felt he was not good “acting-wise.” But he grew more comfortable acting in the role when the zarzuela was restaged that year.
Young Rizal
What do you know, his next role was in a straight play: as the young Rizal in “The Love of Leonor Rivera,” by National Artist Severino Montano, directed by Naty Crame-Rogers, a friend of the Ferrer Family.
“I had no trouble memorizing the lines but the delivery was a problem,” he recalled. Crame-Rogers would patiently help him while being “critical” at the same time. While learning to act, the performer learned more about the National Hero.
“He was 21 then,” Ferrer said. “He didn’t want to go to Spain but (his brother) Paciano persuaded him. He didn’t want to leave Leonor (played by Paula David), they were exchanging letters. He was very nationalistic (“malakas ang nationalismo”); he did not want to go to Spain.”
New and darker
Tenyong was soon becoming Ferrer’s signature role. He appeared in the new production of “Walang Sugat,” directed by Carlos Siguion-Reyna at the Cultural Center of the Philippines last year.
“It was the first time for Sir Carlitos to direct a play,” he observed. “Marami siyang ‘cut,’ kaya ulit, ulit, ulit (repeat, repeat and repeat). When he saw something wrong, ulit to the max. That’s how he is. I was able to adjust to what he wanted. He wanted something new and darker.”
Thus, Ferrer learned that “every director wants something new. Sir Ricky was hands-on, he would act out the role of Lucas (the loveable servant) although he is not that young! Sir Ricky wanted big actions, big stage presence. Si Sir Carlitos dahil sanay siya sa (used to movies), he wanted subtle movements but with presence.”
He next appears in the cast of the grand production “The Best of Opera” at Resorts World Manila on June 5.
Lessons learned
What have these experiences taught our young performer thus far?
“Professionally, don’t ever be late or you’ll get it from the stage manager or the director—‘late ka naman …’ Kasi nakakahiya nga naman sa mga (it’s embarrassing to your) co-actors,” he observes.
“Be sincere and do your job well,” he adds. “Don’t impress other people, it’s always inside out, not inside in. Ma’am Camille always teaches this to us. No matter good you are—Pavarotti, no matter how good he was, had his haters. There’s always someone better than you, so be happy with what you have, be happy with yourself.”