Article:
"West Side Story" precedes Broadway revival in 2009
Jocelyn Dimaculangan
Tuesday, July 1, 2008
05:45 PM
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Christian Bautista and Karylle bring life to the tragic story of Tony and Maria, the lead characters of the musical West Side Story. STAGES will have 20 shows of this play from September to October this year.
Noel Orsa
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As early as two years ago, STAGES president Audie Gemora was thinking of bringing West Side Story to the Philippines to give Filipinos a chance to appreciate classic musical plays such as this one. West Side Story is actually a 50-year old musical that was first performed on Broadway on September 26, 1957. It takes place in the mid 1950's, when many Puerto Ricans moved to the west side of Manhattan, New York City.
Christian Bautista and Karylle showed members of the press a sample of what to expect in their musical play, which will staged from September to October this year. During the June 26 press conference of West Side Story at the Circle Café (co-owned by Karylle and Dingdong Dantes) in Quezon City, the two lead stars sang "Tonight" while Christian showed his vocal prowess in the song "Maria."
Asia's Pop Idol cites "Maria" as his favorite song in the musical because of his training as a romantic balladeer. "Our characters, Tony and Maria, are star-crossed lovers," says Christian. "Galing sila sa magkaibang race and to have a relationship was forbidden. So there will be lots of hugging, holding hands and, of course, may halikan din. Kasi nga, hindi nila alam kung kelan ulit sila magkikita or magsasama because bawal nga. It's a beautiful love story and we want everybody to see it."
He adds: "Everybody sings the songs. Ang daming magandang songs na sikat like ‘Somewhere,' ‘Maria,' na galing sa West Side Story." Indeed, this musical boasts of memorable songs created by Leonard Bernstein with lyrics by Stephen Sondheim.
Will their kissing scenes cause problems with Karylle's boyfriend Dingdong Dantes? "Gusto ko magkausap kami like two gentlemen because I will be working with Karylle in this musical from September to October of this year. I just want to say that I will be taking good care of Karylle and he has nothing to worry about," assured Christian.
How is he preparing for his role as Tony? "That's the challenge here: I have to fall in love with two different leading ladies [Karylle and Joanna Ampil]. I have to kiss two different ladies. I have to be comfortable sa kanilang dalawa."
"My character Tony, gangster siya dati pero ayaw na niya. Pero dapat makita pa rin yung pagiging gangster niya na pinipigil niya. Dapat talaga tough ako pero ‘pag na-in love ako, lahat ng toughness na ‘yon, nawawala."
BROADWAY REVIVAL. Audie points out how everything just fell into place for the Manila run of this beloved masterpiece. "We got it just in time because there is a revival after almost 50 years," says Audie. "It will be revived in Broadway with Arthur Laurents, the original author, directing this play at age 91! The movie was shot in 1957 and very romantic ang movie style noon. We want to have a more realistic style, mas tunay. I am challenging them to make it more contemporary." He adds that it would have been more expensive if they had acquired the rights for this play next year.
The cast members of West Side Story will be following the original choreography of the play, which is why Christian and Karylle decided not to watch the movie since they became confused by the sequences. "When we saw the music sheets, may mga kanta sa musical na wala sa movie. Iba yung order so we stopped watching it," narrates Karylle. She plays a Puerto Rican in this movie so she studied the accent by rolling her r's.
The SOP mainstay admits that she has been raring to go back to theater for the some time now. "In my mind, I thought of doing a play this year. In my heart, I was asking myself, ‘when can I go back to theater?' Last year, I did the mall play Seussical the Musical, kahit papaano it prepared me for this since it's hard to go back to theater and a big play at that. Kahit papaano, it gave me the practice of rehearsing every day, staying late, studying with music sheets, and just being confident enough to play. That's the discipline of theater," says Karylle.
RIVAL WORLDS. Incidentally, her leading man Christian is a host of SOP's rival show, ASAP ‘08. She is a contract artist of GMA-7 while he is a regular in the ABS-CBN Sunday variety show. It is also interesting to note that Karylle's vocal coach is Kitchy Molina, who is currently also the vocal coach of the Pinoy Dream Academy Season 2 contestants.
But the young actress is quick to point out that there has never been rivalry between her and the Kapamilya star. "Parang ang konti na nga lang ng artists sa Philippines, mag-aaway-away pa ba," she says. "At saka, ili-limit pa ba natin yun? Kita n'yo nga, nahihirapan na nga ang STAGES to find people who can dance, act, and sing, ‘tapos ili-limit pa ba natin yun? ‘Tapos sasabihan pa natin na bawal yung ganito kasi sa kabila ka? Bakit, di ba?"
Christian is tapped to be the lead character of West Side Story after appearing in stage musicals such as The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe and Luna. This is also Karylle's return to theater after being part of STAGES' The Little Mermaid a few years ago, which also starred KC Concepcion and Carol Banawa.
London West End's major star Joanna Ampil will be playing Maria in 10 out of the 20 shows of West Side Story, alternating with Karylle. Gian Magdangal, another SOP mainstay, will play Riff, the leader of the Jets and a close friend of Tony. This play is directed by Menchu Lauchengco-Yulo while musical director Gerard Salonga and his Filharmonika orchestra will be providing the music for West Side Story.
Tickets are now being sold at Ticketworld (Tel. No. 891-9999) and ticketworld.com.ph. Show buyers and block buyers may call STAGES at 818-1111 loc. 225. Ticket prices range from P500 to P1200.
STAGES' production of West Side Story is presented through special arrangement with Music Theatre International (MTI) in New York.
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