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.