Aicelle Santos leads the new cast that will make a new generation of theater goers believe in (or question) miracles at the 15th Anniversary production of Himala: Isang Musikal this February 10-March 4, 2018 at the Power MAC Center Spotlight, Circuit Makati.
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| Aicelle Santos |
Presented by The Sandbox Collective and 9 Works Theatrical, Himala:
Isang Musikal, features a vocal powerhouse cast led by Aicelle Santos
playing her most challenging role to date, that of Elsa. Originally played by
Nora Aunor in the 1982 film and May Bayot in the numerous runs of the musical,
Elsa is the naïve, mysterious young lass who becomes the talk (and eventually
the main attraction) of the fictitious town of Cupang after seemingly
possessing healing powers through divine intervention. After bursting into the
theater scene in Katy! The Musical,
Aicelle has since made her mark on the stage with memorable performances in the
multiple runs of Rak of Aegis and
more recently, in Maynila … Sa Kuko ng
Liwanag that has earned her an Aliw Award.
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| The cast of Himala: Isang Musikal |
Joining Aicelle in this
production are Kakki Teodoro as Nimia, Neomi Gonzales as Chayong, Sandino
Martin as Pilo, and Bituin Escalante as Nanay Saling. The main cast also include
David Ezra as Orly, Floyd Tena, and Omar Uddin. Also starring in this musical
are Jenny Villegas, Glenda Liao, Cristy Peredo, Matel Patayon, Sigrid Balbas,
Hazel Maranan, Raflesia Bravo, Roxy Aldiosa, EJ Pepito, Joshua Cabiladas, Kits
Falcis, Roby Malubay, Gary Junsay, Mano Domingo, Neil Tolentino, Eizel Marcelo,
and Jasper Jimenes. Rounding up the cast are Onyl Torres, Chuck Hipol, Ivan
Panganiban, Alfritz Blanche, Ronna Gubba, Nel Gumalog, Katreen Dela Cruz, CK
Manlili, Anjanette Vargas, Hannah Grefaroa, Joshua Isidera, Nhoel Obsequio, and
Andrew Estacio.
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| Ed Lacson Jr. |
Directing the musical is Ed
Lacson Jr., one of the brightest minds working behind the scenes in theater today. Ed has
come a long way since being a musically illiterate page turner (aside from his
assistant stage manager duties) for pianist Jed Balsamo during the musical’s
Shanghai tour back in 2007. Fast forward more than a decade later, Ed aims for a “simpler, more distilled version” but with the “hope
that it is as powerful as the other iterations”. Meaning that this version
will be distilled, stripped down, with no choreography, with only the most necessary of set design, and just the
raw human voice (no lapel mics) accompanied by a lone piano. This
is quite a stark contrast to the huge spectacles that has dominated the theater
scene during the most part of this decade.
Seeing the 10th
anniversary concert staging at PETA back in 2013, I was very struck with how
complex the music is for a musical considering that there was just a lone piano
accompanying the whole time. The music by Vincent de Jesus as well as the music
arrangement of Jed Balsamo is eerie and haunting (those descending minor chord motifs!) and like what I’ve said at the
time, the vocals were rich, complex, discordant, contrapuntal and dissonant
sounding more like a symphony orchestra. It would be interesting to see how
this new cast step up to the plate. They did not deny at all during the press
launch held at the Privato Hotel that they’ve been brought (or reduced?) to
tears during their early rehearsals because of how the material and the music
have moved them. Too bad that the digital music store that once carried the 22
track original soundtrack recording of the musical has folded up and I’m not
aware if any other online stores carries it at the moment.
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| Ricky Lee |
Adapted from the 1982 film Himala starring Nora Aunor, written by
Ricky Lee, and directed by the late Ishmael Bernal, a National Artist for Film,
the musical has book and lyrics by Ricky Lee and music and lyrics by Vincent de
Jesus with musical arrangement by Jed Balsamo. Direction and stage design will
be by Ed Lacson, Jr., lighting design by Barbie Tan-Tiongco, and costume design
by Carlo Pangunaling.
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