CURTAIN CALL Performers take a bow afterWednesday’s opening show at The Theatre of Solaire Resort and Casino
The metro’s newest performing arts venue, Solaire Resort and Casino’s swanky and state-of-art The Theatre at Solaire, formally raised its orange curtains on Wednesday night, with a spectacle that gathered onstage some of the country’s finest artists and acts from the worlds of music, theater and dance.
Speaking to a well-heeled audience at the fan-shaped, 1,760-seater hall, Solaire president and chief operating officer Thomas Arasi referred to The Theatre as the amusement complex’s “crown jewel.”
“It’s set to redefine the landscape of arts, culture and entertainment in the Philippines, and quite possibly, in Asia,” he said.
Theater artist and Solaire director for entertainment Audie Gemora mounted a stage production, “Putting It Together,” with an ensemble of enthusiastic performers. The show was directed by Dexter Santos and written by Floy Quintos, with production design by Mio Infante.
Sweeping overture
The ABS-CBN Philharmonic Orchestra, under the baton of musical director and conductor Gerard Salonga, set the tone with the sweeping overture from Georges Bizet’s “Carmen.” This was followed by a suite of operatic numbers from the Philippine Opera Company, led by sopranos Myramae Meneses, Karla Gutierrez and Camille Lopez Molina. After the group’s rendition of the brindisi from Giuseppe Verdi’s “La Traviata,” prima ballerina Lisa Macuja-Elizalde led members of the Ballet Manila in an excerpt from the “Sleeping Beauty.”
The best of original Filipino musicals were then showcased in a medley of songs from various notable productions: Robert Seña and the Ryan Cayabyab Singers sang a tune from “Stageshow”; Karylle, “Rama Hari”; Myke Salomon, “Magsimula Ka”; Aicelle Santos, “Rak of Aegis,” and Isay Alvarez, “Katy.”
Alvarez then led the other singers in a rousing performance of the torch ballad “Minsan Ang Minahal Ay Ako” to end their production number.
Sound system
View from the balcony.
Designed by Aedas, said to be one of the five largest international architectural firms, the Solaire theater is equipped with a high-end sound system called Constellation, created by American audio manufacturer Meyer Sound.
“This is the only theater in the country—and the third in Asia, after Singapore and Macau—to have this kind of technology,” Arasi said.
The Constellation system allows the hall to do away with the traditional methods and equipment for the customization of acoustics like movable walls, drapes and orchestra shells. This means that The Theatre is versatile enough to host various types of shows, from concertos and musicals to pop and rock concerts.
This was discernible when The Theatre toned down the venue’s reverb for the “Happy Suite,” which had Sam Concepcion crooning and grooving to the Pharrell Williams pop-RnB hit.
Ednah Ledesma and the popular 1990s dance troupe The Manouvres then took to the stage, followed by the all-male dance group 38 Degrees, which flipped, tossed and lifted actress-dancer Regine Tolentino in a sizzling Vegas-style revue that had the audience hooting.
‘Chicago: The Musical’
The Theatre, which will have “Chicago: The Musical” for its debut show in December, is furnished with 12 dressing rooms, a multipurpose rehearsal studio and a black box performance space. The stage is equipped with a “same-level loading dock, ample wing space, 62 fly lines, a trap door area, and an orchestra pit with hydraulic systems.”
Meanwhile, in an ardent medley of OPM classics, Morissette Amon sang “Sometime, Somewhere”; Christian Bautista, “Hanggang,” and Yeng Constantino, “Ang Himig Natin.” Balladeer Martin Nievera rounded up this soaring suite with a performance of his signature song, “Kahit Isang Saglit.”
Nievera then sang snippets of “The Music of the Night” from the musical “Phantom of the Opera,” before introducing the show’s main performer—Tony Award-winning singer-actress Lea Salonga.
Wearing a flowing gray gown, Salonga—with her brother Gerard behind her, conducting the orchestra—regaled the rapt crowd with a mesmerizing medley of Broadway showpieces, some of which she helped popularize: “Memory” from the musical “Cats”; and “I Dreamed a Dream” and “On My Own” from “Les Misérables.” She also sang a few songs from “Wicked” like “For Good” and “Defying Gravity.”
To cap the two-hour musical and visual feat, Salonga led the rest of the performers in a cheery finale number, Colbie Caillat’s “Brighter than the Sun.”
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