Pinoy artists-propelled TV series airs in US, Italy soon

CHRISTIAN Bautista entertains guests at “The Kitchen Musical” party in Makati recently. Rodel Rotoni

“The Kitchen Musical” will soon be served outside of Asia.

The music-dance-drama starring Filipino singer Karylle Tatlonghari as a rich, young girl fresh out of culinary school will be remade in the United States by ABC and in Italy by Casanova Multimedia, according to Nelia Sustrino, chief executive officer of The Group Entertainment (TGE), which created the show.

The US series will be titled “Avilon,” after the restaurant where lead character Maddie goes to work.

Sustrino said the Asian version, which also features Filipino talents Christian Bautista, Arthur Acuña, Thou Reyes and Ikey Canoy, will soon be seen in several countries in Europe and in the North American territory.

Directed and written by Malaysian Cheah “CheeK” Chee-kong, the series is currently seen in the Philippines, Singapore, Malaysia and Indonesia. It will also be released in Vietnam, Sustrino said.

The story follows Maddie, who goes to work at her father’s famous restaurant, The Avilon, after graduating from the culinary school Le Cordon Blue in Paris. She believes the restaurant menu needs a major overhaul, but she has to contend with the tyrannical head chef, Alex Marcus, and other colleagues.

The cast also includes British actor Stephen Rahman Hughes, who plays Alex, and French fashion model/singer Rosemary Vanderbroucke as Selena Argon, the sommelier.

TGE recently hosted a party at the InterContinental Hotel in Makati City to promote the show. The cast performed songs in the series, including “Unwell,” “Faith” and “Boom Boom Pow.”

Other performers that night were Jay-R, Marie Digby, The Maasinhon Trio and Karylle’s half-sister Zia Quizon. Angel Aquino, Iya Villania and Meagan Young of Studio 23’s “Us Girls” hosted the event.

“‘Kitchen Musical’ doing very well here,” said March Ventosa, managing director of Studio 23, where the show currently airs. “We’re hoping it will have a season 2.”

At the party, the series’ musical director and arranger, Gerard Salonga, defended the “The Kitchen Musical” from comments of being a copycat of the top-rating American series, “Glee.”

“I’m not saying that the success of ‘Glee’ didn’t encourage this—producers were inspired to make a show with this format because the format succeeded,” Salonga told Inquirer. “But there are so many other things that influenced it. Before ‘Glee’ there were ‘Grease’ and ‘Mamma Mia’ adaptations of musical plays to films. Every time you follow a trendsetter like ‘Glee,’ these things are bound to be said. There’s nothing you can do about that. The musical format in drama was not invented by ‘Glee.’ That’s what people have to remember.”