ARIEL Rivera and Joanna Ampil during the latter’s homecoming concert in 2010. ARNOLD ALMACEN
Pop singer-actor Ariel Rivera, along with 13 other performers, will join the cast of Resorts World Manila’s (RWM) production of “The Sound of Music”—which is on extended run starting Friday night until Feb. 12 at RWM’s Newport Performing Arts Theater in Pasay.
“Some 75,000 people have seen the show. By the time we finish the run, we would have done more than 100 shows. We want to stage long-running shows,” said Kingson Sian, president of Travellers International Hotel Group, which operates RWM.
Sian was brimming with excitement when he talked to the Inquirer recently. He kept referring to Newport’s state-of-the-art light-emitting diode (LED) screen which enhances the traditional theatrical production of “The Sound of Music.”
Goal is accessibility
“We want to broaden the base of theatergoers,” he said, “and be accessible to them not only in price, but also in terms of the feel of the shows. So we put up this screen, one of the largest in Southeast Asia. Not even Broadway has done ‘Sound of Music’ this way.”
He cited comments by Damon Brooks, representative of Broadway Asia, the company that administers the rights to produce “Sound of Music.” Part of the requirements, Sian said, is that Brooks has to fly to Manila to watch the show. “To check if we’re following the script, etc. He came in December, watched the show and wrote something, sort of a review. Nakakataba ng puso, the way he described it.”
Bright lights
Part of Damon’s comments said: “As someone who routinely attends shows on- and off-Broadway, I see all kinds of performances, so I tend to be somewhat opinionated… What I will remember most about this version of ‘The Sound Of Music’ is the cohesiveness of the experience… from entering the Resorts World complex, to the show itself, to the curtain call… all top-notch talents… They say the neon lights are bright on Broadway. Well, I’m here to tell you that they are far from dim at Resorts World Manila.”
Sian added that the show and the technology infused into it have opened the opportunity to attract a new kind of audience.
He elaborated: “Kids today are into video games. How do we introduce this generation to the theater? We feel that, to a certain extent, we’ve achieved that through ‘Sound of Music.’ And we want to continue doing so. We want as many Filipinos as possible to come and watch it and be proud that we have the technology to do something like this. This is an all-Filipino production, 100 percent.”
Headliners
Sian recalled, “Some foreigners in the audience, pointing to Miguel Faustmann, think that we import talents. But he’s also Filipino, he just happens to have Austrian heritage.”
“SOUND of Music,” which was inspired by a book on the Trapp Family Singers, was the last musical written by Rodgers and Hammerstein.
The show features Joanna Ampil and Cris Villonco alternating in the lead role of Maria von Trapp, along with Audie Gemora, Pinky Amador, Pinky Marquez, Faustmann, Atasha Muhlach, Tanya Manalang, Paolo Ocampo, among others.
Rivera is set to play Captain Georg von Trapp, alternating with Gemora and Jon Joven.
Leo Martinez has come on board as Max Detweiler, alternating with Faustmann and Robbie Guevara.
The rest of the new cast members are: Jenny Villegas, Shiela Valderrama, Michaela Bradshaw, Fred Lo, Jeremy Domingo, Katie Bradshaw, Apple Chiu, Marielle Mamaclay, Arya Herrera, Rachel Coates, Shanti Gleason and Peachy Atilano.
Relief efforts
Proceeds of the Dec. 30 show were donated to ongoing relief efforts for victims of Tropical Storm “Sendong.” A total of P28 million raised by Genting Hong Kong, Resorts World Manila and Alliance Global were likewise turned over to organizations, including ABS-CBN Foundation, which mounted Sagip Kapamilya Operation Sendong.