AREVALO AND PEREZ (BOTH SEATED). Cast in the 1990 production of “Diary of Anne Frank.”
Mike Prado and his partner, Boyd Derequito, planned to produce “By George,” a production featuring George Gershwin’s music, and were willing to put their money where their mouths were. They paid for the cast’s voice and dance lessons to ensure that the show would have an exemplary chorus – and it did!
But, before producing the big musical, I suggested it was best to gain experience as producers first by staging the play, “The Diary of Anne Frank.” I thought Robert Arevalo would do justice to the many-layered role of Otto Frank. After much convincing, Barbara Perez joined her husband in the cast, with Adriana Agcaoili in the title role.
Scene-stealing roles
Also in the cast were Pinky Marquez and Tirso Cruz III as the self-serving Mr. and Mrs. Van Daan, Michael de Mesa as a grumpy dentist, Lani Sumalinog as Margot, and Miguel Valdez as Peter Van Daan. Pinky and Michael were crowd-pleasers in their scene-stealing roles.
Barbara alternated with a very pregnant Gloria Diaz in that 1990 staging of the play at Phil-Am Life Auditorium. I recall one woman in the audience who cattily commented to her companion, “Ang taba ni Gloria!” “Naturally,” I cut in, “She is pregnant!”
Adriana and Miguel titillated the teenagers in the audience in their love scenes. One of the members of the audience was Amsterdam-based ballet dancer, Franklin Bobadilla, who has been an avid Barbara Perez fan since the ’50s.
Museum
During one of his Manila visits, he pointed out to me that in the Anne Frank Museum in Amsterdam, tourists can view photos of the play’s international versions – but, there’s no photo of any Philippine production. Did I have one? In all fairness to Filipinos’ love for the play, I thought I should contribute a photo.
Initially, when I searched among my mementos, I couldn’t find one. But, I finally found this photo two months ago and immediately e-mailed it to Franklin. Now, the Amsterdam Museum of Anne Frank has a photo of a Philippine version of the acclaimed play that made Susan Strasberg, daughter of Lee, a theater star. This photo has quite a history, indeed!