Thank You, April Boy Regino

I was never a big fan of him, but as a music lover and as an artist, I had sooooo much respect and appreciation for him because of his music, and because of the genuine happiness he brought to soooo many people. As an artist, I do music to express myself and because it makes me happy doing it. If what I do makes people happy, that's a big plus. April Boy made a difference in the lives of people, and I'm sure his music will forever live on.

Thank you, April Boy Regino, for your music, for your heart, and for the happiness you brought to millions of Filipinos.

Of Butterflies and Daisies

My mother has been a cancer survivor for 10 years, and through the years,

I have learned and realized that

CANCER IS JUST A WORD, NOT A SENTENCE..

I am Sonny Alquizola, and I AM STANDING UP AGAINST CANCER.

Join me and 100+ performers as we unite to fight against cancer.

I'd Give My Life for You

By Alain Boublil and Claude-Michel Schönberg
From Miss Saigon

You who I cradled in my arms, You,

Asking as little as you can.
Little snip of a little man,
I know I'd give my life for you.

You didn't ask me to be born, You,
Why should you learn of war and pain.
To make sure you're not hurt again,
I swear I'd give my life for you.

I've tasted beyond all fear,
And you should know it's love that brought you here.
And in one perfect night, when the stars burned like new,
I knew what I must do.
I'll give you a million things I'll never own,
I'll give you a world to conquer when you're grown.

You will be who you want to be, You,
Can choose what ever heaven grants.
As long as you can have a chance,
I swear I'll give my life for you.

Sometimes I wake up,
reaching for him.
I feel his shadow brush my head.
But there's just moonlight on my bed.

Was he a ghost, was he a lie?
That made my body laugh and cry.
Then by my side the proof I see,
His little one, Gods of the sun bring him to me.

You will be who you want to be, You,
Can choose whatever heaven grants.
As long as you can have a chance,
I swear I'll give my life for you.
No one can stop what I must do.

I swear I'll give my life for you.

Miss Saigon Auditions in Manila

The smoke has cleared. The very first auditions for the planned revival of Miss Saigon in London is over. I am in tears and SUPER PROUD of my friends who dared. They went the distance to follow their dreams.

In the first round, the auditionees were asked to sing a part of their prepared audition song - mostly the chorus part. Therese, Mikko, JJ, Miko and Jee didn't make it past the first round, but I'm so proud of them as I always am. I'm sure it was not easy facing Cam Mack's trusted representatives, and the all other almost 500 auditionees.

Fritz and Karencitta on the other hand made it to the second round where the "survivors" were asked to sing the whole song this time. Again, I'm so proud of them considering that a lot of professional singers and professional thespians did not make it.

But among all my friends who auditioned, one shines above all else. The Ultimate Champion, the Fierce Songstress and now, I'd like to call her the Ultimate Survivor as she's one of the seven ladies who made it. Yes, it's Shin Shin, otherwise known to the world as Rachelle Ann Go. She got in along with Tanya Manalang, Apple Chiu, Frencheska Farr, Emerald Bañares, Mary Jane Solomon and Aicelle Santos. The lead role of Kim will be chosen from among them, and biases aside, I don't see any other girl who has all the qualities of 'Kim' but Shin.

No casting has and will be announced, since the creative team will still have auditions in London for the other (Caucasian) characters. One thing is for sure though. Shin is IN! She survived and yes, I am so damn proud!

And by the way, may I just say that my friends who made it past the first round all sang the songs that I suggested to them. Those friends who were up to the first round? Let's just say they sang the songs that they thought were best for them.

Epic Trailer of an EPIC MOVIE

Tony Award Winner..

The world's longest running musical..

Now, shall we add ACADEMY AWARD WINNER?

LifestyleBohol * At the End of the Day: A Review of Les Misérables (in Bohol)

LifestyleBohol * At the End of the Day: A Review of Les Misérables (in Bohol)

by Ludwig Bon Quirog y Migriño

This review article's text is exactly as it appears on the August 5th, 2012 issue of LifestyleBohol.  Of course, since this is a webpage, I went crazy with the photos.  I hope they don't end up making this entry confusing for anyone.

Enjoy reading!

______________________________

I was in Manila on a trip to see the French play, God of Carnage, when my Aunt Bing told me she was giving me a ticket to see Les Misérables at the Bohol Cultural Centre.  I leaped with joy!  “Two French stage shows on the same week?”  I said to myself, “It’s not even Christmas yet.  What did I do to deserve this awesomeness?”

Over a month before that day, I had known about it.  DreamBig Productions and Cre8tive Thespians Circle Inc, the Cebuano companies that brought the musical to Bohol, had created a lot of noise on Facebook about a supposed Les Miz production but I didn’t take them seriously.  I couldn’t help it; I hadn’t heard about them before and I wasn’t sure if they could deliver.  I was obviously wrong to have doubted them and my aunt’s enthusiasm for art proved to be an enormous blessing!

The Show

July 27th, opening night, came before I knew it.  It was to be the night of “ultimate Misery,” as West End and Broadway producer Cameron Mackintosh would put it.  The ticket said the show would start at 7:00PM but we had to sit through half an hour of dead air before they actually turned the lights off and pulled the curtains up.  It wasn’t the production team’s fault, though.  The place didn’t properly fill up until 7:20.  I guess we’ve gotten used to events starting an hour behind schedule that we tend to take time for granted.

I watched the show again on the second night, where a large part of this review will be based on since I was seated nearer to the stage.  Before I go about it, however, let me make it clear that I won’t be telling the story or talking about character backstories or enumerating every single musical number in this article.  This is a review, not a summary.  If you want to know about Les Misérables, Google it or read the novel.

The show began with the familiar overture and Work Song and I was pleased when I noticed the lapel microphones sticking out of the actors’ ears, knowing the singing was live.  Thankfully, I didn’t have to endure a medley of pre-recorded tracks like I did with a few local productions in the past.  What I had to endure, though, was the very bad audio system.  While the choruses were really good, the solo lines sounded irreconcilably hollow, which was very irritating.  Add to the list of flaws the fact that some of the lapels also had problems, which rendered some songs practically inaudible to people beyond the fifth row.

Jean Valjean

I noticed that, Sonny Alquizola, the actor playing Jean Valjean had a vocal quality comparable to that of Colm Wilkinson, the Canadian tenor who originated the role in the West End and on Broadway.  When he ages considerably, there’s a good chance he might even achieve the same timbre.  My companions and I were certainly bowled over with his performance of Bring Him Home, a song written specifically for the Canadian Tenor.

Alquizola had a few difficulties here and there, but who didn’t?  His most notable predicament was in achieving a solid grip of the very lofty final note of the song Who Am I, a high B which is normally held for seven seconds.  He was also a good actor - his stage behavior changed as he supposedly got old throughout the musical.  He even added more huskiness to his voice in the latter part, which gave an extra tinge of realism to his characterization.

Inspector Javert

The main antagonist of the musical, Inspector Javert, was played by Andrew Vincent Esplanada.  His rendition of Stars was classic—punctuated with the eyes of an angry Roman god about to smite the unrighteous.  While Esplanada wasn’t quite the despicable pious prick that Javert was meant to be, he knew how to stare at Valjean and the rest of the cast with such hatred and disdain, which helped him make it perfectly clear that his character meant business.  His abuse directed towards Fantine as a prostitute made me want to throw a can of soda at him—which meant he did it right.

Fantine

Gayle Marie Sinadjan, portraying Fantine, had a smooth voice with a beautiful vibrato—a cross between Joanna Ampil and Ruthie Henshall but definitely neither.  She took my heart away during The Confrontation when she sang of the character’s daughter, Cosette, as though she had a real child to sing about.  Her rendition of I Dreamed a Dream was vocally impressive but I have to say she moved way too much.  Her voice would have been enough to reduce me to a teary pulp but her physical activity while singing proved too distracting to elicit genuine sympathy.  Overall, she was very good.  Her appearance in Valjean’s Death sent chills down my spine.  It was the same experience I had when I first saw the show several years ago.

The Thénardiers

Playing Monsieur and Madame Thénardier were Warren Clyde Tompong and April Anne Moncada respectively.  Oh what a comic relief those two were after a series of miserable scenes depicting death and anguish!  Tompong sang Master of the House like a pro—prancing with a naughty tiptoe all over the stage—singing about how he rips his customers off and steals from them.  He even had a faux 18th century peasant Londoner accent.

Moncada, on the other hand, really needs to be lauded for her amazing vocal timbre.  She would have very easily stolen the show if her part were longer.  She reminded me so much of Anne Harada, the actress who played the role on Broadway in 2006, with her amazing vocals and wily disposition.  She had the eyebrows of a typical evil villainess and she knew how to use them.  The audience cracked up in laughter when she pulled a tiny banana out while singing the line “thinks he’s quite a lover but there’s not much there.”  That’s something I haven’t seen in any other production of Les Miz.  She’s a bloody wonder!

It’s such a shame the producers decided to cut Beggars at the Feast, the couple’s second big song.  It would have been nice to see them back in their own number.

Marius and Cosette

I was instantly drawn by the vocal prowess of John Michael Fulgencio, who took on the role of Marius.  The moment he first opened his mouth to sing, his voice immediately reminded me of a young Michael Ball, the English tenor who originated the role in the West End.  His notes were smooth and cool—with a stupendous quality showcased when he sang Empty Chairs at Empty Tables on the second night.  On the verge of tears, I remember my cousin, Isa, saying, “He’s way better than Nick Jonas” and she was right to say so.

Cosette was played by Pauline Anne Rosales, a lyric soprano.  I’m glad the production brought back the song, I Saw Him Once, which hasn’t been performed in the musical’s context since the Original West End production in 1985.  It showcased Rosales’ amazing vocal range.  Let me stress, however, that although she and Marius made a cute couple on stage, the strongest chemistry was between the latter and Eponine.

Eponine

Played by Joanna Jane Ang, Eponine was a feisty female waif with a heart-rending sentiment.  Her performance of On My Own was so soul-piercing that I even heard a couple of people clearing their nostrils and throats right before the loud applause.  That could only have meant they were crying.  She portrayed her quiet pain so masterfully that it was agonizing to watch.  A Little Fall of Rain, her duet with Marius right before she dies, drove me to tears on the second night.  With everything that she did before her death, she set the right mood for the audience to weep like they lost their own friend.

Enjolras

Junrey Alayacyac, the young man cast as Enjolras had a remarkable set of pipes which reminded me a lot of David Thaxton, who played the role in 2008 in the West End.  It takes a strong voice to play a leader of the June Rebellion and Alayacyac fit the description perfectly.  The hairs on the back of my neck stood when he began to sing Do You Hear the People Sing to the beat of marching drums.  It was as though he was calling on the audience to join him in battle.  He was as passionate as a real revolutionary and it was clear he was singing with heart.  Perhaps he was singing for a modern kind of revolution.

Young Cosette and Gavroche

Of course, we have to give special mention to these two little people—children with such music-filled futures ahead of them.  It’s clear that it could only get brighter from there on.  Portrayed by Raven Chan, a treble, Young Cosette only appears twice in the entire show—first when she sings Castle on a Cloud and second when she is “bought” by Valjean from the Thenardiers where she is mostly silent.  Little Miss Chan had a memorable angelic voice, which, to this day, still rings in my head like I just heard it an hour ago.

Gavroche, the smart little urchin, was another precious character.  Actor Arjay Chan, who played the role, sang Little People bringing an adorable pause of relief for those who found the preceding events to be too heavy on the heart.  In the end, though, he dies by the guns of the enemy.  Rummaging dead bodies for bullets, Little Mister Chan made our hearts sink when he sang his final solo as his character was being shot repeatedly by the French National Guard, writhing in agony until his last note.

Ensemble

I have to laud the ensemble members for their vocal abilities.  With every single number from the Work Song to the reprise of Do You Hear the People Sing, they showed how much of a formidable bunch they all were.  They must have had a very good choir master because they left me in awe every single time.  Being really close to the stage on the second night, I recognized their faces each time they assumed a different character from their last.  From singing prostitutes to mendicants in the streets of Paris to armed rebels, they took on them with all they had and nailed it with pure awesomeness.

The second night concluded with a reprise of One Day More after the curtain call—this time with members of the crew singing alongside the performers.  Everyone had genuine smiles on their faces—no longer adherent to the miserable theme of the musical—singing their hearts out, knowing they did great.  That standing ovation at the end was very well deserved, to say the least.

Other Matters

This show was not, in any way, sanctioned by Music Theatre International but it doesn’t matter much.  MTI is known to be very lenient with real art lovers.  What’s important is Cre8tive Thespians Circle Inc, through DreamBig Productions, came to Bohol and made us theatre junkies very happy.

For years and years, I’ve been hoping and praying for the musical theatre scene in the province to come alive and take flight again.  I hope Les Misérables’ staging would usher in more productions—even from local art groups—because having a constant urge to fly to other places just to get my fill isn’t a good feeling.  There are many who love theatre here—enough, perhaps, to give a local production company a lucrative source of income.  Who knows?

Bohol has an open door for art.  Do come in, won’t you?

http://bonbonquest.blogspot.com/2012_08_01_archive.html

Les Mis First Teaser Trailer

I officially died when I saw the first teaser trailer!

Seriously.

*still dead*

A Night of Beautiful Music

Last night, my sis invited me to watch this concert with her and some friends, and it was awesome.

I've always loved Edwin McCain's songs ever since, but after watching him live, I'm officially a fan. The guy's so amazing, that I just had to record his 2 biggest hits.

As for Taylor Dayne, I was 7 when she released the song, "Love Will Lead You Back" and 10 years old when this song became number 1.. Who would have thought I'd have the chance to see this amazing woman sing her hit song live?

Both were just amazing! :) 

RJ Rosales (1974 - 2011)

A very sad & shocking news I received tonight..

RJ Rosales, one of my Filipino theatre heroes and a truly amazing person, just passed away. So young, so full of life. He's only 6 years older than me, and I will always cherish the rare opportunity of sharing the stage with him once, a long time ago. He'll always be one of my most fave voices EVER!

Fly in the wings of the angels, Kuya RJ!

RIP Roseo José Rosales (+)

Building Champions

I find it quite amusing that I am in mixed emotions as I'm doing sooo many things for so many people, yet I still consider my life boring. Makes sense?

I'll take about my disappointments next time because right now, with a lot of things to do in less than 4 days, I want to think that I don't have time to think sad thoughts. Yeah right. As if I have full command over my emotions.

Before I wander off, let me just promote the something big I mentioned in my last post. It's actually just a concert which I'm directing. It's Building Champions, a concert for a cause with the best and the brightest talents of Saint Theresa's College - Cebu. Special guest is Kitchie Nadal. Yes, it's THE Kitchie Nadal.

It will be on November 26, 2011 (this coming Saturday, actually) at the STC Auditorium. Your Php 150 (per ticket) will go a long way to help the STC foundation Program and STC Community Involvement Program in support of their scholarship programs granted to our fellow theresians and to our partner communities. 

Something BIG

So many things to do, so little time.

What else is new, right? I haven't had much time to rest the past month because of so many things to do, and I'll be getting much busier in the coming weeks until the end of the year, especially because I have a very big project coming up. I consider it a blessing that it came to me, and though I'm kinda stressed thinking about it, I think it will be the biggest challenge for my almost non-existent musical career. A lot is at stake, and even more people are depending on me. Yes, I'm very excited. I just hope I won't screw up.

I will hopefully be able to give more details the next time I'll have the.. er.. time, to update my fortress of solitude.

Bad and Very Bad News

It has been a while and I've been uber busy with the play coming very soon. And yes, the past week has been eventful, to say the least.

To cut the long story short, a close friend had her necklace snatched from her and I wasn't able to do anything but hug her only because I didn't want to leave her, and I thought (I still think) that she's way more important than any material thing, and it was in the middle of an unsafe trip at almost midnight. Yes, I think she's blaming me (even if she says she's not) but what can I do, she's just more important than a silver necklace.

Second event this week is the death of a cast mate's father. Her father had been bedridden already for a year since he got a stroke, so even if it's so sad, the family was somewhat already prepared for the inevitable. As the eldest (she just turned 18), I truly admire her strength.

Now on a lighter and happier note, we were able to perform publicly for the first time last weekend as a promotion for our musical, and we were also featured on TV with my short interview. It was somewhat impromptu, and I didn't think it will come out okay, but it did thank's much to the amazing Rachelle Dangin of ABS-CBN Cebu.

Two weeks more before our play, and I am not at all pressured production-wise because I know we're all gonna be doing our best. What I'm kinda worried about is the marketing. Now everyone has been doing a superb job with the marketing and all, it's just that the Cebuanos are really not that educated yet with things like these. It's sad but I'm not losing hope. We will continue doing our best, and with all the bad and very bad news the past weeks, I'm sure a ray of light, a bunch good news are coming our way soon.

Day 12: Your favorite female group.

My all-time favorite female group is The Spice Girls. They remind me of my college life, but more importantly, they've got very beautiful songs.

Day 6: A song that makes you cry.

I answered this with a previous challenge last year, and I still have the same answer today. It's still Crystal Shawanda's 'You Can Let Go'. Just beautiful and heartbreaking.

I See the Light at the Oscars

Idol Zachary Levi and the beautiful Mandy Moore singing one of the most beautiful songs

ever created from the most beautiful movie, Tangled, during the 83rd Academy Awards ♥

OPM @ Pagcor

Open to all amateur yet exceptional Filipino singers, this is your opportunity to shine and showcase your talents.

Maria on Ellen

Finally, the wish of the newest Filipina pride, Maria Aragon, comes true as she meets and performs for Ellen on her show. Another proud moment for all of us and a BIG Thank you to Ellen for accommodating Maria after Charice and Arnel Pineda (with Journey).

Maria Aragon and Lady Gaga

Lady Gaga herself tweeted and shared this vid of a cute 10 year old Filipina, Maria Aragon. As Gaga said, "Can't stop crying watching this. This is why I make music. She is the future." Mabuhay ka, Maria! The Philippines is proud of you!

And while I was making this blog, stumbled upon this new vid with Maria and Lady Gaga finally able to talk to each other, and Gaga even inviting Maria to sing with her.

Not so long ago, a Filipina named Charice sang a duet with her idol Celine Dion.. Very soon, a little Filipina named Maria will be going on stage with her idol, Lady Gaga ♥

Mabuhay ang mga Pilipino!

Thank you Celine and Gaga :)

Bruno Mars in Cebu & Manila

No, I'm not watching and no, I'm not really a fan (though I like his songs), but I'm posting this here for the benefit of everyone who loves him and who's asking about his concert here.

Leona Lewis

I was just browsing through YouTube waiting for my shift to end when I came across this vid by Leona Lewis. Now I'm not really updated with pop music, and though I've heard her name before, I haven't had the chance to hear her voice. And when I listened to this, it almost brought me to tears. Originally by the beautiful Kelly Clarkson (the first American Idol), Leona totally owned this song right here, one of the most beautiful songs ever written.

Yes, some people wait a lifetime for a moment like this. This is Leona's moment..