West Side Story: Tony finds his Maria

By Nickie Wang /Manila Standard Today
10 July 2008

Finally, Tony has found his Maria.

This was announced recently by Stages, the production company that is mounting an all-Filipino cast of the Broadway classic West Side Story.

This musical offering, which will be staged at the Meralco Theater from September to October, is anchored by a strong ensemble headed by Christian Bautista, Karylle and London West End’s Joanna Ampil.

After rigid auditions that took two months, whose mix of aspirants emerged not only from the Philippines but also from other countries like Singapore, Australia, the United States, and the United Kingdom, Stages has finally completed the show’s cast of singers and dancers.

Crooner and Asap ’08 mainstay Christian is Tony while singer and host Karylle shares the plum role of Maria with London West End’s Joanna Ampil, who is currently playing Fantine in Les Miserables.

West Side Story is Joanna’s first musical theater assignment in Manila after 16 years of playing lead roles in London, which includes Kim in Miss Saigon, Eponine in Les Miserables, Mimi in Rent, to name a few. Joanna has agreed to share the role of Maria with Karylle because she has long wanted to perform for her countrymen who cannot easily afford to go to London to watch her in a musical.

Gerard Salonga leads the FILharmoniKA orchestra as musical director. Audie Gemora wears the hat as executive producer while Menchu Lauchengco-Yulo steps in as a first-time stage director. Interestingly, West Side Story was originally staged in Manila in 1982 with Gemora as Riff and Lauchengco-Yulo as Maria.

“This musical is a classic. Some people, most especially the young ones don’t know the story and they tend to get out of the theater because they cannot relate. So the challenge now is to make it contemporary that’s why we would like to thank the people who agreed to share their talent here,” Gemora told the media during the press conference for the musical.

West Side Story is the third major musical production of Stages after Footloose in 2005 and High School Musical On Stage in 2007.

The story in New York’s West Side

West Side Story is an energetic, melodramatic musical, a modern-day retelling of William Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet. Instead of feuding families in Verona, the conflict is between rival street gangs in the Upper West Side of New York City.

Young Tony who belongs to an American gang in Manhattan, falls in love with Maria, the sister of the leader of a rival Puerto Rican gang. Things are looking good for the young lovers in the beginning, but when Tony accidentally kills Maria’s brother while trying to break up a rumble, violence erupts.
West Side Story is one of the best musicals of all time with music by Leonard Bernstein, and lyrics by Stephen Sondheim. It has many show-stopping numbers and songs that have become classics, like “Somewhere,” “Tonight,” “One Hand One Heart,” “ America,” and “Something’s Coming.”

Network rivalry on hold

Just like the story of this theater musical, Christian and Karylle belong to different worlds: Christian is Kapamilya, while Karylle is Kapuso (even if her mom, Zsa Zsa Padilla, is a card-bearing Kapamilya). The two singers said that they are not involved in the ongoing network war, they are merely talents in their respective stations.

“There’s a mutual support. We don’t really feel pressured because there’s a lot of excitement all around,” Pinoy Idol Extra host Karylle said before the press. Karylle, who has to sing in soprano, has been undergoing voice lessons with Pinoy Dream Academy mentor Kitchie Molina.

Christian, who is trying to bring his Josh Groban style particularly for his role as Tony, said that he wants to work with different people and that they don’t feel the rivalry as they help each other out.
“It is a rare situation for rival Philippine TV stations ABS-CBN and GMA-7 to be very enthusiastic towards a major musical project. Both networks have actually laid out their respective plans on how to maximize support for Christian and Karylle. GMA-7 is even lending Gian Magdangal of SOP Rules to play Riff to Christian’s Tony,” said Carlo Orosa, Stages marketing director for the musical.