Raymund Miranda in the wonderful world of Disney

Singapore is getting to be a favorite working place – and, in effect, second home – of Filipinos. Journalist Margie Logarta stayed and worked in that island state for years before she moved to Hong Kong recently. STAR editorial cartoonist Dengcoy Miel is still there with his wife and kids, working as an artist with the Straits Times. Imelda Ilanan has been keeping house for husband Ben Avanceña (connected with a multi-national company) and their son, well-ensconced in a condo unit at a high-rise overlooking the city.

Of course, we all know that Donita Rose, MTV Asia veejay, is a celebrity in Singapore where she has found new roots (although she hops back home everytime she gets the chance to). Bessie Badilla also stayed there for several years with husband Butch del Castillo (an executive in a multi-national company) and their children before they transferred to Connecticut.

My two good friends have just packed their things and relocated to Singapore – Cristina Castillo who quit her executive job at Sony Music to join MTV Asia and Raymund Miranda, Vice-President and Managing Director of Disney Channel-Asia.

Raymund worked with GMA 7, where he rose from the ranks, for 12 years and was the station’s VP for Creative Services when he quit to join Disney Channel three years ago. Disney Channel is a multi-territory feed that covers several ASEAN and South Asian countries, including Malaysia, the Philippines, Brunei and Singapore where the Disney Broadcast Center is located, linking up with the relay stations in the region.

Based in Manila since 1998, Raymund left first week of last month for Singapore where he’ll be based from now on. His wife, Claire, and their children may join him later.

"It’s the first time I’m living overseas, so it’s an entirely new experience for me," Raymund told Funfare over snacks at Annabel’s Restaurant on the eve of his departure. "I’ll be missing my friends here and at the same time I’m looking forward to making new ones in Singapore."

Disney Channel Asia (Channel 28 on Destiny Channel and Channel 24 on Home Cable) was launched only last year (Jan. 15 in Manila, Jan. 27 in Brunei and March 1 in Singapore) and yet it’s in fighting form, now ranking one of the Top 7 channels. With 24 hours of programming, seven days a week, Disney Channel Asia derives its popular appeal from its exciting line-up of shows for the young and the young-at-heart, such as The Wonderful World of Disney, Art Attack, Junior X Games and the Disney movies (Mulan, Aladdin, 101 Dalmatians, George of the Jungle, etc.; and very soon, Tarzan, Pinocchio, Lloyd in Space, The Book of Pooh and House of Mouse).

Asked what the difference is, if any, between working at GMA 7 and working with Disney Channel, Raymund said, "At GMA, very personal ang contact. At Disney, you hardly see or meet the people you’re working with because they’re based in various regions in Asia. And there lies the big challenge. You communicate with one another mostly by e-mail and by fax. Pero, ibang-iba ang labanan. At Disney Channel, you have to think way ahead while in local broadcasting, the requirements are more immediate, like you have to be alert 24 hours every day, seven days a week for breaking news.

My job at Disney involved a lot of travelling (to Europe and the USA, and other parts of Asia) and a lot of meetings and conferences. I do miss the excitement of local broadcasting, such as the coverage for People Power II. I was here, all right, pero iba ’yung nagko-cover ka ng major events. With Disney naman, weekends (Saturdays and Sundays) are sacred so I have two days every week to recharge."

Refusing to say what tempting offer (perhaps thrice the salary he was getting at GMA?) Disney Channel made to him, Raymund acknowledged the fact that his GMA experience is helping him a great deal in managing the Disney Channel.

"At GMA," said Raymund, "I was very fortunate to have been given the opportunity to get involved with all aspects of television work – engineering, legal, advertising and marketing, production, programming, lahat-lahat na."

Joel shines in Singapore

Also currently in Singapore is Joel Trinidad, making waves as a member of the four-man cast of the Singapore Repertory Theater’s production of Shakespeare’s R&J, a daring modern retelling of Romeo & Juliet. The play opened last May 3 and is running until May 18.

In reviewing the play favorably, two important newspapers singled out Trinidad for his performance. The Business Times in its May 5 issue said that "Joel Trinidad, in particular, was skillful in the subtlety with which he varied body language, pitch, and gesture to play the Friar Lawrence, Mercutio, Lady Capulet, and Lord Montague. His Mercutio was a wonderfully layered performance that also conveyed the journey of the school boy watching the spiraling passion between his schoolmates with growing self-awareness, disapproval, jealousy and desire."

The Straits Times on May 7 said that Trinidad was "a joy to watch."

Joel was one of the cast members of the musical Rent that had a successful run last March in Singapore. During that time, Singapore Repertory Theater was casting Shakespeare’s R&J. They were looking for "versatile actors who were comfortable with the Shakespearean language who were able to play multiple characters and who were open to the idea of a movement based piece." They found these qualities in Joel. He was asked to return to Singapore to start rehearsals week after he came back to the Philippines. The other actors in the ensemble are Rehaan Engineer from India and Singaporeans Brendon Marc Fernandez and Enlai Chua.

Shakespeare’s R&J by Joe Calarco is a fresh approach to a familiar story. This free-wheeling adaptation is all about discovery.

At the plot level, the production centers around four repressed Catholic school boys, who decide to vary their very governed lives. They discover a copy of Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet and, mostly for laughs, they start reading the parts aloud. After a short while they become the parts of the play. Although they have been taking turns playing all the parts, two eventually emerge playing Romeo and Juliet exclusively, bringing a whole new dimension to the proceedings.

In the process the four boys discover that the play’s themes provide a means by which they can explore their own experiences as part of their maturation process. At another level, Calarco’s overall design has the intent of giving audiences an opportunity to discover aspects of the play that may never have occurred before.

Calarco’s play ran for a year Off-Broadway last year, becoming the longest running production of Romeo & Juliet in New York history.