Pinoy actors topbilled in Alaska musical

A new musical entitled The Long Season premiered last Good Friday, March 25, in Juneau, Alaska, with Paolo Montalban in the lead and, among others, Bernardo Bernardo playing one of the key roles. The musical is about Filipino salmon cannery contract workers in Alaska in the 1930s.

How did Paolo bag the role?

Wrote Paolo’s father Paul Montalban in an e-mail to Funfare: "Director Peter DuBois of The Public Theater in New York City loved Paolo’s performance as Manjiro in Sondheim’s Pacific Overtures (with B.D. Wong) so much that after its closing at Studio 54 last Jan. 30 he wanted Paolo as star of The Long Season which Dubois was then developing with Singaporean playwright Chay Yew and Filipino composer Fabian Obispo."

From a write-up sent by Paul, Funfare learned that Paolo plays Allos who, once in Alaska, finds that cannery work is more like slave labor than the world of riches he had envisioned. Allos also finds Belen (played by Melody Butiu, also a Filipino), wife of a cannery foreman, Conrado (played by Bernardo). Soon, his romantic life and the cannery are beset by conflict.

Said choreographer Ricci Adan, "Filipinos in Alaska canned million of salmon for 72 hours, sometimes hardly resting. They were given only pennies. At work, they would cut their arms and go back to Seattle with a one-way ticket. They got no compensation. But even with that kind of lifestyle, the Filipinos see the beauty in the place."

In writing The Long Season, Yew was greatly inspired by Carlos Bulosan’s novel America is in the Heart which chronicles Bulosan’s childhood in the Philippines, his quest for a better life in America and the bleak reality of rural labor. It took Yew two years to finish writing the musical, including the revisions. He did research on Filipino-Alaskan history at the Alaska State Library. His references included Thelma Buchholdt’s Filipinos in Alaska: 1788-1958.

Named one of People Magazine’s 50 Most Beautiful People in 1998, Paolo Montalban played Kung Lao in the action flick Mortal Kombat, co-starred with Brandy in the ABC presentation of Disney’s Cinderella and a few other Broadway plays. Three years ago, he starred (with Christopher de Leon and Dina Bonnevie) in Laurice Guillen’s made-in-the-USA drama American Adobo and, a year later, recorded an album here.

Bernardo is now based in New York, with a regular gig at Perlas ng Silangan Restaurant in New Jersey, owned and managed by Ned Castellvi. He recently starred as Prudencio in the Chicago run of The Romance of Magno Rubio which was based on America is in the Heart.

Playing Conrado in The Long Season is a challenge, said Bernardo.

"The easiest way for the lazy actor would be to play a villain. But Conrado is a complicated role, for a person who’s actually very loving. He’s a person who learns to accept an unhappy compromise in his work situation and in his love life..."

DuBois developed The Long Season at the Public Theater in New York City where he is now the associate producer. The theater hosted a workshop on the play last fall and drew an audience of about 300. He and Yew hope to take the play to other stages after its run in Juneau.

Lani is ‘New Diva of Las Vegas’

More good news from abroad...

Funfare’s L.A. correspondent Jackie Regala-Katigbak (Ruben Nepales’ "rival" on the Hollywood scene) reports that Lani Misalucha is considered "The New Diva of Las Vegas," quoting What’s On magazine (the leading entertainment publication in Las Vegas), having garnered so much attention and accolades during her six-month stint at Bally’s Las Vegas.

"Bally’s has just signed an unprecedented nine-month contract with Rosy Cheeks Entertainment to bring back Lani and the Society of Seven, a ‘first’ for any Filipino artist," wrote Jackie. "Their gig at Bally’s Jubilee Theater started last Saturday, March 26. Lani is happily settled in a residential area in Las Vegas with husband Noli and their two lovely girls who are both enrolled in Las Vegas. They have adjusted very well to their new environment. The family enjoys the domesticity and simplicity of their life in the US."

It was Lani who sang our National Anthem at the recent Manny Paquiao-Erik Morales fight in Las Vegas.

Jackie also reports that Sharon Cuneta’s fans are now waiting for her concert, The Mega Tour 2005, in L.A. on June 11 (with more playdates on May 8 in Florida, May 14 in Chicago, May 22 in Atlantic City, May 29 in Nevada and June 5 in San Diego, with Ogie Alcasid, Robert Seña and Fe delos Reyes as guest performers).

"I believe that Sharon will once again fill up the 6,000-seat Shrine Auditorium in L.A.," said Jackie. "Sharon’s fans are loyal to her. Most of them are now mothers with children growing up on Sharon’s songs."

Jackie and Gerry Katigbak (both of KATZ Entertainment) are line-producing the L.A. concert.

"Tickets are scheduled to be released this week yet," added Jackie, "but we’ve already been getting a lot of inquiries and reservations."

Sharon’s concert on June 11 in L.A. coincides with The Return of the Champions (Sarah Geronimo, Mark Bautista, Rachelle Ann Go, Christian Bautista, Sheryn Regis, Frenchie Dy and Raymond Manalo), produced by Al Chu.

Letter from Mario B.

Here’s one more news from "out there," from Mario Bautista who is visiting daughter Hannah’s family:

Dear Ricky,

Hello there! I’ve been in the US for two weeks now staying with my daughter Hannah and her husband Erfe Wabe. They live in Nashua, near Boston. I got here to help out with the birth of my second grandchild. I got here on March 5 and he came out on March 14. His name is Samuel Bert and weighs almost nine lbs. so Hannah labored for eight hours as he’s really big.

Am sending pictures of him so you can see him, with his Ate Louise, Hannah’s precocious two-year-old panganay who speaks so fluently for her age and can sing both Tagalog and English songs and nursery rhymes.

We’re still surrounded by snow. There has been two snowstorms since I got here and I helped Erfe shovel the snow which is now piled so high on their lawn and driveway. We drove around and the sight of farms and woods covered with scintillatingly white snow is nice but I wouldn’t like to live here. It’s going to snow again tomorrow. Breathing inside heated rooms is not easy as my nasal passages dry up.

It is now Holy Week but they don’t observe it here as solemnly as we do there. Good Friday is even a regular working day here. But Easter Sunday is a big thing. Very commercialized, with Easter bunnies in the malls and Easter eggs, too. But the reason why Easter or Resurrection Sunday is being celebrated is not really emphasized.

Take care and God bless you this season of Lent.

Happy Easter,

– Mario B.

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