When parents throw their hands up in despair, seeing how their children don’t talk to them anymore, chances are they haven’t tried introducing them to theater. The stage has some magic that makes people revel in the art of repartee again, appreciate the power of the spoken word once more.
When actors throw lines at each other, the audience must listen, or miss the moment. They brush up on their listening skills again.
Just as important, theater bonds families in a way technology cannot. Held captive in the theater house for two hours, families share an experience that they can talk about long after the curtain has fallen.
This, Marc Routh and his colleagues at Broadway Asia Entertainment (BAE), where he is co-founder together with Simone Genatt, want to bring back. That’s why they have produced the ground-breaking Chinese work I Love You, Your’re Perfect, Now Change, The Sound of Music and toured The King and I (directed by our very own Bobby Garcia), 42nd Street and Spongebob Squarepants Live.
Now, Routh is bringing 23 years of experience in producing musicales to come up with the ambitious, $2-M worth Cinderella to the CCP. The musicale, to run for several weeks next year, stars Lea Salonga in the title role, with a cast to be chosen from auditions in New York.
No doubt influenced by Lea’s talent (she was their first and only choice), Routh he is looking at hiring Filipino musicians for the project.
Lea is not the only Filipino in Cinderella. There’s Garcia, whom Routh met in New York. The prolific director will helm this classic story that will come to life with costumes designed by Renato Belestra no less. The renowned designer is known for dressing up the likes of Empress Farah Diba, Queen of Thailand, the first ladies of the Philippines and Egypt, Saudi Arabian princesses and other luminaries.
The lavish sets, a planned CD version of Cinderella and others on the drawing board must cost a fortune. So how will Routh and company recoup their investment in Asian theater?
Routh says the Asian tour that will follow the Philippine gala premiere will take care of that. The return of investment may take some time, but BAE is willing to wait.
He is not a veteran of countless theater productions for the past 23 years for nothing. He knows what will and will not work. Starting out as a theater actor until he reached adolescence and his voice went an octave lower, Routh is one of the producers of the Tony award-winning Hairspray in Broadway. He also produces Mel Brooks’ Young Frankenstein (which debuts in Broadway this month) and is touring Stomp (Drama Desk Award and Obie Award for Unique Theater Experience).
In the drawing board for BAE are the well-loved Joseph and the Technicolor Dreamcoat, Annie and Peter Pan.
And now that Routh and company are preparing for Cinderella, someone came up with a brilliant idea. Why not get Cinderella a Marikina glass slipper this time? That will not only fit Lea’s dainty feet, it will also boost Marikina’s thriving shoe industry some more. That’s aside from the fact that Marikina footwear is known worldwide for its durability.
Routh’s otherwise serious face lights up.
‘I will look into that,” he replies.
Mr. Routh, if you do, you surely won’t be disappointed. Promise.