A rare Andrew Lloyd Webber experience

The man won’t be present but his music will reverberate in the four corners of the Tanghalang Nicanor Abelardo (CCP) with the 13 staging of The Music of Andrew Lloyd Webber from June 24 to July 3 (Tuesday through Friday at 8 p.m.; and Saturdays and Sundays, 3 p.m. and 8 p.m.).

It’s a rare musical experience to listen the “live” rendition of such Lloyd Webber enduring hits from such musicals as Evita, The Phantom of the Opera, Cats, Jesus Christ Superstar, Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat, Sunset Boulevard, Woman in White and many more, including the current Love Never Dies.

Directed by Stuart Maunder, one of Australia’s leading directors, the show is presented by Lunchbox Theatrical Productions, David Atkins Enterprises, All Youth Channels and Concertus in association with Andrew Lloyd Webber’s The Really Useful Company Asia Pacific.

To be conducted by musical director Guy Noble, Australia’s most versatile director, the show will feature some of Australia’s acclaimed performers: Blake Bowden, Alinta Chidzey, Andrew Conaghan, Michael Cormick, Trisha Crowe, Delia Hannah, Kirsten Hobbs and Shaun Rennie.

Christian Bautista (right) and Erik Santos in London during their Champions of the Heart concert

• Blake Bowden is a graduate of The McDonald College of Performing Arts. He has studied drama with the NIDA young Actors Studio and also holds a Bachelor of Arts from Sydney University. He has had dance training at Dynamite Studios and Pineapple Studios (London). Blake is currently on tour with West Side Story.

• Alinta Chidzey began her training at Centrestage Performing Arts School in 1994. Following this she won a scholarship to attend the Victorian College of the Arts and graduated in 2001. Her stage debut came in 2002 with the Australasian Tour of Mamma Mia!. In 2006, Alinta won the Green Room Award for Best Featured Ensemble in a Musical for Leader of the Pack. Alinta is currently playing the lead role of Anita in the 2010 tour of West Side Story.

• Andrew Conaghan trained at the Western Australian Academy of Performing Arts (WAAPA) graduating in 2005. He has recently appeared in Jekyll and Hyde, Guys and Dolls, Rent, The Marriage of Figaro, Hair, Titanic and other musicals.

• Michael Cormick is known to Australian and international audiences as a consummate singer and actor. In 2010, Michael toured through Australia in the international 10th-anniversary production of Mamma Mia! In 2009, Michael played Eddie/Dr. Scott in The Rocky Horror Show. In 2005, he played Sir Percival Glyde in The Woman in White (London). He has played lead roles in many musicals including: Cats, The Phantom of the Opera, Les Miserables, Time, Into the Woods, Joseph and the Amazing Technicolour Dreamcoat, Falsettos, Tivoli, Grease and The Beast in Beauty and the Beast. He was featured in the Royal Command performances in London of The Phantom of the Opera and Les Miserables.

• Trisha Crowe has performed in a variety of musical, dramatic and dance-related productions including Cymbeline, Twelfth Night and HMS Pinafore (London); Masterpiece — The Music of Andrew Lloyd Webber, Oliver!, Eureka!, Sunday in the Park with George, Company, The Noel Coward Letters as well as Floyd Collins. Trisha has also appeared in many solo concerts with the Sydney Symphony at Sydney Opera House.

Funfare’s ‘other beauty expert’ Celso de Guzman Caparas with Emirates flight attendants Kristine Alzar (2002 Bb. Pilipinas-International and 2002 Miss Tourism International) and Pinoy Big Brother graduate Bruce Quebral (right)

• Delia Hannah has just completed the Australian and Asian tours of Cats playing the role of Grizabella. Prior to this she performed for two years in the premiere season of Les Miserables. She also toured Australasia as a principal soloist in the 1996/1997 Australian tour of The Music of Andrew Lloyd Webber starring Anthony Warlow and Sarah Brightman. She won a variety Club Award and a Mo Award for Aspects of Love and played Glinda in The Wizard of Oz.

• Kirsten Hobbs completed a Bachelor of Arts in Music at WAAPA in 2008. This year she toured Taiwan with Jekyll and Hyde. At WAAPA she appeared in Sweeney Todd, Oklahoma, Blood Brothers, Hello Again and West Side Story. In 2008, she was a finalist in the 6th Annual Cabaret Showcase held in Sydney.

• Shaun Rennie created the role of Pepper at age 18 in the original Australian cast of Mamma Mia! and most recently was seen as Munkustrap in the Australian and Asian tours of Cats. Other credits include the Australian tour of Fiddler on the Roof, the Australian premiere of The Musical of Musicals — The Musical, and Sir Lionel in Camelot for The Production Company. Shaun is the producer of Light the Night, an annual benefit concert for leukemia research.

(Note: For tickets, call Concertus at 403-8646 or 403-8678, All Youth Channels at 706-1580, or TicketWorld at 891-9999.)

Briefly noted

• STAR correspondent Carlo Orosa reports that the back-to-back Champions of the Heart concert of his alaga Christian Bautista and Erik Santos at the Shepherds Bush Empire Theater in London last Feb. 26 was “a full house.” Produced by TFC (The Filipino Channel), the concert, also featuring Pooh, was also mounted in Vienna, Norway, Milan and Paris where Christian bumped into Bruno Mars (coming for a concert next month) while shopping at Louis Vuitton. Christian introduced himself and Bruno very gladly shook hands with him. Only recently, Christian’s Beautiful Girl ringback tone placed No. 1 in Indonesia, followed at No. 2 by Bruno’s Just The Way You Are. Incidentally, Kris Aquino tweeted on March 4 that Christian is her new crush after Christian sang Love Moves in Mysterious Ways for Kris’ new album for Universal Records. “Nakaka-super in love listening to the master copy,” said Kris.

Fil-Am novelist Angela Balcita, author of Moonface: A True Romance

•  Moonface: A True Romance, a hilarious and incredibly moving memoir/love story of a Filipino-American writer who found romance and laughter in the midst of a life-threatening illness, was released by Harper Collins last Feb. 1. It’s written by Fil-Am Angela Balcita who tells how she suffered kidney failure during her freshman year in college and received a donor organ from her brother which her body later rejected. Luckily, Balcita’s boyfriend Charlie (whom she fondly calls Moonface, a strange side effect of her medicine) offered her his kidney. What follows is a story by turns funny, bittersweet and heart-warming about how difficult it can be to accept the gifts of unconditional love and sacrifice. Get a copy.

• Funfare’s “other beauty expert” Celso de Guzman Caparas was pleasantly surprised to meet 2002 Bb. Pilipinas-International Kristine Alzar as a senior member of the Emirates Airlines crew on a recent flight from Manila to London, and Pinoy Big Brother Season 2 “graduate” Bruce Quebral as one of the flight attendants also on another Emirates flight back to Manila. Celso said that other beauty-titlists with Emirates are: 1998 Bb. Pilipinas-World and 2000 Miss Tourism World second runner-up Rachel Soriano, 2004 Bb. Pilipinas-World Karla Bautista, 2004 Bb. Pilipinas-International/2004 Miss International semi-finalist/2004 Miss Maja International first runner-up Maan Bayot, 2004 Bb. Pilipinas first runner-up Tracy Ann Javelona, and 2004 Bb. Pilipinas second runner-up Princess Jasmine Tiongson. “2000 Bb. Pilipinas-World Katherine Annwen de Guzman used to work with Emirates, too,” said Celso.  

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