Pinoys sparkle on Broadway

MANILA, Philippines - At least four Filipinos are making a mark on the Great White Way this season as they take on significant musical roles on stage.

MIG AYESA (MIGUEL ALFONSO RAMON LEGARDA AYESA) is a Manila-born, Australia-raised and of Spanish and Ilonggo ancestry actor/singer who topbills Rock of Ages as rock star Stacee Jaxx – the same role that Tom Cruise is portraying in the film version which started filming on May 23 and will be released in spring of 2012.

MiG’s killer voice, brilliant stage presence and chiseled body continues to wow the nightly packed audience at the Helen Hayes Theater, that same factor that put him among the front-runners in the talent search, Rock Star: INXS in 2005.

T.V. CARPIO ( TERESA VICTORIA CARPIO) took over the role of villainess Arachne when original cast Natalie Mendoza suffered a concussion at an early preview of Spiderman, Turn Off The Dark musical with songs by U2’s Bono & The Edge. It seemed the role was a magnet for physical damages as T.V. had to be out of the Broadway production for two weeks last March due to an unfortunate mid-performance neck injury .

T.V. Carpio in Spiderman, Turn Off The Dark.

T.V. started her career as a back-up singer for her mom (Chinese-Filipina singer Teresa Carpio who made waves in Hong Kong in the 70s singing English covers and Cantopop -Cantonese songs with simple rhythm and melodies) and had a stellar role in the Across The Universe where she sang a slow rendition of the Beatles song I Wanna Hold Your Hand.

J. ELAINE MARCOS is remotely related to the Marcoses and though she hasn’t met any of them, she had the chance to briefly play Imelda five years ago in the stage version of The Wedding Singer based on the Adam Sandler movie. She is back on Broadway, once again playing a Filipina in Priscilla, Queen of the Desert as Cynthia – the mail order bride who effortlessly upstages the three drag queen leads when she performs the infamous ‘pop the ping-pong ball” in a man’s club.

She got to sing two lines in Tagalog when she was Imelda in Wedding Singer but in Priscilla, the role required that she sings, raps and even utter that (in)famous cuss words in her native tongue!

JOSE LLANA played El Gato, the Latino Cheshire Cat in the recently closed, updated story of Alice’s fairytales in Wonderland.

Jose Llana in Wonderland

Having played mostly Asian roles since he started on Broadway in 1996 (Lun Tha (Burmese) in King and I, Wang Ta (Chinese) in Flower Drum Song with Lea Salonga, Chip Tolentino (Filipino) in 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee), he still gets to infuse a lot of his ethnicity in the Latin cat role. In 2003, Jose flew to Manila to fulfil his dream of performing at the CCP and to record a solo album under Viva Records. He is also one of the founding members of the Asian-Americans on Broadway.

J. Elaine Marcos in Priscilla, Queen of the Desert