Creating happy music with Rony Fortich

MANILA, Philippines - Trumpets is set to stage its major comeback in the Philippine theatre scene and they are hoping that “The Bluebird of Happiness” is the one that will re-establish their position as a theatre company geared towards wholesome family entertainment.

And if anybody knows about wholesome family entertainment, it would have to be Rony Fortitch, who wrote the music for “The Bluebird of Happiness.” Fortitch, also the music director of Hong Kong Disneyland, has been flying to and from Manila in the past three years collaborating with Jaime Del Mundo, who wrote the book and lyrics. The two had worked together before in 2009 in another Trumpets production N.O.A.H. (No Ordinary Aquatic Habitat), a modern-day retelling of the Biblical story of the ark.

“The Bluebird of Happiness” meanwhile, is based on the play “The Bluebird” by Belgian playwright Maurice Maeterlinck, which also became a film in 1940 starring Shirley Temple. It tells the story of two poor children named Mytyl and Tyltyl who embark on a search for a mythical animal that they have heard about called the “Bluebird of Happiness”.

Tasked with creating music that can easily be identified with a Trumpets production, Fortich knew that he had to come up with music that would match the larger-than-life shows that the theater company has done in the past.

“My vision when Jaime (Del Mundo) called me up years ago for Bluebird, knowing that it was for the eventual return of Trumpets, there had to be different styles of songs, lush melodies to appeal to the audience, which has a nice mix of ages,” Fortich says.

One particular song that should appeal to both young and old is “Tango of Treachery”, which is practically a tango but is both dark and fun—even comical—and is sung by two of the play’s darker characters.

“That was fun to write,” Fortich recalls. “I remember I took Jaime’s original lyric and bits of what I wanted and sent it back to him. Once we established melody and lyrics, we sat on the piano and talked through the song style by style. He’ll have a suggestion ‘make it softer or can we extend the accent on this word’… He gives commentary on how we can shape the music. Or if I would like to change a lyric because of how it’s sung, how it falls on the singer’s mouth, he graciously changes it.”

Of the 20-plus songs in the production, Fortich says that there will be ballads, children’s songs, a big chorus number, and so on to give the audience a nice mix of material one would expect from a full family oriented musical.

As a composer, Fortich says that he loves to get a sense of the lyric first.

“I’m not the kind of composer who just comes up with melodies wherever they are. I like having the lyric in front of me and get the intention of the lyric and come up with the melody based on that. Jaime will send me a lyric and so I get the intention of what he wants with the song. I send him back a melody, which cuts corners when it comes to lyrics and he’ll adjust his lyric to fit my melody. What’s been great with working with Jaime is that when I give him the melody, he reads the intention back. When there’s a buildup he knows what lyric will match that.”

“But every now and then there will be a time when I’ll have a melody that randomly pops in my head,” Fortich continues. “Like with ‘Graveyard’, that was all melody first and I sent it to Jaime and he was able to match intention with each note and give each rise of a note with a purpose and objective which is what’s cool with musical theatre more than pop songs. More often than not, there’s purpose to the highs and lows.”

Fortich admits that he feels a lot of pressure as the excitement continues to build-up leading to the show’s opening in September this year. The composer, however, considers himself to be lucky to be surrounded by people who believe in him.

“Jaime and (Trumpets co-founder) Audie (Gemora), if they can see that I can do it, I’ve got to believe that I have it in me,” Fortich says. “There are times when I’m just a blank when I try to come up with songs and I don’t have anything. Moments like that have happened… I’ve got to do my best with it and not be driven by the pressure. I’m also working with Mon Faustino with the arrangement so I’m in good hands, he’ll make the music more lush.”
Fortich, who has been living in HK for the past eight years, still considers Manila his home. Once an accountant, he oversees the music needs of Hong Kong Disneyland since it opened in 2005. He has composed several songs that have been used in parades, stage shows, and promotions of the park. His song, “Celebration in the Air”, was chosen by a Disney global panel for the park’s fifth anniversary. Most recently, he received a Walt Disney Legacy Award, the highest recognition given to cast members from Disney parks and resorts.

In Manila, he has worked with all the major theatre companies including Trumpets, Atlantis, Repertory Philippines, AAI, Stages, among others. He has written a couple of musicals and continues to work with many performers in the theater industry and regularly holds workshops to further inspire others to dive into theatre.