Small world, bold horizons

Theater is a really small world. From Repertory Philippines, to Atlantis, to Dulaang UP and possibly to the West End and the Great White Way, the people you meet, the people you work with, the friends you make, are just about the same people who’ll be appearing with you in your next production, producing you in your upcoming show, watching you in your next performance or sponsoring you, for that matter. Whether you’re a newbie, a company transferee, a veteran, or a "Big League" marking a comeback, the beauty of theater is that it brings people of all shapes and sizes together — people with a love for performing and theater as their common horizon.

Perusing a state of my Multiply network and Broadway.Com, I noticed in the latter a buzz article with a picture of my idol Lea Salonga in joie de vivre. She was wearing the signature yellow number tag that has adorned the likes of Julie Andrews, Brian Stokes Mitchell of Ragtime fame, and other lucky theatergoers in various performances of The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee — a funny, heartwarming musical about… you guessed it! A spelling bee! It was the opportunity of a lifetime that I had been salivating and daydreaming of coveting since I first caught the show in 2005. Prior to the bee, four willing audience members are asked to join the festivities, go onstage, and situate themselves alongside kababayan Jose Llana (Chip Tolentino) and his merry band of spellers. As the show progresses, the contestants are each asked to spell a word which the contestant may then ask them to define or use in a sentence. Allowing for witty innuendo and the chance to poke fun at the contestant in good spirit, the audience participation bit is one of Spelling Bee’s most salient and unique "X" factors that sets it apart from its theatrical retinue. Of course, what better way to execute this than to get Lea Salonga, Llana’s former leading lady in The Flower Drum Song, to be one of the contestants. In good humor, she was asked to spell H-E-L-I-C-O-P-T-E-R as she is a Tony Award-winning alum of Miss Saigon. In a similar spell-binding situation, Julie Andrews was asked to spell S-U-P-E-R-C-A-L-I-F-R… Okay, I’m too spaced out to spell it. Surprisingly though, the actual lass who originated the world of Mary Poppins was not able to spell her signature feel-good word of the day. Nevertheless, such instances of reminiscent reciprocity and theatrical recognition reminded me of the familial, tightly knit theatrical community being fostered in every artsy-fartsy society, here and abroad.

On a side note, while Lea and Julie Andrews serve as the Old Guard who provide stability to the very foundations of theater, the craft is also about recruiting new blood to its effervescent conglomerate. Traditionally, regular studio auditions are held in which talent and a passion for performing are able to account for one’s neophyte repertoire. Once in an El Bimbo, however, a hit reality show comes along that takes this very notion of auditions to the next level. While Donald Trump is busy cashing cows on his queer "Battle of the Billionaires" baloney with WWE’s Vince McMahon and his hit show The Apprentice, the theatrical community is also penetrating the commercial scene via the hit NBC show, Grease: You’re The One That I Want. Casting for the next Sandy and Danny in the upcoming Broadway revival of Grease, the show recently concluded its season-long search with "Slacker Danny" Max Crumm and "Small-town Sandy" Laura Osnes as the new couple about town. Having endured a talent search format in the tradition of American Idol, Crumm and Osnes had to best thousands of Sandy and Danny hopefuls with their character renditions of popular Broadway hits — all done in hopes of impressing homegrown judges David Ian, Jim Jacobs, and Kathleen Marshall who will be directing Grease. While technically, the nationwide audience decides on who stays and who goes, several guest judges such as Andrew Lloyd Webber and Olivia Newton John also pop up throughout the entire season to solicit some creative input to the contestants and to guide audiences young and old in choosing who they want as their next Sandy and Danny. The talent-show format, the good publicity and the TV exposure that Grease has generated within the media should attract some hefty revenue for the show, and more importantly, possible converts to the theatrical fold.

Finally, it’s campaign season once again. And while I’ll be busy doing just that for my dad as he is running for congressman of the fourth district of Pangasinan, I am still hopeful that I’ll get to go to New York towards the end of my summer vacation and go on yet another one of my theatrical excursions. Three things: 1) I wanna catch Lea perform as Fantine in Les Miserables; 2) I wanna watch The Pirate Queen, the new musical from the creators of Les Mis; and 3) I’m curious to see how Legally Blonde is going to turn out. After all the hype it’s generated, it’ll be interesting to see them walk the walk with a movie-to-stage translation, especially for a movie that was a worldwide commercial hit. It worked well for The Wedding Singer so I’m hoping movie aficionados and theatrical audiences for that matter will give Legally Blonde a blonde shot at success. For what it’s worth, the "Bend and Snap" in song form and how Legally Blonde will incorporate Elle’s dog Bruiser into the show will be surefire sights for sore eyes.

Legally Blonde stars Laura Bell Bundy (Hairspray, Wicked) as Elle Woods, Christian Borle (Spamalot) as Emmett, and Orfeh (Saturday Night Fever) as Paulette. It opens at the Palace Theatre, 1564 Broadway, on April 29 and will hopefully perform to sold- out houses and legally curious crowds the same way many of its contemporaries like Wicked and Avenue Q have done since their Broadway debut back in 2003. Speaking of which, Avenue Q will be opening here in Manila sometime this year. Yay! Happy summer, everyone!

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Catch your breath and let me know what you think at chasingtoff@yahoo.com.