VIEW FROM THE MERIDIAN (A first-person narrative)
When you're in the company of amazingly talented musical artists, rushing amidst heavy rains and flood becomes a minor hurdle as you enjoy the journey of a group with one mission: TO SPREAD THE MUSIC OF SIDE SHOW.
There was a storm brewing when we pushed through with our plans to tour the Side Show cast in the media offices in Makati last July 19. The Manila leg of the tour the previous day had been postponed, but the weather turned out to be sunny, so we decided to give the Makati tour a go. But little did we know that we would be caught in a crazy downpour with matching floods as we struggled to stick to our itinerary for the day.
The media tour is our publicity activity to promote the upcoming Manila staging of the Broadway musical hit, Side Show, which is directed by Steven Conde and will be playing at the RCBC Plaza Carlos P. Romulo Auditorium starting on August 31. Side Show features the story of the famous Hilton conjoined twins, who defied the odds together and went on to become theater and film stars in the 1930s despite and in spite of their "uniqueness".
The Side Show cast who joined our media tour were Gab Pangilinan and Kayla Rivera, who will take on the roles of Violet and Daisy Hilton, along with Wency Cornejo, Markki Stroem, David Ezra, and Arman Ferrer.
Our first stop was the Daily Tribune office. When we got there, it wasn't raining yet and we had time to spare while we waited for the editor to arrive. It was during this time that I got to witness the growing rapport among this motley crew. They hadn't started their rehearsals yet, and that day was the first time they all got together as part of the Side Show cast.
It was amusing to listen to their witty quips about their roles and the way they were memorizing their lines and songs. It was like witnessing first-hand how a group of individuals get to know each other and become friends. Certainly, their bond will be stronger as they start their rehearsals and spend time together every single day for a month, but it was this first meeting that was a gem to experience in person.
Arman Ferrer was a revelation. I first saw him perform in Maynila Sa Kuko Ng Liwanag The Musical last year, and it was there that he earned my admiration for having such a powerful voice as he owned the stage in his heart-rending solos during the show. But he is so much different off-stage when he is not belting out one song after another. He turned out to be the wise-cracking guy in the bunch, and he never ran out of witty comments (and energy!) throughout our media tour.
Markki Stroem turned out to be the trivia guy. He's always on hand with his morsels of information, whether it's in his helpful tips on how we could all cramp ourselves in the elevator without tripping the overload alarm or how it would be easier to memorize lines in a play or whatever script they had to study.
Wency Cornejo is the most "seasoned" among the fairly young group of artists. But although he's been successful as a singer-composer and music producer, Side Show is his first musical theater debut and he looks up to his companions for being theater "veterans" already. He may be the oldest in the bunch, but he easily shared the vibe in all their small talks and even as they picked on David Ezra for apparently partying too hard the night before.
David Ezra did not deny (though he tried to get around and appear well-read about his character) that he was too busy with his birthday party the previous night, and that we wasn't too keen on answering questions about his character. During the interviews, he would always say "My character in Side Show is different from my other roles which were always serious. Here, I play a very flamboyant character", which never failed to elicit chuckles from the other cast members. He always used the world "flamboyant" in each and every one of his interviews, and it became an inside joke among the cast that we all laughed along with.
The lead girls, Gab Pangilinan and Kayla Rivera, were remarkably impressive. They sang a snippet of the song "I Will Never Leave You" in each of the media stops we made, and there were instances when they were asked to repeat their song number, yet they always gave a powerful rendition of the song each and every time. They never seemed to get tired, their voice quality never changing, their pitch staying perfect as always, even as the hours ran on and we were getting tired of moving from one place to another, getting caught in traffic, and getting wet in the rain... Their voices and energy just amazingly stayed the same!
There's no questioning the professionalism of these six talented individuals, who knew that the show must go on regardless of the mad rush of our media tour. Personally for me, the best part had been getting stuck in traffic in the same van with them and listening to their impromptu singing while they amused themselves. It was a "sound trip" that I truly enjoyed. There was never a dull moment with this group, and their unwavering energy (and, of course, their awesome talent!) made our media tour experience really one for the books.
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| The cast of SIDE SHOW (L-R): Gab Pangilinan, Kayla Rivera, Markki Stroem, Wency Cornejo, Arman Ferrer, and David Ezra |