What to Expect from the Philippine Run of Stephen Sondheim’s “Company”

Featured

Following the runaway success of last year’s “cheerfully deranged” Monty Python’s “Spamalot”, Upstart returns with a brand new production of the well-loved Broadway classic making a splash in London’s West End, “Company”.

Described as a “landmark musical”, the musical charts stories about love, marriage, friendship, and loneliness, from theater legend Stephen Sondheim, who was behind some of the most beloved Broadway works, like “Into the Woods”, “West Side Story”, and “A Little Night Music”.

Since the show’s onstage debut in the 1970’s in Broadway and the West End, the production has since earned top accolades in the industry, with its “unforgettable score” (The Boston Globe) and the “sparse, elegant wit” of its lyrics (The New York Times).

Veteran stage performers Sweet Plantado-Tiongson and Joel Trinidad. | Image courtesy of Upstart

For this year’s run, acclaimed actor/director Topper Fabregas (Gawad Buhay Best Director 2016, “Tribes”), Upstart’s version of “Company” will feature theater veterans like OJ Mariano (“Ang Huling El Bimbo”), Cathy Azanza-Dy (“Silent Sky”), Ariel Reonal (“Miss Saigon”), and Caisa Borromeo (“Silent Sky”). They will then be joined with an impressive roster of hot up-and-comers from the theater and entertainment scene.

Michael Williams and Menchu Lauchengco-Yulo

Fabregas was very particular about finding new, unexplored performers, and held open auditions for all the parts. “We were blown away,” he enthuses. Producer Joel Trinidad, who is also part of the cast, also shares, “We said to so many people, ‘Why have we never seen you on stage before?!’”  

Offstage, Fabregas has assembled an impressive team to help him realize his unique vision for the show: Handling the music is TOYM Awardee and former Hong Kong Disneyland Musical Director Rony Fortich; handling the Production Design is New York-based Joey Mendoza, freelance set designer and faculty member at Fordham University Theater Program at Lincoln Center.

COMPANY runs on all Fridays (9:00 pm), Saturdays (3:00 and 8:00 pm), and Sundays (3:00 and 8:00 pm) between September 13 and September 22 at the Globe Auditorium, Maybank Performing Arts Theater, BGC Arts Center, Taguig. COMPANY is presented through special arrangement with Music Theatre International (MTI). All authorized performance materials are also supplied by MTI, 423 West 55th Street, New York, NY 10019. Tel.: (212) 541-4684 Fax: (212) 397-4684 www.MTIShows.com