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Friday, November 04, 2004
Congratulations all around!
By Jo Magsaysay
Whatever
Oliver, the musical, was an amazing feat of accomplishment by the Sacred Heart School of the Society of Jesus, surely historic in proportions.
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Ambitious, yes. Conceptualized for production only five months ago with no funds, few talents, little experience but tremendous enthusiasm, everyone in school, students, parents, teachers, administration and anyone else concerned was mobilized and set in motion. The PTA, headed by Maricel Borromeo Amores, a power dynamo who generated such electricity she energized everyone she came in contact with, produced the seed money to put the production in high gear. No one, but no one else except Benjie Diola, whose name and fame preceded him years ago, must be the director and choreographer. I know Benjie, he is extremely volatile; he can be exquisitely charming one minute and awesomely volcanic the next so that he, only he, with marvelous grace could have whipped up the boys and girls of SHS…giggling, shouting, timid, rambunctious,…into shape. Getting hundreds of boys to sing together in tune, to get dozens of girls dancing in step, having them overcome stage fright and act credibly is nothing short of a miracle.
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Whoever played the role of Oliver at the gala night performance…Lorenzo Urgel? Jovie Buot? Justine Gorne? …was adorable (I was told later it was Lorenzo). It doesn’t really matter very much, does it? All three boys were primed for the role; starveling waif, quiet and shy, wanting so much to be loved. Again, three boys were cast to alternate in the six performances of the Artful Dodger…Gerard Rivera, John Paul Fernandez and Andrew Tiu. Again, any one of the three could have performed that night and any one of them, having been disciplined with rigorous rehearsals, and having the determination to play his role well must have made an endearing version of the street-smart dandy. Analiza Romaguera who had been tapped to play the role of Nancy by the late Fr. Katigbak some seven years ago alternated with Lorraine Ann Dytian who we’re told had a severe cold that prevented her from showing off her natural, beautiful, singing voice. Definitely a scene stealer was Kenneth Acap as Fagin whose nimble hands and fingers fluttering like butterflies and whose slouching, stealthy walk gave him the perfect image of the prince, nay, the king of pickpockets; his alternate Al Anthony Sacris must have wow’d the other night’s performances too. A powerful voice and astonishing thespian talent unveiled the unusually self-effacing Dr. Shawn Espina to be an evil Bill Sykes.
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Credit lines and kudos due Amor Marie Reyes-Capares as musical director, Avecenna Bordon Peteros, assistant musical director; Jaclyn Ima Lim Sagolili, stage manager. To Dr. Fremont Base alternating with Edcel Seneido as Dr. Grimwig, Romeo Diaz alternating with Justin Lim and Auddy Ryan Tan as Mr. Brownlow, Kyle Mella and Adrian John Muntuerto as Mr. Bumble, Ed Arellano, Adela Mae Martinez, Ludy Acebedo, Emmanuel Rivera, Ralph Ybañez, Bea Sagun, Carmila Fojas, Robert Galvan, Genevieve Ensoy, Alvin Gobui, Elbert Hugh Lim, Ma. Theresa Loyola, Ana Katrina Lim, May Angeli Antonio, Michelle Gobui, May Sastre, Denise Abigail Hugo, Louie Dino, Evangeline Alfeche, Grace Flores, Mia Chua, Cecille Villacrucis, Jaya Jandoc and all the rest of the hundred boys and girls of Sacred Heart School-Jesuit congratulations for a job well done and special mention to the members of Voices of Praise who sang “Who will buy” in beautiful harmony.
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Certainly being flooded with congratulations are Rev. Fr. Ernesto Javier S.J., school director and chairman of the steering committee and Dr. Pek Eng Lim, co-chairman of the committee. The smiling Pek Eng was exuberant! Practically haunting every rehearsal night, he was certain they had a sensational production. I’ve been to Broadway and other musical stages, Pek Eng glowed, “I’m telling you our Oliver can compare with the greatest hits!” So overwhelmed with the success, Dr. Lim was already setting his sights for next year’s production: The King and I… “and this time I will play the King!” Right you are, Doc!! Father Javier, the most-loved Jesuit in Cebu, could not contain his pride and joy. He, after all, gave the go signal, this was his baby! “We are so grateful to the PTA and to the sponsors whose hard work and generosity enabled us to cover all production costs. We made it! We did it!” Sacred Heart School-Jesuit certainly did it! Made history.
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I did it! I met. I shook hands. I hugged and kissed a real live Pulitzer prize winner in the wonderful person of Emerson Manawis. A member of a team of news correspondents known as the Dispatch News Services that first reported on an incident that occurred in Vietnam in 1969, Mr. Manawis and his team had uncovered the world of Mai Lai Massacre which exposed the atrocities of the US Military in the Vietnam War. A native of Zambales, Emer is now a US citizen residing in Hawaii and practically a relative, being an uncle of my son-in-law, Roger “Wawoo” Cuenco with whom he is visiting. A citizen of the world, Mr. Manawis is still communicating reports and keeping up an exciting correspondence about what’s happening here, there and everywhere.
(November 4, 2004 issue)
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