Dumaguete
City in Negros Oriental has long been known as the Cultural Center of Southern
Philippines, and for the first time ever, the Silliman University Cultural
Affairs Committee, the city’s unofficial cultural arm, brings to Manila
audiences AMPALAYA THE MUSICAL - an original new musical that will delight and
educate, with a performance on 15 July 2015 at the Tanghalang Nicanor Abelardo
of the Cultural Center of the Philippines, which is part of Silliman
University’s commitment as the official regional cultural hub of the CCP.
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| Photo credits: Urich Calumpang/Silliman University Cultural Affairs Committee |
AMPALAYA THE MUSICAL celebrates
Philippine culture through music, dances, games and values. The musical play is
based on the award winning children’s story Alamat ng Ampalaya (The Legend of
Ampalaya) written by Augie Rivera, Jr. Another highlight of this production is
the original music by renowned New York-based guitar virtuoso Maestro Michael
Dadap who has set the play’s music using a live 22 piece Orchestra Sin Arco
(Orchestra of Plucked Instruments). The play is directed by Dessa Quesada Palm,
of the Philippine Educational Theater Association, with musical direction by
Dr. Elizabeth Susan Vista-Suarez and choreography by Angelo Sayson. Ampalaya.
AMPALAYA THE MUSICAL has just
finished its run from July 3-6, 2015 and its first full length run last
September 2014 which were both held at the Luce Auditorium. The musical began
as a short play, which debuted in 2000 in Boston.
Synopsis:
Long time ago in the town of Sariwa, there
flourished a beautiful garden filled with the most colorful, fragrant, and
nutritious vegetables. Everyday as the sun comes up, they laugh and play
together in the garden.
One faithful
day, a hairy, bland, and colorless Ampalaya wandered in Sariwa and found the
gleeful veggies going about their usual games. Envy starts to creep into
Ampalaya's core when she noticed the positively striking individual
characteristics of the other veggies--- everything she was not. She knew she
had to possess all these characteristics to be part of the family, so she
devised a plan for her to get those special stuff. She waited until all the
veggies were asleep and stole a little bit of everything from everyone.
When the
veggies awoke from their slumber, they were in shock when they saw that all
their best had gone missing. During their panic, a beautiful new vegetable
arrived to see what the fuss was about but because of their distraught
disposition, they could not entertain her as they sought to find out who the
culprit was . The veggies decided to seek help from a wise old NunosaPunso who
told them what they needed to do in order to get back what was stolen from
them. They followed and investigated the new vegetable only to find out it was
indeed Ampalaya donning their best individual qualities. They call the
UbodmansaSaging and her jury to plead their case against Ampalaya.
Ampalaya was
unfazed with all the questions and ill feelings that were being thrown at her.
She firmly believed that she did nothing wrong---the jury thought otherwise.
After deliberation, a sentence and punishment was given, and everybody learned
a bitter lesson that day.
AMPALAYA THE
MUSICAL is presented by the Cultural Center of the Philippines, Dumaguete City
Tourism Office, CocoGrande Hotel, Philippine Airlines, Lorenzo Shipping
Corporation, Bayview Park Hotel Manila, and the National Commission for Culture
and the Arts.
Tickets now
available at TicketWorld.
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