On the costumes:

Doing period costumes is nothing new to Eric Pineda. As a veteran costume designer, educator and avid researcher, Pineda always makes sure he gets the right look and feel for a specific era. But how does he redo something that has already been done with aplomb? Such was the challenge posed by Pineda’s most recent project, the latest and biggest Philippine staging of the popular musical “The Little Mermaid.”

Read the rest of the article (complete with original costume design concept sketches) here: http://lifestyle.inquirer.net/22327/costumes-for-manila-production-of-%E2%80%98little-mermaid%E2%80%99-given-asian-twist

All photos but the first were taken by Ikey Canoy (Scuttle) from his photo journal compiled during the production: http://www.playbill.com/multimedia/gallery/3531/PHOTO-EXCLUSIVE-Under-the-Sea-With-the-Cast-of-Manilas-The-Little-Mermaid/?pnum=1

O.J. Mariano as Sebastian and Calvin Milado as King Triton

On incorporating the Asian setting:

“We are creating a ‘Little Mermaid’ unlike any other. It will be an exciting fusion of East meets West elements. Our underwater kingdom will be completely Asian in theme and our above water world will be Western, representing two different worlds. We will also be using traditional forms of Asian and Western puppetry including Wayang shadow play, bunraku, nang kaloung and western hand puppetry,” says Garcia.

Read more at: http://gibbscadiz.multiply.com/journal/item/2093

Go’s Ariel wears a pair of giant seashell sleeves that resembles the typical Filipiniana terno’s large, puffed sleeves. On the other hand, Calvin Millado’s King Triton, the Sea King and Ariel’s father, dons a traditional Balinese royal costume. On the other hand, what the production lacks in expensive set pieces and flying harnesses, which are common currency in Broadway musicals nowadays, it makes up for with puppeteer-actors, who control wayang or shadow puppets, bunraku or traditional Japanese puppets, and nang kaloung or Cambodian puppets during certain parts of the show. By the way, merfolks are not strapped on rollerblades in this production!

Read more at: http://broadwayworld.com/article/Photo-Flash-Disneys-THE-LITTLE-MERMAID-Opens-in-Manila-20111124#ixzz1use0oFDA

Jinky Llamanzares as Ursula

Llamanzares on the production:

“So far, this is the most challenging role that I am playing in a musical,” Jinky said during the press conference held recently at Manila Ocean Park. Jinky, who gained international fame via the Cameron Mackintosh award-winning musical “Miss Saigon,” also said she is so proud to be in the cast of “The Little Mermaid” which Atlantis Productions and Metrobank are presenting and which is topbilled by Rachelle Ann Go and Erik Santos. This is the musical’s first Asian production approved by Disney.

Read more at: http://www.mb.com.ph/articles/341741/jinky-calvin-featured-mermaid

Erik Santos as Prince Eric (with Rachelle Ann Go as Ariel)

On the two leads:

[M]aking their stage debuts in the musical are singing champions Rachelle Ann Go and Erik Santos, playing the lead roles of mermaid Ariel and Prince Eric. While those two lack acting experience, they are turning out to be naturals and Garcia is very happy to have them in his cast. “I have known Erik since he started his career,” he says of his Prince. “Erik has an incredible singing voice that truthfully conveys Prince Eric’s longing and passion.” Garcia is also all praises for Rachelle Ann. “She is a fantastic Ariel. Having worked with her for three weeks now, we can’t imagine anyone else playing the role. She is spunky, adventurous, kind, generous and a dreamer. She also has one of the most beautiful voices we have heard. She is a true Disney Princess.

Read more at: http://www.princeofpop.net/tag/mermaid-in-manila/

Rachelle Ann Go as Ariel

On Rachelle’s performance:

The Little Mermaid had starred the talented, incandescent Sierra Boggess in the title role (Ariel); while Manila’s production has found a new ingénue in strong pop singer Rachelle Ann Go. Tony Award-winning actress Lea Salonga, who’s also a columnist in the Philippine Daily Inquirer, only had praises and raves for Go’s opening night (November 18) performance, “As for Go, I don’t know that the superlatives in my vocabulary could cover just how wonderful I thought she was. Bundles of charm oozed from her, as well as an easy sense of humor and adventure. Her voice was also a great mix of that clean and pristine Disney sound, plus a deep pop sensibility that made this score (and her Ariel) accessible to everyone. She was a perfect Ariel, and her portrayal will only continue to deepen and improve. She blew me away on opening night.”

Read more: http://broadwayworld.com/article/Photo-Flash-Disneys-THE-LITTLE-MERMAID-Opens-in-Manila-20111124#ixzz1usSG4XQn

To hear a rendition of Go’s “Part of Your World”, watch the video below! (skip to 0:57)

The Little Mermaid in Manila

Today I was delighted to learn about the Philippine production of Disney’s stage version of The Little Mermaid, so I’m going to feature a few of the cast members in some posts coming up!

korraspasm:

teaat2am:

snow white

I can definitely get behind this. 

fairytaleclub:

by Rachel Isadora

ai-yo:

kaxbeokay:

romanticdevices:

quitecamille:

sacrumfingers:

[Image: Gifs of Cinderella and Prince Christopher talking on a crowded street and of the two of them smiling at each other.]

Cinderella: I’m not sure I want to meet this stranger. I doubt if he has any idea how a girl should be treated.
Christopher: Like a princess, I suppose.
Cinderella: No! Like a person with kindness and respect.

My most favorite version of Cinderella. Can we talk about how BOTH main characters are people of color. Prince Charming is Asian and the most captivating person in the village is an african American woman who believes in kindness and respect? Let’s talk about it. Let’s have a full conversation about it.

No one… NO ONE will ever understand how happy this movie makes me.

No one.

when i was younger, i wanted to be asian prince charming

Love this film for so many reasons. I was so obsessed with Brandy back in the day. Prince Charming was too too fine.

shainareads:

From Andrew Lang’s illustrated “Fairy Tale Books” to Disney’s cartoon fairy tale movies to even modern, “edgy” adaptations like the ABC drama “Once Upon a Time,” most fairy-tale depictions show stereotypical heterosexual, homogenous, white couples.  Through these drawings, I reconstruct these relationships, depicting different races, body-types ranging from thin to muscular to curvy (and most importantly) ladies loving ladies.

Beauty and the Beast is re-imagined in a fantasy feudal Japan, where the beast is a horned, tattooed demonness seducing a beautiful princess.  The Little Mermaid is set in Regency era Europe, and the mermaid* is rescuing a dark-skinned lady.    Finally Cinderella, a 19th century girl dressed in a man’s suit, charms the princess, represented as a colored lady of the house, in a waltz on the dance floor.

Though all the drawings have “historical” basis (Heian Japan, European Regency, American Civil War), each drawing has a fantastical or historically inaccurate element to it — the demonness tattooed with modern Yakuza/gangster tats, the dark-skinned Regency girl, the Civil War era black high-society lady.  These inaccuracies were included so that a variety of races could be inserted into historical images.  Once I committed to wanting to depict various races in sometimes stereotypically Western settings, I decided that I would include something “inaccurate” in each drawing to unify them.

*My thoughts on mermaids: mermaids should have strong backs, big arms, and amazing six packs.  If anyone used her upper body that much just to get around from place to place, I’d expect her to have huge, huge arms.  So I made sure to give my blonde, generic mermaid nice buff arms.