FILIPINOS and Filipino-Americans who made it big on Broadway, the undisputed theater capital of the United States, are again taking center stage, this time in the independently published Barangay to Broadway: Filipino-American Theater History by US-based Filipino theater writer Walter Ang.
Barangay to Broadway deals with Filipino-American artists and theater groups from the 1900s to the 2010s. It also includes some of Ang’s previously published articles on Filipino-American theater, as well as new interviews and additional research.
The artists featured in the book include Tony-winner Lea Salonga, Oscar- and Tony-winning composer Robert Lopez (Avenue Q and Book of Mormon), and Tony-winning costume designer Clint Ramos (Eclipsed), an alumnus of the University of the Philippines. It also explains the Filipino connection with the hit musical Miss Saigon, for which Salonga won her Tony in 1991.
Salonga, who just finished her stint in a revival of Once on This Island, remains active on Broadway. So are Ali Ewoldt, who is in The Phantom of the Opera; Arielle Jacobs and Don Darryl Rivera, in Disney’s Aladdin; Robert Brill, who designed the sets of Summer: The Donna Summer Musical; and Lopez, who penned songs for Disney’s Frozen.
Then there are the actors in touring productions: Jose Llana and Joan Almedilla just finished The King and I; Isa Briones in Hamilton, N’Jameh Camara in The Color Purple, Lissa de Guzman and Jay Paranada in Disney’s Aladdin, and Emily Bautista and Christine Bunuan with visiting Filipino actor Red Concepcion in Miss Saigon.
“Fil-Ams have been performing on Broadway since the late 1940s. Barbara Luna was in South Pacific, Neile Adams was in Kismet, and Patrick Adiarte was in The King and I,” Ang says.
Barangay to Broadway also lists seminal Filipino-American theater groups, such as Ating Tao and Sining Bayan, as well as artists who either founded or were early members of pioneering Asian-American theater companies in the 1960s and 1970s in Seattle, New York, and Los Angeles.
“In the 1970s, after founding Philippine Educational Theater Association (Peta) in Manila, Cecile Guidote-Alvarez went into exile in New York. There, she founded Peta’s sister company, [the]Philippine Educational Theatre Arts League (Petal), and did Filipino-American theater work for many years,” Ang says.
The book also tackles the establishment of Filipino-American theater companies in the 1980s and 1990s, such as Ma-Yi Theater in New York, Circa-Pintig in Chicago, and Bindlestiff Studio in San Francisco.
“During those decades, Manila-based theater stalwarts, such as Marie Eugenie Theater of Assumption artistic director Ana Valdes-Lim and Cultural Center of the Philippines artistic director Chris Millado, founded or helped found theater groups during their stints in the US. Loy Arcenas got involved in a lawsuit when his set design for a Broadway play was plagiarized.” Ang says.
“Hopefully the book will be useful to Filipinos and Filipino-Americans, whether they be casual theatergoers, passionate theater fans, new or seasoned theater makers seeking information about the paths carved by their fellow artists, or parents and educators looking for resources to help younger generations become more aware of the rich heritage and artistic work that has been and continues to be created by our fellow Pinoys,” he adds.
Ang was a former juror of Philstage Gawad Buhay, regarded by some as the Filipino counterpart of the Tonys. He was also a fellow at the University of Santo Tomas’ Varsitarian-J. Elizalde Navarro National Arts and Humanities Criticism Writing Workshop.
Barangay to Broadway is available in hardcover ($35.51), paperback ($23.75) and Kindle ($25) editions on Amazon.com.
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