Rainbow Stage gets Broadway boost

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This article was published 20/03/2024 (736 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

A Winnipeg-raised Broadway star is returning to Rainbow Stage this summer to star in Joseph Sevillo’s Ma-Buhay, a major coup for the country’s longest-running musical theatre company as it prepares to première the all-Filipino production in Kildonan Park this June.

Sevillo and Rainbow Stage artistic director Carson Nattrass could hardly contain their excitement Tuesday that Andrea Macasaet, who recently appeared as Anne Boleyn in the smash Broadway production of Six and played Mimi in the Stratford Festival’s 2023 version of Rent, would be headlining the first brand-new musical to be staged at Rainbow in the company’s 70-year history.

“I’m very, very excited to be back and be home,” said Macasaet, addressing the crowd assembled for the cast and crew announcement at Max’s Restaurant, a local outpost of an international Filipino chain founded in 1945.

“Walking into the venue today, there was already a vibration and excitement for our community. Winnipeg has one of the largest Filipino communities in Canada, and what an honour it is to be able to put on a show built off of love, passion and drive to be heard, to be seen and to take up space within this country.”

Macasaet, 30, who first appeared at Rainbow Stage as a nine-year-old in Joseph & the Amazing Technicolour Dreamcoat, is one of 22 performers attached to appear in Ma-Buhay, a musical that has been in development for five years.

When the casting call went out earlier this year, Sevillo says the company received 125 submissions from across the country; out of that crop, Sevillo assembled what he called “a fierce ensemble,” featuring a range of actors as young as 12 and as seasoned as 72.

Ma-Buhay, which follows three contestants in a televised, all-or-nothing Filipino singing competition, has been gestating since 2019, receiving three readings and selling out a sample run at last year’s Winnipeg Fringe Festival.

Alongside Macasaet, the other contestants will be played by Toronto’s AP Bautista and Vancouver-based Daren Dyhengco.

The all-Filipino cast is rounded out by other well-known performers such as Ma-Anne Dionisio, who originated the role of Kim in the Canadian première production of Miss Saigon, and Rochelle Kives and Arnold (AC) Tongol, who both appeared in last season’s Rainbow production of Rent. Joy Lazo, a musical theatre teacher to many of the show’s performers, will return to Rainbow Stage for the first time since 2004.

Robin Jordan Quintana, who appeared in the fringe production, and Shauldon Santos will also appear, as will a host of young performers who form the bulk of the cast.

Pierson Alibudbud, Kaitlyn Yago and Jordan Sevillo — the creator’s nephew — play younger versions of characters, as does Annika Malolos, whose brothers Nathan and Johan are featured in the ensemble. Nathan Malolos is making his second Rainbow Stage appearance, as is his Hockey Sweater co-star Alba Manuel, who both appeared as Von Trapp children in this season’s Royal Manitoba Theatre Centre production of The Sound of Music.

The ensemble also features siblings Jerilyn and Justin Bulaong, Josh Calabio, Dutchess Cayetano, Victoria Exconde and Hazel Wallace, each familiar faces on the local performing arts circuit.

On the creative side, Sevillo will direct, with Seanne Buenafe serving as musical director and conductor. For the first time, Rainbow will employ three choreographers — Lee Banaga, Sharlyne Chua and Jayel Masangkay — to animate the show’s 20-plus musical numbers.

The production will feature video design by students in Sisler’s CREATE program, with costume design by Brenda Belmonte and Alba Ignis.

Ma-Buhay will run from June 27 to July 14, opening Rainbow’s season before the company mounts its version of Mary Poppins.

ben.waldman@winnipegfreepress.com