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IT is a long and winding road from the corporate
corridors of the Makati business district to the bright lights of
Broadway in New York. But it’s a route that McDonalds Philippines
point man George Yang embarked on last week.
And for Yang, who is chairman of
Global Arches Development Corporation which is the local franchisee
of the US fast food giant, the journey culminates at La Mama Theatre
tonight (tomorrow morning Manila time) when he takes center stage
and sends his voice soaring into history as the first captain of
industry in the Philippine to sing on Broadway.
It’s been a rapid journey for
Yang ever since he was infected incurably with the singing bug not
so very long ago. He took on acclaimed operatic soprano (and
professor of the University of Sta. Tomas music department) Rachelle
Gerodias as his voice tutor, and his music career has taken
significant leaps ever since.
The transformation of Yang from
French fries to Italian arias has seen him perform to varied
audiences—from a packed to the rafters Christmas concert last year
at the Santuario de San Antonio (a repeat performance has been lined
up for this year as well) and drawing room soiree staged for foreign
ambassadors in an elegant Forbes Park home to a standing room only
gig at the Mandarin Oriental’s Captain’s Bar and a chic dinner
party for an departing expatriate boss of a top multinational.
There is even business and music
industry talk that a leading local company has offered Yang a
recording contract. But the man himself is mum on the subject, for
the time being at least!
But back to Yang’s Broadway
debut. He will have a lead role in the 25-member cast of a
Philippine zarzuela entitled Something To Crow About which will run
at the off-Broadway La Mama Theatre from June 21 to 24. The show
then moves to the west coast for a one night performance on June 28
at Alex Theatre in Glendale, California, followed by another show on
July 1 at the Sta. Clara University Theatre.
The words and music of the
production are by National Artist for Literature (and former
Education Secretary) Alejandro Roces, and is adapted on the book
carrying the same name that he wrote exploring the fierce
fascination Filipinos have for cock fighting and the breeding of
fighting cocks.
It had a brief run last year in
the Emilio Aguinaldo Theatre in Manila, but the Broadway production
includes many new cast members, including Yang who plays the chief
justice in a courtroom scene
In the play, Yang will render a
number with the rest of the justices on the bench. And he will then
deliver the verdict by song on his own.
Corporate associates are kidding
Yang that should he receive critical acclaim as a singing justice,
he might even end up been considered for a similar role in the High
Court in Padre Faure to invigorate the usual staid proceedings over
there!
Incidentally, the New York
production is being directed by veteran theatre hand Cecile Alvarez
who is the executive director of the National Commission on Culture
and the Arts.
But surprisingly, despite the
connection of a National Artist —and the forum that the production
will provide as a positive showcase for Philippine culture—the
talk is that the NCCA board (which appears to have a completely
different, and sometimes even curious, set of priorities when it
comes to dispensing of its largesse) declined to dip into its deep
coffers to provide even a single centavo towards the rumored $1.2
million costs of the production.
Email: bizzfizz_98@yahoo.com
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