An all-original Filipino musical ballet production titled Pepe’s Secret Christmas headlines the Ayala Malls’ Christmas activities this year.

A brainchild of Sofia Zobel, Pepe’s Secret Christmas features the performance of the Steps Dance Project. It is directed by James Laforteza and written by award-winning Floy Quintos, with production and costume design by Gino Gonzales—all of whom Zobel personally tapped to make the production one memorable Christmas experience.

A show for all ages, Pepe’s Secret Christmas is set to teach everyone respect for animals and nature as well as rekindle traditional Filipino values.

Pepe’s Secret Christmas is just one of the many events lined up for Ayala Mall’s Christmas season for 2012 dubbed Wrapped in Love. It will next be shown today at TriNoma in Quezon City; December 9 at Ayala Center Cebu; December 9 at Market! Market! in Taguig City; and on December 15 at the Alabang Town Center.

Pepe’s animal friends
During the recent launch of the Ayala Christmas at the Intercontinental Hotel in Makati City, The Manila Times was able to sit down with the creative people behind Pepe’s Secret Christmas including Zobel, Quintos, Laforteza and Gonzales, as well as lighting director Katsch Catoy and choreographer Jeffrey Espejo.

Zobel, who is the director of the Steps Dance Foundation, revealed the inspiration behind Pepe’s Secret Christmas; “It was actually partly inspired by the illustrations of Beatrix Potter. Beatrix Potter was a famous illustrator who wrote about animals that live in farm.”

Potter is a British classical author most famous for her children’s book Tale of Peter Rabbit—exactly the one that inspired Zobel.

Zobel continued, “So I said, how nice to do something like this in a Filipino setting. And so, that’s when we approached Floy Quintos to write a story. I gave him the concept and he wrote about this little boy Pepe.”

Affirming this, Quintos explained, “Pepe’s Secret Christmas is a story of a little boy, Pepe, who goes to the last Misa de Gallo. He, of course, feels sleepy. Then all of a sudden, he sees all the farm animals dressed as people. He follows them and arrives to their hidden world.”

The writer also discussed the setting of the story which was during the Commonwealth Period.

“When Sofia and I talked about the story, I realized that I will bring the story back during what is called the “Age of Innocence in the Philippine history,” Quintos elaborated. “It is between the 1920s to 1940s—the Commonwealth—which is a very gentle era.”

During Pepe’s one-hour trip to the land of the animals, he will meet many animals like the carabao, pig, goat, chickens, dog and cat as well as snake, monkeys, fireflies and migratory birds, among others. More importantly, Pepe’s animal friends will teach him the importance of nature and how everything in it is interconnected.

Filipino flavor
To further give Pepe’s Secret Christmas a really Filipino flavor, director Laforteza then shared to The Times that they created a fun mix of original Pilipino music (OPM)—mostly in Tagalog—for the musical scoring.

Besides this, Laforteza also mentioned the dance that Steps Dance Project will be showcasing. He explained, “We [Steps] actually used and featured the strength of our technique in the Steps Dance Studio which is classical ballet. However, we also incorporated modern dance, jazz, other and practically all genres for the production.”

Last but not the least is the animal costume designs by Gonzales. The friendly and true-to-life farm and forest animals which he garbed in traditional Filipino attires will surely amaze and delight everyone.

Wrapped in love
Ayala Malls’ Wrapped in Love Christmas officially kicked off on November 16 with a Christmas Tree Lighting at the Glorietta Activity Center. Kapamilya stars Piolo Pascual and Zia Quizon serenaded everyone who witnessed the beginning of Ayala Malls’ loving Christmas.

Besides the Christmas Tree Lighting Besides and the ballet production, there is so much for everyone to enjoy. First is the Kindred Voices concert headlined by international group The Blake. They will be joined by the country’s very own talented Lea Salonga and Nikki Gil, as well as ABS-CBN’s Phil-harmonic Orchestra.

Kindred Voices will be conducted by no less than Maestro Gerard Salonga.

Another highlight of this season is the unveiling of the larger than life photo-montage by no less than Ayala Corp. Chairman Emeritus Jaime Zobel de Ayala. The photos capture moments of Filipinos from the Ayala malls, walkways and gardens. The artwork will be displayed at the Greenbelt tunnel until December 26.

Other surprises include 12 Days of Kindness, a simultaneous gift-giving at different malls from December 10 to 21; Charms of Christmas, an online promo that will give away designer charm bracelets by Ana Rocha; and the Hug Machine, a vendo that will dispose good cheer!
Lastly, Ayala Malls also gives their valued customers ways to give back to others in need as their very own gestures of love. Everyone may get involved with partner foundations Children’s Hour, WWF-Philippines, Hero Foundation Inc., Habitat for Humanity and Ayala Foundation through charity bazaars that will be held for them.