Wazzup Pilipinas!
"Katherine Brandt is on a mission to discover why Beethoven composed the Diabelli variations, considered as one of his greatest masterpieces. Her daughter, Clara, is on a mission to find her place in her mother's world. Together, they maneuver through Beethoven's colorful life, their own challenging relationship, and somehow find their answers within his music."
Red Turnip Theater is back for another season! The very promising band of 5 actors composed of Ana Abad Santos, Topper Fabregas, Jenny Jamora, Cris Villonco, and Rem Zamora, promises to push the envelope further as they show another facet to Red Turnip this year.
Shifting between periods and places, 33 Variations by Moisés Kaufman is the story of mothers and daughters and the legacies we long to leave behind. The impending drama is indeed deafening.
Red Turnip Theater opens its Third Season with another powerhouse cast in this heartwarming story set to the music of Beethoven. Jenny Jamora, who's been blooming ever so pretty every time I see her at RTT presscons, directs this time.
This play marks Red Turnip’s first show to incorporate live music. Something totally different from their previous offerings namely the critically-acclaimed productions of Closer, Cock, Rabbit Hole and Time Stands Still.
A press preview was held recently at the Red Light Resto Bar located in Makati Avenue where members of the media witnessed some readings of the cast. It somehow gives everyone a teaser of what to expect soon when the cast are ready for their media presentation.
We also got to ask some questions during the Q&A and the more intimate round-robin style of interview where the cast where divided among the media tables and asked to move alternately so that everyone would get a chance for an up close and personal interview.
Those who came to our table were the adorable Ina Fabregas, sister of Toper and playing as Clara, a designer who has always been happy to "move on" to a new craft, a new relationship. There's just one thing she can't change: her mother. We hope Ina would be as sensational as his brother in portraying challenging roles.
Another one was Franco Chan playing Mike Clark, a nurse who finds himself falling for his patient's daughter, Clara Brandt. Apparently her love interest is Clara so let's see if there would be significant chemistry between the two actors during the media presentation.
Rem Zamora, one of the founders of Red Turnip Theater, and plays as Anton Schindler in the play, also came to our table so we had the opportunity to ask everything we wanted. One interesting fact we should all take note is that it is admirable to see the passion of the founders in trying to deliver eccentric plays such as these and take the necessary risk just to please their more sophisticated audience. We all know that theater is seen as non-mainstream and having very little mass appeal but they still continue to bring satisfaction to their desired target market.
I think it's about time we change the mindset of the people so that they will realize that the theater is far better than mainstream movie. As most indie films have already reached a significant level of acceptance, the theater deserves more recognition being a live performance.
Shamaine Centenera-Buencamino plays Katherine Brandt, a musicologist on a quest to solve the mystery of how Beethoven could've composed one of his greatest masterpieces based on Diabelli's seemingly ordinary waltz. Little does she know it is also a quest to solve the mystery that is her daughter. Will she be able to solve both before it's too late?
Teroy Guzman plays Ludwig van Beethoven, one of the world's most famous composers who, despite suffering progressive deafness, became a defining figure in the history of Western music. Why and how does he compose his most epic works, including the Diabelli Variations, through the most debilitating conditions of his life? And how does his music provide the answers to those who struggle in the present?
24 year old Ejay Yatco performs Beethoven’s Diabelli Variations, thirty-three pieces by his favorite composer. It is then we realize the roots of this young artist go way back into the 18th century. And he’s all the better for it. The guy has composed and written three musicals, has been musical director for seventeen shows, performed in over fourteen shows, won four medals at the World Championship of the Performing Arts. But more than just the sheer number of achievements, what’s fascinating is that in every performance he imagines the spirit of Beethoven looking over him.
Theater stalwarts Paolo O’ Hara, Rem Zamora and Roselyn Perez make up the supporting cast. O’Hara (“Hedda Gabler”, “Titus Andronicus”, “Tatlong Mariya”) and Zamora (“The 39 Steps”, “Skin Deep”, “Glorious”), complete the Beethoven flashback scenes as Anton Diabelli and Anton Schindler respectively. Perez (“Equus”, “Frozen”, “The Normal Heart”) is Gertrude Ladenburger, Katherine’s stern and loyal confidante.
Rounding out the cast are fresh faces Ina Fabregas and Franco Chan. Fabregas is Clara, Katherine’s estranged daughter who slowly starts to fall in love with her mother’s male nurse, Mike Clark, played by Chan.
Watch what happens in this heartwarming play about a mother and her daughter, and how they journey through Beethoven's colorful life as they try to find their answers within his music.
33 Variations opens this July 24 and runs weekends until August 23 at Whitespace Manila.
Purchase your tickets at www.ticketworld.com.ph or call 891-9999.
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Ross is known as the Pambansang Blogger ng Pilipinas - An Information and Communication Technology (ICT) Professional by profession and a Social Media Evangelist by heart.
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