Unless you have been living under a rock (with no internet access) for the past five years, chances are you have seen the viral video on YouTube of dancing inmates. With more than 51 million views and counting, they are among the website’s most-watched videos.
Prison Dancer is an original interactive musical web series, was inspired by the viral Youtube phenomenon, the “Dancing Inmates of Cebu.”
Now, the web series is set to conquer New York as a musical!
Performing a limited run as part of the New York Musical Theatre Festival (NYMF), Filipinos who fell in love with the viral YouTube videos and the subsequent incarnation as Prison Dancer, the web series will play off-Broadway at St. Clement’s (423 West 46th Street, New York, NY 10036). Performances begin Friday, July 20, 2012 at 8pm and continue through Saturday, Jul 28, 2012 at 9pm.
“The first time we started writing the script, we knew what we wanted to do. New York is the realization of that dream and we’re just so excited for the audience to see what we have been working on for a while now,” said composer and lyricist Romeo Candido, one of the creators. Among Candido’s credits include a CBC comedy short Rolling Longaniza, Ana Pamana: The Inheritance, the first Philippine / Canadian co- production that was released theatrically in the Philippines to critical acclaim.
The show’s journey to New York wasn’t such a smooth one, which makes the story all the more likeable. There was a struggle, a longing to make it.
Last year, they were only given an opportunity for a reading. They decided to pass that up and just wait for another year to reapply.
This year, Prison Dancer set out to conquer the online realm with the web series. The now multi-platform show has another opportunity to get more people know about it, through an off-Broadway stage.
Prison Dancer: The Musical was written and selected to be presented on stage in 2010 – first at Toronto’s Fu-Gen Theatre Potluck Festival, at the Factory Studio Theatre, and then again at the prestigious Summerworks Canada Theatre Festival, where it launched the debut of their Musical Works in Concert program.
Both presentations boasted sold-out shows, with audiences queuing up outside in hopes of buying rush or standing room only tickets.
Ana Serrano, a Filipino-Canadian, happened to be in the audience watching. She runs the Canadian Film Centre’s Digital Media Lab and specializes in developing and launching digital media projects.
“She was in the audience during one of those workshop performances and came on board our creative team, spearheading the move to “transmedia.” She thought it would be great as a web series, and encouraged us to adapt the work for Youtube,” co-writer Carmen de Jesus shared in an interview with the Asian Journal in between rehearsals.
“I knew Romeo because his wife Caroline Mangosing is the Executive Director of Kapisanan — a Filipino arts and culture centre for youth for which I was the Chair of the Board. I was aware and had seen Romeo’s other projects (his films) and knew he was very talented. But that evening at Fugen, watching a rough version of the play, I was struck by HOW talented he and Carmen truly were,” Ana shared. “As I saw how the audience reacted and how I was reacting, I realized that I was seeing perhaps the first real “crossover” Filipino story. As a person working in the entertainment digital media industry for the past 17 years, finding that property that straddles originality and mainstream appeal has become my passion.”
She felt that Prison Dancer at Fugen seemed like it had the potential to be exactly what she was looking for.
“It was “classic story” set in “Internet times”: it was about one of the very first viral videos ever created! Prison Dancer, I thought had all the markings of a “transmedia” property that we could explore through different platforms,” Ana added.
Each episode of the 12-part web series was fashioned around a song. The producers added interactive elements to extend the narrative of each character where possible, and the resulting web series stands alone but also gives a great taste of what the full stage production will be.
Not a lot of people know but Prison Dancer has had many iterations, according to Carmen, who has written for film, television, stage, web and mobile web content. It has evolved from a screenplay, to a staged musical, to a webseries, and then revised back into a stage musical.
“While there are differences between the webseries and the NYMF production, all the stories and characters exist in the same world. We started creating rules to the ‘storyworld’ of Prison Dancer as to keep the experience between stage and screen consistent,” Carmen added.
Broadway veteran Jose Llana takes over the role of Christian “Bagets” Escodero, a role originated by Filipino-Canadian (and now YouTube sensation) Mikey Bustos. Mamma Mia’s Catherine Ricafort reprises her role in the web series as Cherish, Christian’s love interest.
“I can confidently say that there has never been a Filipino-produced show and created with a Filipino cast this strong,” Romeo said. “It is just powerful to see everybody’s combined efforts here.”
Also reprising his role onstage as Ruperto “Lola” Poblador is Jeigh Madjus, who just finished the US Tour of Le Cage Aux Folles. Joining the rest of the ensemble cast are Marc de la Cruz (1st National Tour: Disney’s High School Musical) as Hookaps, Moses Villarama (Romeo & Julite, National Theatre Cons.; King Lear, Denver Theatre Co.) as Shakespeare, Cosmo Clemens (Regional: 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee, McLeod Summer Playhouse, Carbondale, IL; ) as Oo Oo, Enrico Rodriguez (Off Bdwy: Fame on 42nd Street, Zanna, Don’t!) as Nana, Albert Guerzon (Bdwy: Ghost the Musical, Mamma Mia!) as Tondo, Andrew Eisenman (Twelfth Night, Leviathan Lab; Mother Courage, Ma-Yi Theatre Company) as Warden, and Nathan Ramos (Fever/Dream, Cleveland Public Theatre) as Swing/Prison Guard.
“We saw Filipinos and non-Filipinos during the auditions and luckily we found the best performers who will give life to the roles. We found a cast of killers. They are all triple threats and they all have something different to bring onstage,” said Romeo, describing the cast members who have been working extra hard in rehearsals.
On the days leading to the opening night, various Fil-Am groups have organized themselves to watch the show during the festival. Both the opening and closing night performances are already sold out as of press time. Prison Dancer has a total of six performances.
“We’re over the moon when we found out that the community here in New York has welcomed us with open arms,” said Carmen, a performer herself who began her career understudying the role of Kim in the original Canadian cast of Miss Saigon. She co-wrote the feature length film Ang Pamana: The Inheritance with Romeo.
With its all-Filipino cast, Prison Dancer hopes to be the vessel where the Filipino story is told. Romeo, an award-winning transmedia producer and creator, believes that there are many Filipino stories out there, waiting to be written and discovered.
Our discussion veered towards the current imbroglio involving La Jolla Playhouse in San Diego and their refusal to cast Asian Americans in ‘The Nightingale,’ a show set in ancient China.
“In as much as we can complain about them not casting Asians, we should be complaining about our people not writing our own work. It’s not their agenda, it’s not on them. It should be our agenda to create the work which can be used as a platform for our community. The more we complain about other people not casting Filipinos, the more we’re giving power to those entities and disempowering ourselves,” said Romeo, weighing in on the issue.
Prison Dancer is directed by Jenn Rapp, a Director/Choreographer living in NYC. She recently worked on two Off-Broadway musicals, Carrie and Lucky Guy, Winner Take All for FringeNYC, and an original rock musical, Outlaws, for NYMF 2011.
For now, Ana is beyond happy to see where Prison Dancer is. She posed a challenge to Filipinos across the globe to help them make history.
“Let’s all work together to make Prison Dancer: the Musical the next Miss Saigon but with a twist. It will be the first “transmedia” property about Filipinos, told by the most talented Filipinos, starring triple-threat Filipino stars! This is not just our dream, it’s all of ours,” she said.
(balikbayanmag.com)
(NYNJ Mag July 20, 2012 pg.2)
