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“Bayan Bayan: Letters from Home” is a play about ordinary Filipinos exerting extraordinary means to cope with the realities of working overseas.
This classic play of Bienvenido Noriega Jr. is now a musical, co-produced by Cultural Center of the Philippines and the Erehwon Center for the Arts. It is scheduled for show on July 15, 16 and 17, 2022, at the Tanghalang Nicanor Abelardo of the Cultural Center of the Philippines. Celebrated theater and film director Anton Juan has introduced brand new songs to which he, himself, has written the lyrics.
Professional theater actress and singer Banaue Miclat-Janssen portrays the central character, “Manang,” the person who inadvertently holds everyone together into a “makeshift family.” Banaue has performed in various spaces and films in the Philippines and abroad. She is an Aliw Awards Foundation Hall of Fame for Best Performer awardee.
Ava Olivia Santos, a singer, recording artist, and an actor in theater, film and television, portrays a Filipino nurse, struggling to carve a better life for herself abroad, seeking a fairy tale love.
Roxy Aldiosa, a soprano who is both a theater actress and musical director, teams up with tenor Carlo Angelo Falcis, who is singer, actor, voice coach, to portray a comically annoying couple, status seekers who believe that any life abroad, even hardship posts, are better than life in the Philippines. Jacinta Remulla, who is known for her acting in “Suntok sa Buwan,” has been cast as the couple’s sultry and flirtatious niece, “Connie.”
Richard Macaroyo is Pol, a seaman, hoping to lift his family up from poverty, reaching out relentlessly for that lucky break. Completing the Bayan Bayanan cast are: Christine Angelica Evangelista, Timothy Carlo Racho, Kendrick Tamayo, Abigail Sulit, Jane Florence Wee, Matteo Teehankee, Karina Macaspac, and Adrian de Ubago. All with golden voices, and engaging acting talents. Watch the show and be moved by their refreshing performances.