Director Spills the Beans About CINDERELLA

By: Apr. 24, 2013
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"Its set design will have things that roll out, turn, fold open, and more..." - Michael Williams, director

Manila, Philippines, April 24, 2013 -- Select members of the press -- from various traditional and new media outlets -- witnessed the formal introduction of Resorts World Manila's (RWM) next major theatrical production, Rodgers and Hammerstein's "Cinderella," at The Terrace, a Mediterranean-themed restaurant, yesterday.

"Cinderella, which stars Karylle Tatlonghari as the fairy tale princess and Christian Bautista as the Prince, will replace "The King and I," which is closing next month at Newport Performing Arts Theater.

As opposed to the current Broadway production of "Cinderella," featuring Douglas Carter Beane's revamped book, RWM opts to stage the same old "Cinderella," similar to the previous 30-week international touring production that starred Tony winner Lea Salonga and Australian actor Peter Saide.

In Beane's re-imagining of "Cinderella," it is Cinderella who awakens Prince Topher to the injustices in their kingdom. The Prince's parents died, leaving the kingdom in the hands of a villainous prime minister, who used to be the Prince's mentor; the latter fools the former to approve an oppressive legislation.

For the RWM production, apart from its mainstream stars and multimillion-dollar budget, its costume, set, and lighting designs are to watch for: Aksana Sidarava from Belarus is costume designer; South African production designer Andrew Botha is set designer; and John Batalla is lighting designer.

Michael Williams, director, shares interesting tidbits about the set design, "The set design is inspired by a storybook; so there are elements that will be reminiscent of that. But it's not just that. I'm so excited to start the show in October."

He adds, "It will have things that roll out, turn, fold open, and more; but we're still working it all out. It's a huge set as you can imagine because of the size of the stage. It's all still in the planning stage right now; and things are still kind of open-ended."

For more information, visit www.rwmanila.com.



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