Stage Name: Josh Ramirez
Role: Alexander Athos Adamson / Jomar Gonzales
Production: Word of mouth theater, Philippines 2012.
So what’s FLIGHT OF A FALCON all about?
FALCON is about the 80 year history of Adamson University; from when the Adamson’s had the idea of putting up the university till the present day goings-on of the school. It’s a historical show.
It’s a new original musical. How was the process of learning it?
It was actually quite stressful and a bit hectic, because we only had a month and a half to rehearse. Some songs weren’t finished by the end of the first month, and we changed some dances and blockings 2 weeks before the show proper. Our director gave me a lot of advice on how to ‘be’ my character, and it did help me a great deal. It was also a bonus having the students of Adamson University joining our production, so if we needed to know or learn anything about the school we could easily ask them.
How did you get the role?
I was offered the role while performing in Seussical for Repertory Philippines in our last month run, but had to audition nonetheless just for formality of course. I sang ‘One Song Glory’ from Rent for my audition, because I heard that the music for the show was going to be contemporary, and the rest is history!
Is the character similar to your personality? What’s similar and what’s different from you?
Alexander Adamson and I don’t have the same personality at all, except for being a bit of a smart-ass, and I could be like that sometimes, but that’s pretty much it. My other role of Jomar Gonzales, I could relate a bit more because he was in the theater industry and was flamboyant, and maybe a bit too flamboyant.
In the play you dance, act and sing. What was the hardest to achieve?
Acting; no doubt about it. Singing I could do in my sleep, not to sound boastful but it’s true. I’m not a dancer, but I love to dance, so it was quite natural for me, and I move pretty well when it comes to choreography. But acting, for some strange reason, especially during scenes where we don’t sing, is so hard for me and I cannot explain why. It’s totally different singing the dialogue than speaking it.
Tell us something funny that happened during rehearsals or the run please?
It wasn’t so much funny, more on panic and stressful, during our preview performance I believe. It was the beautiful solo of Evdoxia Adamson played by a great actress and singer; Ava Santos, the wrong music plays and Ava had no choice but to sing the song with a different minus one. It was so scary and no one could do anything except for the sounds people, but they eventually found the minus one and played it. There were other funny moments, but they were just too many to put all down here.
It’s a play about the history of Adamson University. Learned something by the way?
Adamson University have some of the most kindest people you will ever meet, especially the students and teachers that we’ve met.
How’s Philippine Theater doing?
Very well I must say, it was an exciting year for theater in Manila last year, and this year is gonna be equally exciting! Phantom of the Opera is coming, Atlantis is doing Aladdin, Rock of Ages, God of Carnage and Nine; Repertory Philippines is doing Jekyll and Hyde, Camp Rock and the Wizard of Oz, Resorts World is staging The King and I and the list goes on and on! Some companies still depend on celebrities to top-bill their productions but I guess that’s something I have to get used to.
Is the staging of plays in the Philippines comparable with the one’s in New York or London? Are
the artists as prepared?
We have to understand that the budget for shows in London or New York are way bigger than the budgets we have here, but we can produce some awesome shows! I’d say yes we could actually stage our shows there if we could. As for the artists, there are a lot of insanely talented performers in this country that could easily perform on Broadway or in the West End. I don’t like to compare, but this is how I see things, Broadway actors are very ‘out there’ and ‘flashy’ and everything is BIG! Actors from London are very technical, and the ones here are all heart and I find that very very important.
A few words for the visitors of musicalsonline.com
Hello visitors and lovers of musicals and plays! Thank you for viewing this interview, I hope I gave you some sort of inspiration for aspiring performers out there! Long live theater! Woohoo! God bless always! :-D
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