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| The Cast of Dani Girl (Photo by Erickson Dela Cruz) |
5 years after, the exhilarating musical by Michael Kooman
and Christopher Diamond’s Dani Girl is making a comeback this 2019 still produce by The Sandbox Collective with 9 Works Theatrical. It’s a story of 9-year-old girl Dani Lyon that is stricken
with cancer, and her magical and transformative journey, together with her
fellow warrior and best friend Marty, they go along with imaginary game shows,
to outer space and all the silly games in between.
This is a comeback directorial for Toff De Venecia after he first produces and directs it in 2014. This year’s production is very much new in all aspect
according to him, there are talkbacks after each show and strong multimedia
effects were added in this re-staging.
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| Dani and Marty (Photo by Erickson Dela Cruz) |
“I love it because it’s about overcoming adversity, I love
that it celebrates human agency, parang it celebrates a child's imagination and
fighting spirits, and I love it that it ask the heart questions, why is hope,
why is cancer, why is God, why is death, parang this are things that people
forget about because they were caught up in everyday lives.” De Venecia said.
The old cast was called again to be part while the new
ones undergo some auditions conducted by the Sandbox Collectives. 2019 cast is
composed of theater veterans like Lorenz Martinez and Juliane Mendoza
alternating for the role of Ralph, and playing as Dani is Felicity Kyle Napuli,
fresh from her role as Matilda in Asia, and the young Nala from the international
tour of Lion King. Daniel Drilon from Fun Home and Newsies will alternate as
Dani’s best friend and fellow warrior Marty.
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| The Cast and Crew of Dani Girl (Erickson Dela Cruz) |
“The material really talk to your heart straight, and the
music is so beautiful, it's powerful, its resonance, it's piercing and it really
touches the soul, and for some reason a lot of us in the company parang we’ve loved
the musical so much, and we want the opportunity to revisit again, parang there’s
a need to experience this material again something that talks about hope na
parang a lot of us is in need of these days.” De Venecia explains.
Joining De Venecia is Sab Jose as assistant director and
marketing and public relations director. And the artistic team are Ejay Yatco
as musical director, Stephen Viñas as a choreographer, Faust Peneyra as
scenographer and costume designer, Miggy Panganiban as the lighting designer, Joee
Mejias as projection & video designer and Myrene Santos as hair and makeup
designer.
Dani Girl: A Musical About Hope
will open on August 10, 2019, and will have a limited engagement until September
1, 2019 at the Carlos P. Romulo Auditorium, RCBC Plaza, Ayala Avenue, Makati
City. Tickets are now available through Ticketworld online. Co-presented by The Sandbox Collective and 9
Works Theatrical, together with Make-A-Wish Philippines. In partnership with Privato
Hotel Group, official hotel partner, Toy Kingdom, and St. Luke’s Medical Center;
institutional partners Carewell Community Foundation, Inc., Childhaus,
Make-A-Wish Philippines and Cancervants; community partners Pineapple Lab,
Classic Chef, K Best, and DC Superheroes Café.
“This time were blowing up pandora's box and now we are
going wild with staging, with scenography, we are working with a lot of visual
artist, we have a different artistic team this time, and the direction is to make
use of the found objects or things you found on stage, to sort of give birth to
all the imaginations sequences, that’s something totally new.” De Venecia
added.
Aside from talkback, a lot of immersion will happen in
this restaging, they will have art exhibits and auctions, and the proceeds of
the sales will go to Child Haus and Philippine General Hospital and other
charity partners for Dani Girl: A Musical About Hope.
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