MUSIC

• New Voice Company

  • Also making its own distinct contribution to the Philippine theater scene is New Voice Company, established in 1994 by Monique Wilson—also a Repertory Philippines' protégée who went on to star on the international stage. New Voice has earned a reputation for staging thought- provoking productions on daring and deep topics.
  • Aspects of Love - New Voice Company, 2006
  • The Male Voice - New Voice Company, 2009
  • My Name is Rachel Corrie - New Voice Company, 2010
• Philippine Opera Company

  • The Philippine Opera Company (POC) was founded in 1999 by a group of dedicated classically-trained singers, led by soprano Karla Gutierrez as artistic directress. The POC seeks to develop performers as well as audiences for classical music 

  performances, both foreign and Filipino.

  • Harana - Philippine Opera Company, 2009
  • Master Class - Philippine Opera Company, 2010
  • The Mikado - Philippine Opera Company, 2013
• Repertory Philippines


  A theater company established in 1967 by theater director Zenaida Amador and actress Baby Barredo that stages English-language plays and musicals and trains actors and actresses
• Repertory Philippines

  • Stages English-language plays and musicals year-round
  • Trains actors and actresses
• Notable Repertory Philippines productions

  • Annie (with Lea Salonga as child lead)
  • Miss Saigon (with Lea Salonga in the lead role of Kim)
  • Les Miserables (1993 staging in Manila with an all-Filipino cast and production team)
  • A Portrait of the Artist as Filipino (2009 season)
  • Little Women (2010)
  • Alice in Wonderland (2013)
  • The Producers (2013)
• Lea Salonga


  Multi-awarded theater actress and singer who began her career as a child lead in Repertory Philippines productions, and later became an international stage superstar in the lead role of Kim in Miss Saigon
• PETA

  Philippine Educational Theater Association, founded in 1967 by Cecile Guidote-Alvarez
• Zenaida Amador


  Founder of Repertory Philippines
• Tanghalang Pilipino


  Resident theater company of the Cultural Center of the Philippines, founded in 1987
• Repertory Philippines continues to offer a mix of productions ranging from literary classics to contemporary satires, comedies, and musicals
• With the American presence in the Philippines for the first half of the 20th century, it was inevitable that many U.S. and European theater forms and scripts found their way here
• Among them were the classics, such as the plays of William Shakespeare, as well as the works of great American playwrights
• At the same time, local theater groups staged original Philippine zarzuelas which were plays performed in song, similar to the European opera
• Trumpets


  Philippine theater group that began mounting grand productions of originally-written musicals with a slant towards good values for children and the whole family
• Theater Down South

  • In 2007, Theater Down South was founded, with Philippine theater mainstay Michael Williams as artistic director. The vision of the company is to widen the reach of stage productions beyond the traditional centers within Metro Manila, and therefore develop a broader audience base.
  • A Midsummer Night's Dream - Theater Down South, 2007
  • The Red Carp - Theater Down South, 2009
  • A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum - Theater Down South, 2010
• Theater


  • Brings together all the other art forms - paint, sculpture, installation art, music, dance, literature, computer arts - in a single production
• Opera


  An art and music form in which singers and musicians perform a dramatic work combining text (called a libretto) and a musical score, usually in an elaborate theatrical setting
• Opera performance


  • Given in an opera house, cultural center, theater, or auditorium
  • Accompanied by an orchestra or smaller musical ensemble
  • Dialogue is entirely sung and not spoken
• Emergence of the Filipino opera

  Middle part of the 19th century
• Foreign performers in the Philippines

  • Instrumental virtuosity
  • Opera singers
  • Spanish zarzuela performers
• Opera is part of the Western classical music form and tradition, starting in Italy at the end of the 16th century and soon spreading through the rest of Europe
• While English, French, and Italian operas were being presented, it was the Italian opera that captured the creative imagination of composers, librettists, and singers alike
• Themes of Filipino opera

  • Love of country and longing for independence from colonial rule
  • Tragedy emanating from popular themes of romance, deceit, murder, vendetta, and other elements of human frailty
• Operatic works based on previous literary creations

  • Rizal's Noli Me Tangere
  • El Filibusterismo
• Philippine Theater and Performing Groups

  • Peta and Tanghalang Pilipino
  • Repertory Philippines
  • Trumpets
  • New Voice Company
  • Philippine Opera Company
  • Theater Down South