WHO WATCHED THE OPENING?

John asked me to shoot the opening night since most of the members were still at work with opening night being a Friday. I didn't mind though since I was free and I wanted to watch the musical once again.

Rem Zamora and Ayam Barredo asked me to take photos of guests in front of a tarpaulin made and placed in the lobby of Greenbelt Cinema One. The funny thing was that I consider myself as someone who knows, not personally of course, the movers and shakers of the city. But when seen up close, I had a hard time pointing out who's who. Huh!?! So much for my perceived ability.

John and Boyet eventually showed up and were the ones who pointed out people to me! These guys are really "showbiz" people in their own right. John knows the movers in the upper echelons of Philippine society (the perk of being a bank manager) while Boyet has his connections with the "pangmasa" artistas (he claims most of them come from his home turf of Malabon). Now how can I compete with those two?

In the end, one person I didn't expect to see that night really made my job worthwhile. Just when the play was midway through the first act, a woman running towards the door and opens it arrives breathlessly and asks "Am I late?" As I looked up, I realized that Lea Salonga was actually talking to me! I then replied "Not that much, just by 15 minutes." She then greeted some Repertory staff and made her way inside the theater, seated among her ex-Repertory colleagues. I didn't even know she was in the country at that time! I may have failed to watch Lea in "Miss Saigon" and "Les Miserables" before but this incident trumps the past failures, ten fold!