Stages’ major musical offering this 2008, West Side Story, brings together a strong cast of world-class talent that includes Christian Bautista, Karylle, and London West End’s Joanna Ampil. Gerard Salonga is the musical director and Audie Gemora and Menchu Lauchengco-Yulo team up as executive producer and director, respectively. (Interestingly, Audie and Menchu played the lead roles in the first production of West Side Story in Manila in 1982.)

The rigid auditions took two months, and aspirants came not just from the Philippines but from Singapore, Australia, the US, and the UK.

The Philippine Educational Theater Association (PETA) celebrated its 40th year recently with a concert featuring songs from some of PETA’s most memorable plays Pilipinas Circa 1907, Diablos, 1896, Panata sa Kalayaan, Canuplin, Hanggang Dito na Lamang, at Maraming …

A Continuing Narrative on Philippine Theater: The Story of PETA took more than 10 years to put together and is a collective biography of the institute’s lifework from 1967 to 2007.

The 740-plus-page book highlights the company’s …

If you loved last season’s Batang Rizal and Skin Deep, PETA promises an equally exciting 41st season with adaptations of a Puccini opera, Jose Rizal’s Noli-Fili, children’s old-time-favorite folk tales, and the works of European masters Ibsen, Chekhov, and Strindberg.

The season opens in July with Nic Tiongson’s Noli at Fili Dekada 2000, directed by Soxie Topacio. Tiongson’s adaptation of Rizal’s two novels is set in contemporary times in a small town in Quezon province. Performances run from July 18 to August 24, Fridays to Sundays at 10 a.m. to 3 p.m.

Enchanted Teens Musical” performers: Kevin Concepcion, Jackie dos Santos, Cheska Ortega, Sam Concepcion, Athena Tibi, PJ Valerio and Janeena Chan

Summer sizzles further at Enchanted Kingdom(EK) with the high-energy performances of today’s hot teen idols Sam Concepcion, Cheska Ortega and PJ Valerio in “Enchanting Teens Musical,” which goes on stage on May 17 and 24 at the Spaceport Zone.

What’s more, park guests get the chance to take home a Sony PSP with the Pepsi Everyday Magic Promo at Enchanted Kingdom until June 8.

The Philstage (Philippine Legitimate Stage Artists Group) gives its verdict.

In the first and second quarterly citations of the Gawad Buhay, the performing arts awards program organized by Philstage, Tanghalang Pilipino’s Kudeta gets nine citations, including awards for outstanding play, stage direction (Floy Quintos), lighting design (Dennis Marasigan), and set design …