The Lion King: A roaring homecoming musical
SunStar Davao, Feb. 8, 2020
Davao Christian High School Batch 1995 staged
excerpts from the hit Broadway Musical “The Lion King: Return To Pride Rock”
during the recent alumni homecoming held at the DCHS V. Mapa Campus auditorium.
“We decided to
hold a theater production and partner with LCB Performing Arts Center
Foundation, Inc. (LCB-PACF) because from experience, they always produce
terrific and well-attended shows. We chose Lion King because it’s familiar and
appeals to the kids and families. The story is also about coming home which what
our homecoming is all about,” says Gladys Te of DCHS Batch 1995.
The grand theater spectacle was not an easy
feat as it involved a total of 231 performers of various ages who were not only
LCB scholars but also regular students who had no previous professional
training in dancing.
Step by step
“Working with
a huge number of students from different year levels, we had to consider each
one’s background and capacity. We would only teach steps according to their
level of difficulty for them to be able to perform properly. Of course, with
the right amount of patience and persistence, the students were able to learn
their choreographies. We believe that dance can be learned depending on how you
teach your students,” shares Karen Diane Lu-Alcaraz, LCB-PACF’s
executive director.
“Deciding
which excerpts to include and exclude was very tricky. We included scenes and
parts that were necessary since our goal was for the audience to still
understand the story without re-staging the entire movie. We would only add
extra dances to keep the flow of the story intact,” she details.
The multi-talented Lion King cast included LCB
scholars Sean Boquiren (Grown Simba), Alana Boquiren (Grown Nala), Nala
Boquiren (Sarabi), Paolo delos Santos (Mufasa), Cheszka Arrieta (Scar), Chelsea
Jugador (Rafiki), Danika Bea Escamillan (Pumba), Julianna Ciana Lu (Zazu), and
DCHS students Rhys Fredric Gabila (Young Simba), Jeliz Grace Go (Young Nala),
and Amanda Mata (Timon).
Roaring
success
From
organizing the musical production, selling show/raffle tickets and raising
funds for the homecoming, DCHS Batch 1995’s Joy Uyking-Guillergan discloses
that working with her batchmates again was like getting to know the same people
she used to spend every day with in school but now, with older faces. “We tried to fit the work into what each one could give. We made it
work. And we did it! We are very happy with the successful outcome,” she expresses
gratefully.
“This
homecoming isn’t only about raising funds to give back to the school, but also
a gathering of the DCHS community in celebration of the school, people,
students, and its achievements,” Guillergan stresses.
“The final
production exceeded our expectations. It is because we couldn’t see the exact
outcome of all the preparations and rehearsals while we were still in the
process of mounting everything up. We could only visualize and do the best that
we can for the entire production to work. It was only until then, on the day of
the show, that we were able to see what we have created along with the
collaborative efforts of everybody. From the lights and sound, costumes and
stage design, to the performances and excerpts, we could say that it was indeed
a great show!”, declares Alcaraz beaming with pride.
Special thanks to Ms. Joimie Galeos for the finale picture. All other photos
were taken by the author.
E-mail the author at mom.about.town.dvo@gmail.com. To view more photos,
please visit http://momabouttowndavao.blogspot.com/.
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