Kundiman(Philippine ballad) exponent Miguel Castro who had built up a following among lovers of traditional Filipino music, leads a cast of performing artists in the milestone setting musical adaptation of the Philippine national hero Dr Jose Rizal’s turn of 20th century powerful novel “Noli Me Tangere.”
Noli Me Tangere The Musical, written by Australian Peter Fleming, and lyrics by Peter Fleming and Allan McFadden, and directed by Arnee Neeme, opens 30 March 2019 at the Riverside Theater in Parramatta city.
The original novel and its sequel “El Filibusterismo” were catalyst in bringing about political revolution in the then island Spanish colony of the Philippines.
Jose Rizal was martyred and executed by Spanish authorities on December 1896, subsequently setting forth the Philippine revolution of 1898 against Spain.
Casts of Noli Me Tangere The Musical comprise of of cream from Australia’s theatre groups and standout performers from the Filipino-Australian community, led by Castro himself a Filipino balladeer and frequent visiting performer in Australia.
Miguel Castro plays the pivotal role of Crisostomo Ibarra, the alter ego of the novelist Rizal who had a personal debate on how to prescribe social change in the colony. Castro himself has had a career in Philippine cultural drama and musical, starting from his university days, a stint in various roles at Gantimpala Thetre in Manila and the Metropolitan Theater also in Manila.
Castro continued his career in a number of roles in historical plays including stage production of Noli Me Tangere and separately, El Filibusterismo (Rizal’s other novel) in Manila. As well, Castro excelled in a number of kundiman (Philippine ballad) singing roles in the well known “Aawitan Kita” TV series approximating Filipino opera.
Noli Me Tangere The Musical was crafted by dramatist Peter Fleming. from a long-term collaboration with Allan McFadden, from his exposure to Filipino history and culture, who eventually married a Filipina.
Allan McFadden said. “Rizal as a man was a fusion of the best of the Fiipino and European characters and the novel simmers with the tensions and the possibilities which that fusion carried with it.”
“The music subsequently composed sought t capture the beauty and violence of the Filipino landscape which was everything from volcanoes to the most gorgeous coastal resorts.”