February 1 - 15 , 2016
PHILIPPINE ASIAN NEWS TODAY
Juan
on
Juan
by Rosette D. Correa
Ma-Anne
Dionisio
doesn’t look her forty-two
years. She has the beautiful Pinay smile on her face,
and with three children,
glows with motherly pride.
Ma-Anne played Kim
in Miss Saigon, a
role she created in
1993 and she feels it
is part of who she is.
“I could never get tired of doing Miss Saigon. I
couldn’t,” she shares,
when asked how she
felt about performing the show for
seven straight years.
“It’s always a different story, because
the people telling it
change, and so does
the world we live in.”
Ma-Anne also toured
the world as Eponine in
Cameron
Mackintosh’s
production of Les Miserables, including the historic
Shanghai production starring Colm Wilkinson, which
was the first English-language musical to be presented in China in 2002.
She was in Stratford’s
1999 West Side Story as
Maria, starred on Broadway in Flower Drum Song
and Mackintosh called her
again, having her take over
the female lead of his production of Martin Guerre in
A21
Miss Saigon Ma-Anne Dioniso
London.
Her moving to Canada
made her the performer she
is today, but she didn’t start
with that dream, and moving wasn’t that easy. “When
I was still very young,” she
recalls, “my parents moved
to Taguig. It was a small
town where everybody knew
each other and I loved being able to go from house
to house and feel safe.
“My parents were both
in business, but my mother
always wanted to be an artist and both of them always
wanted the best life possible for their children.” So
in 1989, they made the decision to move their family
to Canada. They landed in
Winnipeg in January. “That
was the easiest entry point
for independent immigrants, who had no sponsors, like us. They warned
us the weather would be a
shock, but to go from 30
plus to 30 minus overnight
was too much. The
skin on my hands literally burst open and
they were bleeding.”
Besides the climate shock, there
was culture shock as
well. “We came from a
very sheltered family,
small-town life, governed by the Catholic
Church. Suddenly we
were seeing tattooed
men on the street with
Mohawk haircuts and
piercings. I ate lunch
in the washroom at
school because I was
so scared.”
Ma-Anne already had
discovered the performing
talent inside her at an early
age.
“I wanted to sing in the
church choir, but I was only
fourteen and they normally
didn’t let people in until they
were much older, but they
said if I showed up at 5 a.m.
on Sunday, they’d give me
a chance. Dionisio’s singing career began and she
had won a Philippines-wide
TV talent show and was being prepared to become a
star when her family moved
Toni Gonzaga is pregnant!
It’s honeymoon baby
for the new couple, Toni
Gonzaga and Paul Soriano.
This news was confirmed by a reliable source
close to the couple.
As of presstime, there
is no official announcement yet from Toni Gonzaga, 32 and Paul Soriano,
34. Even from their social
media accounts, there is
no announcement yet.
Ang pagbubuntis na
ito ni Toni ang sinasabing
dahilan kung kaya’t naantala ang gagawin sana
niyang primetime series
para sa ABS-CBN, ang Written In Our Stars, kung saan
kasama niya sa cast sina
Piolo Pascual, Sam Milby,
at Jolina Magdangal.
Noong July 2015 pa
inanunsiyo ang pagsisimula ng taping para sa Written
In Our Stars at nakatakda
sana itong umere ngayong
first quarter ng 2016.
Ngunit may mga nagsasabi namang iba ang dahilan kung bakit pansamantalang naantala ang pagpapalabas nito.
Ikinasal sina Toni at
Paul noong June 12, 2015
pagkatapos ng ilang taong
pagiging magkasintahan.
Sa isang panayam ni
Toni pagkatapos nilang
ikasal ni Paul, sinabi niyang balak nilang magkaanak ng “late 2016 or
early 2017.”
Gusto raw muna kasi
nilang i-enjoy ang isa’t isa
dahil ngayon lang sila talaga nagkasamang dalawa
mula nang magkaroon
sila ng relasyon.
Pero mukhang mapapaaga ang pagdating ng
kanilang unang supling.•
- E. Santiago, pep
to Winnipeg.
Her singing career was
given a chance in Canada
when she found herself
starring in a special crossCanada musical pageant
to celebrate Canada 125.
She even opened for Céline
Dion in Ottawa. The Toronto casting office of Mirvish
Productions (who presented the original Miss Saigon with Mackintosh) saw
Dionisio’s performance on
TV and took her to Toronto
to audition for Miss Saigon.
Even though she had no
theatre experience, she got
the Canadian musical theatre role of the decade and
her experience in theatre
has fuelled her desire to
perform forever.Closer Than
Ever is an off-Broadway
musical by Janet Brenner,
Michael Gill and Darryl Roth
which was developed at the
Williamstown Theatre Festival. It was conceived by Steven Scott Smith, and with
music written by Richard
Maltby, Jr. and David Shire.
It has received rave reviews
as the fresh musical revue to
watch. With Ma-Anne doing
the show here in Vancouver,
it will certainly be another
showcase of Filipino-Canadian talent.
was directed by Nicholas
Hytner, who went on to run
the National Theatre.
Despite her successes,
Ma-Anne remains the shy
girl from Taguig. She says
“Closer Than Ever” is at
the Gateway Theatre, 6500
Gilbert Rd., Richmond, on
February 20, 8-10:30 pm.
Tickets at $45 for adults
and $20 for children.•
DFA investigates
pirated movies
shown in its offices
The Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) clarified
that it does not condone the
showing of pirated movies
in any of its offices.
The statement was issued after comedian and
actor Vice Ganda‘s tweets on
the DFA for supposedly playing
a pirated copy
of Star Cinema
movie “A Second Chance.”
The
DFA
said that they
are already investigating the
matter & slap
the guilty with
disciplinary action.
“The Department
of
Foreign Affairs
has never authorized any
showing of pirated movies
in any of its passport satellite offices in Metro Manila,”
the statement read.
On Feb. 5, Vice Ganda
retw VWFVB7F"6