In theatre, Sam plays the title role in “Peter Pan”, the first co-production venture between two top theatre companies, Repertory Philippines and Stages. “I’m really so blessed with so many good opportunities coming my way in various venues,” he says at the Peter Pan launch. “I truly love theatre so I’m just so happy to be part of a great project like ‘Peter Pan’ that has a great cast and great songs.”
This version of “Peter Pan” is based on a new one that has a much darker edge and written for a boy, not on the old version that starred a girl, Mary Martin, on Broadway and Rachel Alejandro when it was staged locally 20 years ago. At the launch, Pinky Marquez as Mrs. Darling, the mother of the Darling children who Peter takes with him flying to Neverland, gave a beautiful rendition of the song “Just Beyond the Stars”. At one point, the microphone conked out and gave out a jarring loud noise that Pinky said electrified her so she stopped and chose to start it all over again. She got a hearty round of applause for that.
Sam sang the flying song, “Neverland”, with the Darling children, then a duet, “The Cleverness of Me”, with the pretty Tippy Dos Santos as Wendy. But it’s Michael Williams who nearly stole the show as Captain Hook. The play is co-directed by Menchu Lauchengco Yulo and Jaime del Mundo who said it’s going to be the most expensive local theatre production ever with all the flying scenes that will require special machines. They’re projecting the budget to be over P7 million and we hope they can recoup that when the show runs at the Meralco Theatre from September 28 to October 31. Blockbuyers and sponsors can now call Stages at 818-1111 local 225 if they want to be part of the show.