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| dong abay, jett pangan, basti artadi, wency cornejo in 90s FRONTMEN ACOUSTICIZED |
A BIG MUSICAL event fans of local bands should not miss is “90s Frontmen Acousticized”, to be staged at the Music Museum on January 31 and February 1. Four icons from the era of rock bands will join forces for the first time on the same stage: Jett Pangan from The Dawn, Wency Cornejo of After Image, Basti Artadi of Wolfgang and Dong Abay of Yano.
It will surely be memorable for their fans as they sing their own hits, Jett with “Salamat” and “Enveloped Ideas”, Wency with his many hit songs like “Next in Line”, “Habang May Buhay” and “Mangarap Ka”, Basti with “Darkness Fell” and “Halik ni Hudas”, Dong with “Banal na Aso, Santong Kabayo” and his tribute to the mall, “Esem”, which we always hear being heartily sung in karaoke joints.
Their concert is produced by Advantage International Maktg. You can get your tickets at TicketWorld and Music Museum or call their office at 8726-5466, 8736-6740 or 0917-777-1213. Of the four rock band icons featured in the “90s Frontment Acousticized” concert, it’s Jett Pangan who has successfully branched out into acting, doing movies, TV shows and starring in several hit musical plays.
We first met Jett in the 80s when he was the vocalist of The Dawn and they were introduced to the press by OctoArts Records. He was then a La Salle college student when he joined The Dawn, which ruled for several years until they disbanded in 1995, but they regrouped in 1999 to do a road tour.
Jett proved to be resilient enough to reinvent himself as a solo act then he branched out to musical theatre.
His first acting venture was in the rock opera “Jesus Christ Superstar” in 2001 with Rico Blanco. More musicals followed like “Tick Tick Boom”, “Rock of Ages”, “Dreamgirls”. “Next to Normal”, “The Rocky Horror Picture Show”, “Urinetown”, “Beauty and the Beast”, “Legally Blonde” and others.
His last musical was Atlantis Productions’ “Sweeney Todd” with him paired with Lea Salonga. It just had a successful month-long run in Singapore. How is the reception to the musical the so-called Lion City?
“Very good!” says Jett. “It’s a big hit there, sold out kami every night. Nakakatuwa kasi British ang orientation ng Singaporeans so mas nasasakyan nila ang humor ni Stephen Sondheirm and gets nila pati one-liners.”
He says “Sweeney Todd” is the most difficult role he has done so far, although he has also done other challenging musicals like “Jekyll and Hyde” and “Nine”. “Kakaiba kasi ang music ni Sondheim and very physically challenging gawin yung various elements ng play.”
So after this, he decided not to accept live theatre projects for a while. “Musical theater gives me a different kind of high, playing various characters on stage give me another kind of satisfaction and feeds my soul like no other,
pero pahinga muna ako kasi doing theatre is like walking on a wire, no take 2’s. Right now, I’m doing a teleserye entitled ‘After Life’ with Eula Valdes for Cignal Entertainment.”
Meantime, you can see him once again as a rock star in “90s Frontmen Acousticized” at the Music Museum on January 31 and February 1. Don’t miss it!
