A chip off the old block

You say Paolo Valenciano and Gary V. immediately comes to mind. It isn’t just the family name. Many of Paolo’s gesture and facial expressions are dead give-aways as to who sired him. But for years, Paolo has chosen to remain in the periphery of show business. Siblings Gabriel and Kiana have had no such reservations and have often been seen in one Gary V. concert or another singing or dancing with papa while Paolo sat contentedly in the audience. Until now, that is.

Paolo Valenciano will finally take center stage, not in one of Papa’s concerts but as one of the four young lead players of Trumpets’ The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe which open in August. Why the change of heart?

Paolo shyly admits that although Mom Angeli initially "forced" him to enroll in a Playshop 2001 Musical Theater Class, he found at playshop something he could do and something he could do very well. So well, in fact, that his teacher gave him the lead in the class showcase as The Man in the musical Whistle Down The Wind. "I had a great time in the class and, well that’s where I found out what I want to do. And I want to do musical theater.

So when auditions for The Lion. The Witch and the Wardrobe were announced, Paolo went, determined to get his foot into the door of musical theater. Needless to say, he got in on his own merit. Director Jaime del Mundo, never one to care much about whose progeny you are, put him through the rigorous workshop and auditions like any other contender for the role and Paolo came through with flying colors.

Even after he had landed the role, Paolo enrolled in Playshop 2002 Intermediate Musical Theater to further improve himself. "He is a natural," declares Freddie Santos who was Paolo’s teachers and who gave hikm several plum roles in the class showcase, First Name.

"He can certainly act and he has comic timing pa," agrees Trumpets President Audie Gemora.

In the The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe, Paolo will be playing Peter (alternately with Franco Mabanta), the eldest of four Pevensie children, who enter the enchanting land of Narnia via a wardrobe door. There they discover their strengths and figuratively battle their weaknesses as they literally join in the battle for Narnia’s freedom. Though Paolo is still timid about doing interviews and hesitant about being in the limelight, he is certainly excited about being on stage and is looking forward to the experience.

Trumpets The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe runs Aug. 2 to Sept. 15 at the Meralco Theater. For ticket inquiries, call Trumpets 6335010 or call 6334387.

Looking Beyond

After everything is said and done, we have yet to explain the phenomenon of love. It is as real as the air we breathe, and yet it is as difficult to grasp. It is inescapable and inexplicable. Love is the ultimate challenge of human existence.

The Jesuit Communications Foundation is proud to present Looking Beyond, a film seminar featuring 10 films that invite us to look again at the reality of love.

On July 2, Francois Truffaut’s Day for Night takes us behind the scenes of a movie, following the lives of the cast members as they play their on-screen and off-screen roles. On July 4, Percy Adlon’s Baghdad Cafe leads ys to the only place where people literally from all walks of life, meet. On July 9, John Huston’s The Dead brings us to a New Year’s Eve party in Dublin in 1904. On July 11, Francois Truffaut’s The Wild Child shows us the discovery of a young boy living like an animal in the wilderness. July 16 brings Krzystof Kieslowski’s Three Colors:Blue, in which a woman tries to escape from the loss of her husband and child. On July 18, Claude Sautet’s A Heart in Winter features a love triangle between two old violin makers and a beautiful young violinist. On July 23, Ong Kar-Wai’s Happy Together dives into the heart of a homosexual relationship, showing us the dangers of any relationship, and the difficulty of loving. On July 25, Krzystof Kieslowski’s Decaloque VII and VIII takes us into Seventh And Eight Commandments. On July 30 features Lasse Hallsstrom’s Chocolat, in which a small French town is roused from its stupor by the arrival of a mysterious stranger and her chocolate shop. And on August 1. Zhang Yimou’s The Road Home shows us the distances that love will travel as a young man carries his father’s body home to his mother, who insists that he travel on foot.

Looking beyong: The Challenge of Love in World Cinema will be conducted by Fr. Lloyd Baugh, a Canadian Jesuit and a professor of theology and film studies at the Pontifical Gregorian University in Rome.

Take a second look at the mystery of love and call the Jesuit Communications Foundation at 4265971, or at [email protected]