MANILA, Philippines - Franco Laurel returns to theater big time by playing the lead romantic role in Repertory Philippines’ Sweeney Todd which will run until Dec. 31 at Onstage 2 in Greenbelt 1, Makati City.
Considered by many as one of the greatest musical scores of the 20th century, Sweeney Todd casts Franco as Anthony, a young man who rescues and befriends Sweeney and, later, falls in love with his daughter, Johanna. “The character is melodramatic; just a guy with no mean bone in his body who fell head over heels in love with a girl. Anthony is the only ‘sane’ character in the story which is why it’s such a challenge to take on,” said Franco.
Franco says he purposely did not watch the recent film version of Sweeney Todd starring Johnny Depp, nor the original Broadway Musical staged in 1979. “I wanted to give my own interpretation of the character. No matter how good the other actors who played the role were in the film and Broadway versions, I didn’t want to be influenced by them unless I merely parrot their portrayals,” he said.
With a musical score of dissonant chords and tricky phrasing, Sweeney Todd for actors is akin to the Olympics for athletes. Franco even had to retrain his singing to fit the nuances and complexities of the songs. “Actors usually take only a few days to study the songs of other musicals. With Sweeney Todd, a month was barely enough. The songs are the most difficult Stephen Sondheim (the composer) has ever written. This is his masterpiece,” said Franco. Musical direction for the Repertory version is by Gerard Salonga.
Franco said the song Kiss Me really put the singer in him to the test. “It starts out with a duet and ends up with a quartet. Imagine us singing this song all at the same time — and in dissonant chords! We have to sing it precisely unless the song comes out like a jumble of wrong notes. We have to breathe correctly or we’ll end up lost,” he said.
It helps that Franco is among seasoned actors and singers all of whom he had worked with. “Audie Gemora and Menchu Lauchengco... they’re two of the best in local theater. I still learned new things from them here,” said Franco.
He also lauded the “young and dynamic” ensemble and newcomer Marvin Ong who, Franco said, is “a revelation” in the musical thriller. Other cast members are Robbie Guevara, Rem Zamora, Roger Chua and Joy Virata.
Shows are scheduled every Friday and Saturday at 8 p.m., and Saturday and Sunday at 3:30 p.m.
For details, call 887-0710 and 888-0887 or log on to www.repertory.ph.