WATCH: Bituin Escalante Dazzles in Sound Check Gone Viral
All great things must come to an end, but a superstar and her talent will always shine bright.
As 50 Shades! The Musical Parody approaches its final weekend, footage of award-winning performer Bituin Escalante taken during a recent sound check has gone viral.
Escalante, who plays Carol in the hilariously naughty satire of “Fifty Shades of Grey,” stars in an online video posted on Facebook by the show’s pianist – Daphne Cabaguio Jocson. In the three-minute clipping, Bituin belts out a powerful rendition of Minsan ang Minahal ay Ako from the local stage play Katy, originally sung by OPM legend Celeste Legaspi. Since it was posted last March 13, the clip has garnered over 80,000 views and more than 800 shares on social media, with the numbers growing by the minute.
Bituin Escalante and I just had this crazy idea to do this song during sound check today. Everyone was just dumbfounded….
Posted by Daphne Cabaguio Jocson on Sunday, March 13, 2016
(READ: Review: Guilty Pleasures- 50 Shades! the Musical Parody)
“Everyone was just dumbfounded,” writes Jocson. “Even our American cast who couldn’t understand a single word were just in awe and some were even in tears.”
Escalante is no stranger to the limelight. She is best known for her rendition of Kung Ako Nalang Sana, which won the ABS-CBN Himig Handog Love Songs Competition in 2002 and earned her a Best Interpreter award. As a stage performer, she has been nominated several times for Best Featured Actress in a Musical, and recently won as Outstanding Female Featured Performance in a Musical for Priscilla Queen of the Desert at the Philstage’s Gawad Buhay Awards.
(WATCH: Excerpts from 50 Shades! the Musical Parody)
As one of the book club ladies in 50 Shades! The Musical Parody, she is able to bring the house down in uproarious laughter night after night while keeping fans and critics alike in sheer awe or her majestic voice and acting talent. Fred Hawson, a member of the Gawad Buhay Award Jury, describes her as a scene-stealer.
“As the depressed and repressed housewife Carol, Escalante would delight us with her comic antics,” describes Hawson. “Especially when Carol “blooms” towards the end, aggressively engaging a young guy from the audience.”
Don’t miss Escalante, truly one of the best theater actresses today, as the Manila leg of 50 Shades! The Musical Parody wraps up production at the Carlos P. Romulo Auditorium of RCBC Plaza in Makati City. The final performance schedule is as follows:
• Friday, March 18 at 8:00 p.m.
• Saturday, March 19 at 5:00 p.m. and 8:00 p.m.
• Sunday, March 20 at 2:00 p.m., 5:00 p.m., and 8:00 p.m.
Click here for details about the show.
For more information about what’s happening in the Manila theater scene, please view our Theater Calendar.
