Lea Salonga, Dolly de Leon Headline ‘Request sa Radyo’ Play this October

Lea Salonga, Dolly de Leon Headline ‘Request sa Radyo’ Play this October

Lea Salonga and Dolly de Leon are set to headline a local staging of Franz Xaver Kroetz’s Wunschkonzert (or Request Program), entitled Request sa Radyo, in scheduled alternating performances.

The production is a wordless, one-woman play that captures the solitude of a woman through her meticulous evening routine. As she navigates her quiet, solitary life, her actions and her favorite radio program reveal the profound loneliness and yearning for connection that lie beneath.

The piece aims to transform the mundane into an exploration of isolation and the human condition. 

Request sa Radyo will be directed by Bobby Garcia, Founder and Artistic Director of Atlantis Theatrical, who returns to the Philippines for his homecoming production.

“The last show I worked on in Manila was The Band’s Visit, which sadly never got to open because of the pandemic,” shares Garcia. ” It was a poignant musical about loneliness, isolation and the need for human connection.  It feels almost like fate that I now return to Manila after 4 years to direct Request sa Radyo, a chilling and haunting piece of theatre about those very same issues, but completely different in approach, form and style. I am thrilled to be working with two of the country’s finest performers, Lea Salonga and Dolly de Leon, who will alternate in performing this unique theatrical experience about our universal need for human contact and the global crisis that is loneliness. I am also thrilled to reconnect with Manila audiences after some time away and re-engage with them through the art of storytelling.”

Garcia produces the production together with Tony Award Winner Clint Ramos, who also serves as Creative Director. “I have always been so moved by this play as a piece of modern theatre,” says Ramos. “Its intimate package belies the vastness of exploration of the human condition. When we got the blessing to bring it to Manila at the Samsung Theatre and have it speak to a specific Filipino condition, we could only think of two of the Philippines’ premier actors, Lea Salonga and Dolly de Leon, to star in it. Together with director and pal, Bobby Garcia, I cannot think of a better piece for all of us to collaborate on and be of artistic service to the motherland and our people.” Christopher Mohnani for Ayala Land and GMG Productions also joins them as a producer.

“When I was asked by Clint and Bobby if I was interested at all in this project, an experience that told a probable and possible story that absolutely applies to our people, I said sure, even before knowing the details,” says Salonga. It will be a challenge though, but hopefully will lend a figurative voice to those who are suffering.”

De Leon also expressed her excitement, “I’m so looking forward to coming back to my first love, the theatre after five long years and I am equally excited that it is in Request Sa Radyo – a play that is relevant and timely.”

The limited engagement will run for 20 performances from October 10 to October 20, 2024, at the Samsung Performing Arts Theater in Circuit Makati. For first access to tickets, interested parties can sign up via RequestSaRadyo.com.