Category Archives: Politics

TRANSGENDER CAST AS UNDERSTUDY FOR THE ROLE OF KIM IN “MISS SAIGON” REVIVAL

November 22, 2013 Pol Pinoy

London, U.K. – The West End revival of “Miss Saigon” is scheduled to open on May 3, 2014 at the Prince Edward Theatre in London. The new Cameron Mackintosh production coincides with the musical’s 25^th anniversary next year.

Set in 1975 during the final days of the American occupation of Ho Chi Minh City (formerly Saigon), the musical tells the epic love story between Chris, an American G.I., and Kim, a young Vietnamese bargirl, and is loosely based on Giacomo Puccini’s “Madame Butterfly.” It features music by Claude-Michel Schönberg with lyrics by Richard Maltby Jr. and Alain Boublil, adapted from the original French lyrics by Boublil.

Mackintosh has announced that 17-year old Eva Noblezada, a Charlotte, North Carolina native, has been cast to play the lead role of Kim. Noblezada currently attends the NorthWest School of the Arts in Charlotte. The plan is for her to perform four shows a week when “Miss Saigon” opens, with understudies covering the rest of the performances so she can keep up with her studies.

The Adobo Chronicles learned from inside sources that a 21-year old transgender will train and rehearse as understudy for Noblezada. The sources declined to reveal the name or ethnicity of the understudy. They, however, said that the transgender actress looks and sounds like a young Lea Salonga who originated the role of Kim when it first opened in London.

It will be recalled that when “Miss Saigon” opened on Broadway, the show was met with protests from Asian Americans because it cast a Caucasian, Jonathan Pryce, in the role of the Engineer. This time, Mackintosh has cast a Filipino actor, Jon Jon Briones, to play the all-important role.

Entertainment critics have speculated that the casting of a non-Caucasian for the role of the Engineer and a transgender understudy for the role of Kim, is the production’s way of sending a message that the new “Miss Saigon” is quite sensitive to issues of racial and sexual diversity.

Upon learning of the news about the transgender understudy, a small group of LGBT activists held a peaceful demonstration in front of the Prince Edward Theatre yesterday, chanting “We’re here, we’re Queer, we’re celebrating with our peer!”

Business, Politics

OBAMA SCRAPS PRESIDENTIAL TURKEY PARDON

November 22, 2013 Pol Pinoy 2 Comments

Photo credit: Alex Brandon, The Associated Press

Washington, D.C. – Each year, shortly before Thanksgiving, the President of the United States is presented with a live domestic turkey to be “pardoned” and spared from being slaughtered. This bizarre White House practice began in 1989 during the first Thanksgiving of then President George H. W. Bush. Since then, Bush and his successors spared the lives of one or two lucky turkeys each Thanksgiving. Last year, President Barack Obama pardoned Cobbler and Gobbler, both 40-pound turkeys from Rockingham County, Virginia.

This revered tradition is about to change as The White House announced that President Obama is scrapping this year’s Presidential Turkey Pardon due to reports about a shortage of Butterball turkeys. Butterball is the nation’s largest turkey producer. Headquartered in Garner, N.C., Butterball produces 1 billion pounds of turkey every year, equal to 20 percent of the nation’s production. The ubiquitous brand, known for its blue, gold and yellow label, is a mainstay in American kitchens every Thanksgiving.

Butterball said its poultry had trouble gaining weight on some of its farms but did not explain why. The company still has ample supplies of its frozen large varieties, which are birds 16 pounds and heavier. “We experienced a decline in weight gains on some of our farms causing a limited availability of large, fresh turkeys,” Stephanie Llorente, a spokeswoman for Butterball, said in a statement Friday. “While we are continuing to evaluate all potential causes, we are working to remedy the issue. We sincerely regret the inconvenience that some of our customers have experienced as a result of this issue.”

In making the surprise announcement, President Obama said he hopes his gesture which he says will surely be frowned upon by the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (SPCA), will help, even in the smallest way, to alleviate the turkey shortage. Obama refused to answer a question from The Adobo Chronicles on whether the Presidential Turkey Pardon will be scrapped for good, or only when there is a turkey shortage.

International, Politics

TYPHOON HAIYAN AFTERMATH: MANY STILL MISSING (IN ACTION)

November 18, 2013 Pol Pinoy 1 Comment

Manila, Philippines – As rescue and relief operations enter its second week, many Filipinos in the remote and ravaged towns and cities in Central Philippines are still unaccounted for. Filipino expatriates in the U.S., Canada, Europe and the Middle East have turned to Facebook and other forms of social media to try to locate and get information about the fate or whereabouts of their relatives in the Philippines.

Cash and in-kind donations from foreign governments and the international community have begun to pour in, even as relief efforts are starting to slowly come together. Many citizens whose homes were totally destroyed by the typhoon have been flown out of the ravaged areas and into other cities like Manila where they have reunited with their families or are being housed in temporary evacuation centers.

But many Filipinos to date have been unsuccessful in locating missing persons, especially the members of the Philippine Senate. Very few of the senators have been heard from since Haiyan made landfall in Leyte. Just weeks prior to Haiyan, many of the senators were very vocal and visible — in the halls of Congress as well as in the media — defending themselves from allegations of their involvement in the pork barrel scandal which saw the diversion of billions of taxpayer money into fake nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) or into the personal accounts of top politicians and their cronies.

Filipino netizens with information on the whereabouts of the senators are being urged to post them on their Facebook or Twitter pages, or on Instagram. They may also report any sightings to Philippine and international media as well as police authorities.