Karylle Talks About The Kitchen Musical

Apart from being one of its lead actors, Karylle is excited to work in Singapore for “The Kitchen Musical” because their work hours are manageable.

“I’m very excited to work there because 12 working hours lang po [kami per day]. And na-experience ko na 'yung 24 hours ang norm and 40 hours ang worst,” Karylle told Bulletin Entertainment and other members of the press during the press launch for “The Kitchen Musical” held on May 30 at Ace Water Spa.

“Tamang oras 'yung trabaho, 7 [AM] to 7 [PM]. There’s so much time for other things, to explore, to write, to run,” she noted.

Asked if the 12-hour work day is in writing, Karylle said yes. “Di ba ang galing? Pwede pala,” she added.

With that, Karylle expressed hope that this “will somehow wake up the industry here na, you know, just to lessen the working hours a bit.”

“Because, you know, if you complain even the slightest bit here on your 24th hour, you’re a diva. But as we all know, 24 hours is no joke. So sana lang naman din na we learn from first-world countries, you know, we can get there also,” she said.

Asked about a rumor circulating on Facebook that she had a fever and just came from a 30-hour long shoot when she went to audition for “The Kitchen Musical,” Karylle confirmed so. “I was coughing a bit and I had to take some medicines but okay naman.”

She added: “I can’t remember about how [long the shoot was]… I think we were taping for ‘Magkano Ang Iyong Dangal’ but I don’t know how long the taping was. Siguro merong 24 hours ‘yon.”

Aside from Karylle, three more Filipinos – namely Christian Bautista, Thou Reyes and Ikey Canoy – are joining the Asian cast of the series by Singaporean director and creator, CheeK. Set to leave for Singapore this week, the four will join the rest of the Asian cast and “will be subjected to actual food preparation training [so] you can be sure that all the things that they will be doing on the screen will be pretty realistic,” said Nelia Molato-Sutrisno, CEO of Singapore’s The Group Entertainment.

"We will be identifying the other nationalities who will be joining in the cast as we confirm them," Nelia added.

Karylle will be playing the role of Maddie, a young sous chef at The Avilon. Christian will be Daniel, another sous chef at the restaurant and Maddie’s best friend and “secret rival.” Meanwhile, Ikey will be assuming the role of the “eccentric” and “often misunderstood” pastry chef named Winston; on the other hand, Thou, who was originally cast as a dishwasher, got an “upgrade” and will now be playing the role of one of the chefs.

Other Pinoys who will join “The Kitchen Musical” are New York-based actor Arthur Acuna as The Avilon’s general manager, and conductor Gerard Salonga who will be the TV show’s musical director.

In selecting the cast members, Nelia explained that they embarked on a regional casting where they “looked for talents all over Asia for the pilot.”

“And we brought the pilot around not only in Asia but also outside, [to] Europe and the States.

“From that pilot, we got comments and from those comments we finalized the cast for the actual shoot, which will happen starting this month,” she said, adding that they’ve been developing this project for almost a year now.

For Karylle, working for four straight months in Singapore without going home is “better” because “you [remain] in character, there’s no distraction, everything is efficient.”

“[It’s] very professional so for me, of course I’d like to go home, and hopefully we will be able to, but if not, 'yung talaga kasi 'yung pinaka-professional way of doing things,” she added.

Christian, on the other hand, said he’s already set to return at least once to Manila, for a day, to attend the premiere of his upcoming Indonesian film, “A Special Symphony,” where he plays the role of a music teacher working in a special school.

Both “ASAP” mainstays shared that they had to either give up or move certain commitments just to make way for “The Kitchen Musical,” including Karylle’s stage play “Light at the Piazza,” which is now rescheduled for next year.

“We’re devoted to this, we believe in this project and there are sacrifices pero that’s what we have to do,” Christian said.

All four artists agreed that they’d grab other possible opportunities abroad that may come their way, but in the meantime, they see working in “The Kitchen Musical” as a chance to open doors for other Filipino talents.

“What we can assure you, kaming apat, we are gonna put the Philippines there. We’re gonna make them see that we are professionals, we are good and easy to work with.

“We will do everything we can para ‘pag napanood na ‘to ng iba’t-ibang bansa, [they’ll say] ‘Who are these four? Where are they from?’ They’re from the Philippines. We wanna bring the Philippines… to the rest of the world. That’s our promise to you,” Christian said.

Asked what the audience will love about “The Kitchen Musical,” Ikey said, “It’s so much more than ‘Glee’ na yes may singing, may dancing, may acting but the big part of what the show really is is about cooking, is about cuisine, is about food.”

“We’ll show them also kung ano 'yung treatment nila, how to present food and how to get people interested not only in life and food, but in cooking, in baking, and making what you see in the show. Kasi lahat ng mga dishes na pinapakita namin every episode, we will be showing you how to make them,” he added, with Karylle describing the series as “a fusion of music and also a cooking show.”

On the music that will be featured on the show, Nelia said they have opted to get popular songs familiar both locally and internationally -- no Pinoy and original songs, though -- due to the wide scope of market they are targeting.

“We got the clearance already, na-clear na namin ang music rights with the international labels. So all the songs that you will be encountering in the series are all familiar. We will be doing a lot of rearrangements and you will see the songs, the normal songs that you know, in a very different light. Specially the way these talented artists are actually going to perform them,” she shared.

Nelia also added that, like “Glee,” they also have plans of having these songs recorded by “The Kitchen Musical” cast available for download.

“The digital part of 'The Kitchen Musical' is now being put together. Part of the strategy is how we can actually bring the songs to the mass[es] as soon as possible. There will be [downloading component]. There will be an online [and] mobile component,” said she.

Source: Manila Bulletin

Thou Reyes on The Kitchen Musical

After Imortal, Thou Reyes used the downtime to visit his sister in Dubai for a two-and-a-half week visit. Little did he know that when he returned to the Philippines, he would get the biggest project in his career: to be cast as one of the cooks in the first ever Pan-Asian television musical drama series The Kitchen Musical, which will be shot in Singapore and will be broadcast in 19 countries across Asia this October.

Thou, who had been personally asked to audition by the production group behind the series, had already been part of the original test pilot episode shot last year. When he found out that he made the final cut for the TV series, the 26-year-old actor couldn’t help but feel blessed. “It’s so exciting. When I was signing the contract na for this, sabi ko sa sarili ko, ‘Okay heto na yun talaga.’ It’s overwhelming and hindi pa siya nagsi-sink in up to now kasi aside from it being a good project, it’s a big opportunity rin kasi and I feel blessed kasi I’m the only one from Star Magic who got in and it’s not just a normal show, its an international show that will be shown in different countries pa. What I also really liked about this is that there’s also a lot of dancing rin, so dun nila ako fina-front ‘pag dance part,” he told Push.com.ph during the presscon for The Kitchen Musical held last May 30 at D’Ace Plaza in Pasig City.

The series, which also stars local talents Karylle and Christian Bautista, will be part of a cast comprised of talented artists from various countries. The Kitchen Musical will be a series shot in 13 one-hour episodes and will be a blend of drama, popular music, exciting dance sequences, and mouthwatering recipes. It is a story about a rich young girl fresh out of culinary school who starts working for her father’s restaurant and meets a lot of interesting and brilliant characters along the way.

Thou, who was originally cast as a dishwasher, was proud to admit that he had recently been informed that he has been given a bigger role as one of the cooks. “It’s good na na-upgrade ako, but the dishwasher role was also a good role kasi we were the cool guys talaga. And now that ill be one of the cooks, it’s more challenging kasi it’ll be in English. Of course it’s more comfortable to act in our language but since the setting is in a European restaurant, all the recipes will be foreign rin,” he said.

Thou, who is set to leave for Singapore on June 1 along with some of the cast members, will be staying there for four months to undergo a intensive boot camp with the rest of the cast in order to learn food preparation as well as other tools he will need to prepare for the show. “I’m looking forward to all the new challenges. I bet the training will be super hard pero sobrang open ako to learn something new,” he admitted.

The former Ang TV talent said the feeling was so different from when he first auditioned for the musical. “Actually, when I got the call a year ago, parang this production was asking for me daw to audition for this international show. But I had to ask if they were referring to the right Thou Reyes kasi this is singing and I’m more of a dancer. So when I went to the audition, all the best singers from theater companies were there. So I asked them again, ‘Excuse me, are you really sure that I’m supposed to audition for this project?’ Sabi nila, ‘Yes, actually ikaw yung pini-peg namin for this one character.’ So sabi ko, okay pikit-mata, let’s go, let’s do this. So I sang. So ganito yung nangyari, we had to act, then introduce ourselves, then sing. So sabi ko ibibigay ko na lahat sa acting at saka sa introduction, dun ko na lang itotodo. I sang pa rin, pero it was a simple song kasi hindi ko nga alam kung anong klaseng voice yung hinahanap nila, kung mataas ba or mababa, at kung anong type ng songs yung dapat kong kinakanta,” he recalled.

Thou, who made his mark in primetime television via series like I Love Betty La Fea and Imortal, said that even though he was not that confident about his singing, he was up to the challenge of being part of The Kitchen Musical. “Never akong nag-theater na big production kasi tuwing nagkakaroon ng audition, nagkakaroon naman ako ng show sa mainstream TV so hindi ako nagkakaroon ng chance para mag-teatro. I was supposed to do Hunchback pero hindi rin natuloy kasi nag-Imortal ako. So sinabi ko right then and there sa director na I really didn’t have nay formal training for voice, but I’m willing to learn and you can really expect something from me when it comes to choreography. Kasi I believe I should always be upfront din, and then sabihin mo kanila kung ano yung strong points mo. So yun yung ginawa ko and the director at that time, Mark Reyes told me not to be disheartened. I told him I wasn’t, I said I was confident kasi the production asked for me and I was just showing them what I could do. Then he continued to say don’t be disheartened kasi for sure you have a role. So from that day, paglabas ko dun sa audition area, kasi that was my first time to sing in a audition after a long time, para akong bumalik sa pagkabata. Para akong bumalik sa audition ng Ang TV na parang nakakahiya eh, kasi singing is not my strong point eh. Pero eventually ito na nga yung nanagyari so it worked out naman,” he admitted to Push.com.ph.

Even though he has yet to prepare his luggage for the four month-long trip, Thou said he is excited to start working on his newest project. “Kung hindi pa nagsi-sink in sa akin, mas hindi pa nagsi-sink in sa mom ko. Kasi kakarating ko lang last week tapos I’m leaving again kagad pero happy silang lahat for me. All the support nakukuha ko kasi sabi nila, ‘Hindi lahat nagkakaroon ng chance and I think you’re really for that,’” he said.

Thou admitted that even though his distinct looks helped him stand out in the casting process, it was not the defining point that helped him get the role. “Being different is always an advantage. But it’s really how you carry yourself no matter how you look. And I don’t think I got this role just because I’m black. It’s more of how I generally carry myself. It’s really about how you package yourself. Ganun rin naman dapat eh bilang artist, bilang actor, hindi ka dapat nagpapabaya. Though mahirap yun, it’s part of our job,” he said.

Source: www.push.com.ph

The Kitchen Musical to be Aired on ABS-CBN and Studio 23

Kapamilya stars Karylle and Christian Bautista are set to leave the country for the international production of "The Kitchen Musical."

Karylle is set to fly to Singapore this Wednesday while Christian will follow on Sunday.

According to the singers, they will stay in Singapore for the next four months with other Filipino actors like Thou Reyes and Ikey Canoy.

Other big stars from the Asian region will also be part of the said show.

“The Kitchen Musical” is slated to premiere in October 2011 in 19 countries across Asia and Europe, with the first two episodes to air locally initially via ABS-CBN’s "Sunday’s Best." The subsequent episodes will be aired tentatively every Saturday on Studio 23 in its primetime block.

In all, there will be 13 one hour-long episodes for the first season and, according to Studio 23’s program head Vince Rodriguez, the second season of "The Kitchen Musical" is already "in the works."