Official Chicago Manila artwork. Photograph by Jeremy Daniel, courtesy of GMG Productions. Chicago The Musical will return to The Theatre at Solaire in Parañaque City from March 9 to 28, 2027, GMG Productions announced in its October 8, 2026 release. The Manila engagement is presented by GMG Productions in association with Barry & Fran Weissler and David Ian, as part of the show's 30th-anniversary global tour. The musical played the same venue in 2014. Its return adds another date to a 2027 theater calendar that also includes Heathers the Musical , led by Gerardine Sacdalan , at Solaire from January 21 to February 7. Roxie, Velma and a very useful scandal Set in 1920s Chicago, the musical follows Roxie Hart, a housewife and nightclub dancer facing a murder trial. With lawyer Billy Flynn handling her case, she tries to turn the crime into a media spectacle. Fellow inmate and nightclub star Velma Kelly has her own ambitions, and Roxie's sudden fame gives her another r...

Editorial graphic by Unsaulicited using the supplied official Puregold Teatro Panalo logo. Puregold Teatro Panalo has shortlisted 26 original Filipino one-act works from 373 entries, according to the festival's press release supplied to Unsaulicited on October 7, 2026. The shortlist includes 16 straight plays and 10 musicals. The shortlist is not the festival lineup. Another round of selection will narrow it to 12 works: eight straight plays and four musicals. Those selected works are scheduled for the inaugural festival from February 20 to March 14, 2027, according to the latest release. Puregold senior marketing manager Ivy Hayagan-Piedad chairs the festival, with Vincent de Jesus as festival director. Wishbone Collective Inc. is the festival organizer providing development and production support. The 16 shortlisted straight plays The titles and credits below follow the supplied press release. The notes identify differences in its accompanying shortlist artwor...

A violin performance during the MSO Music Academy opening at One Ayala on October 6, 2026. The MSO Music Academy opened its One Ayala branch in Makati on October 6, 2026, according to the Manila Symphony Orchestra (MSO). The new branch offers voice and instrument lessons for children, teens, and adults, joining the academy's existing studio at Ayala Malls Circuit. MSO says the One Ayala branch has six regular studios, each equipped with a piano. A separate, larger studio is available for group lessons, workshops, masterclasses, and small recitals. The larger studio at the new MSO Music Academy branch in One Ayala. Lessons at the One Ayala branch cover piano, violin, viola, cello, guitar, flute, trumpet, saxophone, harp, and voice, among other offerings listed by MSO. The academy says students can prepare for performances and competitions, or take lessons simply for the enjoyment of making music. MSO also says it supports its teachers through ...

Official workshop artwork courtesy of GMG Productions. Stagedoor is offering a way to try Elphaba’s green makeup yourself. Presented by GMG Productions in partnership with Myrene Santos, the Wicked -inspired makeup workshop takes place on Sunday, October 25, 2026, at Opera Haus in Makati. The official registration page describes a demonstration covering skin preparation, building an even green base, contouring, highlighting and creating a finish for the stage. Hands-on participants will recreate the look on themselves with Santos’s step-by-step guidance. An observer ticket is also available for those who want to watch the demonstration and join the Q&A. Myrene Santos’s theater background Myrene Santos. Photo supplied by GMG Productions. Santos is a Manila-based wig maker, wig dresser, and hair and makeup artist. GMG’s biography lists her as Deputy Head of Wigs, Hair and Makeup for the Hamilton International Tour from 2023 to 2024, and in th...

The principal cast of Last Dance: Hubo’t Hubad . Image courtesy of the production. Last Dance: Hubo’t Hubad could have been staged in a theater. It is better that it was not. I watched the 3 PM press preview of Last Dance: Hubo’t Hubad on September 28, 2026 at Halxyon Club in Poblacion, Makati. Staging the play inside an actual nightclub immediately gives it something a conventional theater would have had to recreate. The compact stage, club lighting, tight spaces and nightlife atmosphere already belong to the world of the story. The play first shows the men at work, dancing and selling the fantasy expected from them in a male revue bar. It eventually leaves the club stage for a practically rundown communal dressing room, where most of the story stays. Attention moves with it, from what these men present to customers to everything they carry backstage. The work behind the fantasy Stories about men in this kind of work could easily be sensationalized, romanticized or ...