Banderas dazzles!

That’s how a Star Ledger critic describes Antonio Banderas in the award-winning musical Nine, currently drawing SRO crowds at the Eugene O’Neill Theater on W46th St. on Broadway – "A 10... Banderas dazzles!" And I should add, "And how!!!"

Thanks to Jose Mari Chan, I and my New York-based friend Raoul Tidalgo (entertainment editor and columnist of The Filipino Reporter) were able to watch Banderas "live" – as in flesh and blood, dancing and singing and acting before our very eyes – three Fridays ago when I was invited to the Big Apple by Buena Vista International for the press junket for Robert Rodriguez’s Once Upon a Time in Mexico which, coincidentally, stars Banderas (and Salma Hayek, first seen together on Desperado, among other movies, the low-budget Western-type action-thriller that catapulted not only Banderas and Hayek but also the swashbuckling sombrero-wearing Rodriguez to the A-list).

You see, Joe Mari (whose sugar-trading company maintains an office in Wall Street) can, ahem, pull the right strings so when he got wind that I was going to New York, he casually asked if I wanted to watch Nine, "One of my favorites," and I said, "Why not?," especially when Joe Mari mentioned Banderas as the musical’s topbiller. Good idea, I told Joe Mari. I’d be having a one-on-one with Banderas after the press screening of Once Upon a Time in Mexico and watching him in a "live show." Perfect. That would be killing two birds with one stone.

So that Friday, Aug. 22, one week after the big blackout that plunged all of New York (and Ohio and Michigan and other nearby states) into total darkness, I fetched Raoul at the Empire State Building (where The Filipino Reporter holds office at the 38th floor) and, after a quick early dinner at a Korean restaurant (hosted by Raoul’s officemate, Reporter news editor Edmund Silvestre who was celebrating his ’tysomething birthday), we walked four blocks under the sweltering summer sun to the nearest subway station, arriving at the Eugene O’Neill Theater soaking wet with perspiration at the tailend of the queue that wound around the block.

We were prepared to be "dazzled" by Banderas, as promised by the Sun Ledger critic whose testimonial was prominently displayed on a streamer across the theater’s gate. Although he didn’t win for his "dazzling" performance in Nine (which bagged several Tony’s), Banderas has been getting rave reviews in contrast to his wife, Melanie Griffith, who has been relentlessly panned by critics in her role as Roxie Hart in Chicago (played by Renee Zellweger in the movie version), playing right across the street at the Ambassador Theater. Critics were saying that Melanie "doesn’t know how to dance, doesn’t know how to sing" but Melanie good-humoredly takes the negative criticisms in stride, saying, "I’ve never sung in my whole life. My kids don’t even let me sing to them at night. They say, ‘Oh, Mommy, please don’t sing!’ The dancing is very hard." But the crowd comes, anyway.

Banderas was, well, something else. He’s a real "dazzler," whether on screen (in Once Upon A Time in Mexico and other movies, including his co-starrer with Madonna, Evita, where he himself sang his role – no "ghost singer" there) or on the Eugene O’Neill stage. Being ignorant about Nine (first staged on Broadway many years ago and currently running in London’s West End), Raoul and I tried to figure out why the musical was titled, yup, Nine. (The playbill doesn’t carry any synopsis or write-up about the musical, just the bio-data of the performers.)

Soon, we knew. Nine is so titled because the lead character, a movie director named Guido Contini is 45, all right, but he must have stopped growing to age 9, a womanizer and at the same time a Mama’s Boy. The musical must have been inspired by the colorful life of Italian director Roberto Rossellini (whose romance with Ingrid Bergman stirred a controversy heard round the world). Guido Contini speaks with Italian accent, which is perfect for Spain-born Banderas who tackles the role to the hilt–with "dazzling" impact.

In the almost two hours he’s onstage (more than two-thirds of the musical’s running time), Banderas held the SRO audience spellbound with his great acting, singing and dancing talent. When he hit a high note with his baritone, Raoul and I could feel the Eugene O’Neill Theater vibrating in the wake not only of Banderas’ powerful voice but also that of the defeaning applause that followed.

On screen, Banderas moves with feline grace, very comfortable with his body. Onstage, even when he just stood there "frozen," hands suspended flamenco-style above his head and one leg bended like the statue of Michelangelo, he was still the sex symbol that he would ever be. He was in his element, so to speak, even if he spent the whole morning and the whole afternoon of the same day doing interviews with the international press for Once Upon A Time in Mexico (along with Salma Hayek and director Robert Rodriguez) at a function room of the Regency Hotel in Manhattan.

It was during our one-on-one where Banderas mentioned to me about a Filipino in the cast of Nine. As soon as I took my seat in front of him for the TV interview (to be shown on The Buzz sometime next month), Banderas shook my hand. When he learned that I came from the Philippines, he smiled and said, "Oh, from the Philippines. Do you know that there’s a Filipina with me in the musical (Nine, that is) I’m now doing on Broadway? She’s very talented."

Flattered for our world-class Filipino talents, I replied, "There’s more where she came from!"

The Filipina turned out to be Rona Figueroa who played Julliete, one of Guido Contini’s women. At the Eugene O’Neill Theater, Raoul and I didn’t have a hard time singling out Rona who, although petite, stood out among her taller – but, we presumed, not necessarily more talented – female co-performers.

The Nine playbill doesn’t mention where in the Philippines Rona came from but listed down her previous performances: Kim in Miss Saigon, Eponine in Les Miserables, Daisy in Dogeaters, Grusha in The Caucasian Chalk Circle, Turando in Turando, Madeline True in The Wild Party, among others. She was also in such films as Dragonheart: A New Beginning (often shown on the Sci Fi Channel) and Waiting in the Wings; and TV shows like Third Watch, Cosby Show, David Lettermen and Reading Rainbow. Figueroa has a rock band which has recently recorded its first album.

Impressive credentials, ’no! No wonder Banderas was impressed with her.

And what’s Banderas like in person? Unassuming. Like most Latino stars, he was warm. He came to the interview in white long-sleeved shirt not tucked into his denims, wearing sneakers. He didn’t seem to be vain at all, unlike other sex symbols, male and female, who act as if they’re forever facing a mirror. Banderas hardly flaunted his body, even "hiding" it behind his casual attire. He could have shown up in sleeveless shirt, his hairy chest exposed to advantage, but he didn’t. Not that he had to. Covered or un-, he exuded that distinct sexy Latin appeal.

Back home, Joe Mari wanted to find out if Raoul and I got good seats (we did) and if we enjoyed the musical (we did, very much!).

"A lot of Filipino men are like Guido Contini, don’t you think?’" he asked.

I thought so.

Many of them are 45 going on 9, Mama’s Boys at heart.

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