Proudly Green, once more

MANILA, Philippines - As the La Salle community continues its year-long celebration of its centennial, its alumni association will be restaging the Proudly Green musical on July 31 at the St. Benilde Gym, La Salle Greenhills in Mandaluyong.

The musical, helmed by veteran stage director and La Salle alumnus Fritz Ynfante, was first mounted last June 11 before 3,000 attendees as the centerpiece of the centennial week celebration at the SMX Convention Center. It was also the biggest gathering of La Sallians to date.

The musical is a tribute to the La Sallian heritage: A song-and-dance presentation in lyrical theater format that depicts the 100-year presence of La Salle in the country. 

Existing Broadway, rock, pop and gospel songs have been carefully chosen to thread its three acts together, with the lyrics specifically rewritten to be the script of the musical play. Some of the music pieces are gleaned from such stage successes as Les Miserables, The Student Prince, Jekyll and Hyde, among others. 

DepEd Sec. and former DLSU president Armin Luistro (right) with DILG Sec. Jesse Robredo, also a La Sallian

The 70-member cast is made up of La Salle students, alumni and professional stage actors and singers that include the husband and wife tandem of Robert Seña and Isay Alvarez of Miss Saigon fame, plus Rannie Raymundo and JM Rodriguez. 

The show opens with the emergence of nine angels, symbolically representing the nine pioneering La Salle brothers in the country, and moves through scenes that walk the audience through the turning points and key events in La Salle’s storied history.

These include the early years of La Salle, culminating in the first-ever game between La Salle and Ateneo; the “bedlam of inhumanity” that befell La Sallians on Feb. 25, 1945; the entry of the first-ever La Sallian females; plus a finale that poses a challenge to the future generations of La Sallians. 

The musical is organized and conceptualized by the Grade School and High School Taft Chapter of the De La Salle Alumni Association. 

According to Cesar de Larrazabal, a member of the organizing group, in a recent presscon, “Many alumni stakeholders came to the first staging — even people we haven’t seen in a long time. We are restaging the show because, apart from the demand, we want to reinforce its message, which is not just about La Salle’s heritage, but its underlying challenge to La Sallians on how to take on the next 100 years. We are targeting parents, but more so, the students, as the show actually brings forth important milestones of the institution. It’s a good lesson on history and an entertaining one as well.”

The people behind the musical: (from left) Bomboy Araneta, direk Fritz Ynfante, Adi Peña and Cesar de Larrazabal

Adi Peña, who is the lyricist of the musical, added, “The message is also about education and the environment, which is very much in line with the program of the alumni association. Six years ago, we embarked on the P2 billion scholarship fund which means having one full scholar for every five students in La Salle, as well as the environment program of planting one million trees and beyond during La Salle’s centennial year.”

The musical might also have “pocket shows” in sister campuses outside Metro Manila. Organizers also said that the musical is aimed to convey those who did not study at La Salle why La Sallians are “proudly green.”

There are over 350,000 alumni from the 17 La Sallian schools in the Philippines, with over 200,000 alumni from De La Salle University-Manila alone.

Among other highlights of La Salle’s centennial year are the eighth edition of the DLSAA World Congress (the congregation of La Sallian alumni in the Philippines) and the UMAEL World Congress (the congregation of La Sallian alumni worldwide) on October.

(Proudly Green will have matinee and gala shows at 4 p.m. and 8 p.m., respectively. Tickets to the musical are selling at P300 and P600. For details, call Manny Blanco at 818-3021 and 819-3963.)