Before the year ends, three musical theater artists will topbill the 2022 edition of Triple Threats: Three Tenors concerts from this October to December at the Cultural Center of the Philippines’ Tanghalang Ignacio Gimenez (CCP Black Box Theater).
Markki Stroem, Arman Ferrer and Poppert Bernadas will perform tonight, Oct. 14, Nov. 18 and Dec. 21, respectively, at the said venue.
Markki’s Leading will feature his 12 years in the industry as an artist. He also serves as the creative director of the concert.
His show will be composed of three acts. Act one is about his performances, arrangements and compositions, while the second act will feature one song from the theater musicals he had starred in, such as Next To Normal, Camp Rock and Carrie. The second act is arranged by Vince de Jesus.
“That’s basically the form of each show because I owe each of these shows my life. It was part of my heart,” he said during a media event last Tuesday.
Act three is the part where Markki will introduce his guests, “My leading ladies I wanted to bring in. My leading drag queen.”
“It’s a three-act (show), so triple threats, three acts and three different types of my performances. So mine is an ode to my performance (that’s why) it is called ‘leading,’ not leading man or leading woman. I’ll just leave you guys with that to think about. It’s something to watch for because as we know the ‘drag queen’ is very famous these days,” he added.
Markki was a finalist on ABS-CBN’s Pilipinas Got Talent Season 1, part of ASAP’s Boys R Boys (BRB) and won as Most Promising Male Group at the Guillermo Mendoza Box Office Awards.
On the other hand, Arman’s show titled All of Me, directed by Floy Quintos with Noel Ferrer, will “showcase everything that I have, my heart, my music.”
“As you can see black and white ang picture ko dun (poster), representing the classical world, so there will be classical excerpts there and I have special guests also,” he shared.
“We are performing at CCP, so hindi mawawala ang culture at yung relevance ng mga piyesa ko. So, it’s not all music theater, there’s Broadway, of course. But there are also songs of inspiration, songs about our country and lahat-lahat. That’s why it’s called All of Me,” he furthered.
Arman appeared in the zarzuela Walang Sugat and director Joel Lamangan’s musicals Maynila: Sa Mga Kuko ng Liwanag and Binondo: A Tsinoy Musical. He also played the title role in Dexter Santos’ Lapulapu, Ang Datu ng Mactan musical, staged at the Metropolitan Theater.
Lastly, Poppert’s Ang Musika, ang Teatro at Ako is his tribute to his mentors in the music and theater industries, namely, National Artist for Music Ryan Cayabyab, Ogie Alcasid, Floy Quintos, Dexter Santos, and couple Robert Seña and Isay Alvarez.
The couple introduced Poppert to theater in 2010. “Malaki yung impact ng mag-asawa sa akin kasi they promote Original Pilipino Music (OPM). So, expect sa show na 85 to 95 percent OPM. Kasi sino pa ba ang magkwento ng kuwentong Pilipino kundi tayo lang,” he asserted.
Ang Musika, ang Teatro at Ako summarizes his journey as a theater actor and how he has evolved as a songwriter over the years. “Kasi dun naman ako nag-start eh, sa music. So kaya ako napasok sa teatro.”
Some of Poppert’s theater acts include PETA’s Rak of Aegis, Magsimula Ka!, LORENZO the Musical and Ang Huling Lagda ni Apolinario Mabini. He also starred on ABS-CBN’s Ang Sa Iyo Ay Akin as Kanor and Rio in the second season of the same series. He joined Ogie’s talent agency ATeam, co-managed by Star Magic’s Lauren Dyogi. Poppert also dropped two original tracks last year called Payakap Inay and Mama Ko.
CCP president Maria Margarita Moran Floirendo delivered her opening remarks during the program, saying, “Triple Threats is a series of solo concerts featuring the stalwarts of Philippine Musical Theater. It’s a celebration of Filipino talent and artistry.”
“Since 2013, Triple Threats featured the artists… who exceed three important skills that are necessary to excel in their fields. In this instance, the performing arts. These artists can act, can sing and can dance,” she added.
She further described the concert series as a “rare opportunity for the audiences (to see) these artists in a totally different light,” praising the featured artists as “worth the trip to this theater, the Tanghalang Ignacio Gimenez.”
The trio rendered song numbers during the media event with Markki’s Matatapos Din, composed by William Elvin Manzano from the musical Mula sa Buwan. Arman did Music of the Night by Andrew Lloyd Weber from the musical Phantom of the Opera, while Poppert performed Buktot, lyrics by Bienvenido Lumbera and music by Mr. C from the musical Rama, Hari.