unSAULicited

Ballet Philippines (BP), the country’s flagship dance company, presents the timeless Christmas ballet in full Filipino splendor in Edna Vida’s The Nutcracker. Nobuo Fujino (formerly a Senior Artist at the Australian Ballet and Principal Dancer with Hong Kong Ballet) returns to BP as guest artist courtesy of Japan Foundation and Tan Yan Kee Foundation, and the ABS-CBN Philharmonic Orchestra, conducted by Gerard Salonga, plays Tchaikovsky’s iconic music live on select performances. A ballet for the whole family, The Nutcracker is a holiday tradition all over the world, with professional dance companies and schools doing their own version of the beloved full-length ballet. BP sets itself apart by adding its own Filipino flavor to the time and tested ballet. Set in the Philippines in the 1920s, The Nutcracker follows our young heroine Clara on a fantastic journey. At her family’s Noche Buena, Clara receives an enchanted Nutcracker Doll from her godfather, the toymaker Don Alfonso...

Pad Thai The Noodle Studio is the brainchild of Executive Chef Gregorio “Gigo” de Guzman. He graduated from the Ateneo de Manila University with a Bachelor’s degree in English Literature, from where he then pursued a culinary course at Enderun Colleges. He was fortunate enough to be chosen for an internship program at the Michelin-starred restaurant Le Jules Verne on the 2nd floor of the Eiffel Tower in Paris, France. Beef Brisket Noodle Soup His love for noodles began in his childhood, where his favorite memories of his late father, Moises de Guzman, were of their numerous noodle food trips. Some of his many passions are musical theater (appearing in Ateneo Blue Repertory’s High School Musical, Repertory Philippines' The Producers, and Trumpet’s Bluebird of Happiness), and indoor cycling (working as an instructor at Electric Studio, the Philippines first boutique indoor cycling studio). Laksa Lemak The concept of the Noodle Studio was inspired by a previous restauran...

Ryan Reynolds’ donning of “Deadpool” turned the hero universe into a totally different genre that took the world pleasantly surprised. A Marvel anti-hero known for his unrelenting and acerbic sense of humor, the first "Deadpool" movie that was released in February 2015 became a worldwide smash hit with $783.1 million at the box-office so far. With the latest release of the very unusual red band teaser trailer of the feverishly-anticipated sequel Deadpool is seen wearing a wig and carrying a paint palette, mimicking Bob Ross from the famous decade-long show “The Art of Painting” during the early ‘80s. The red band trailer, suffused with creative expletives only Deadpool can deliver, gives the audience a peek of what to expect in the sequel – extreme action with his friends in the biz fighting villains such as Cable (played by Josh Brolin), Negasonic Teenage Warhead (Brianna Hildebrand) and Blind Al (Leslie Uggams). “Deadpool 2” is a 20th Century Fox feature film th...

Cebu’s runaway theatrical hit - the original Bisrock jukebox musical, GUGMANG GIATAY will be holding limited shows in Manila on Sunday, November 26, 4 p.m., during BGC Passionfest, and again from Tuesday, November 28 until Thursday, November 30, 8 p.m. All Manila performances will be at the Globe Auditorium of the Maybank Performing Arts Theater, BGC Arts Center, Taguig. Written by award-winning songwriter Jude Gitamondoc and Internet sensation Rowell “Medyo Maldito” Ucat, GUGMANG GIATAY is your (a)typical romantic comedy, with a good dose of maoy moments, hugot lines, and acerbic Bisaya humor. The musical features landmark Bisaya hit songs, both contemporary and classic, written by such iconic talents as Max Surban, Cattski Espina, Insoy Niñal, Jude Gitamondoc, Medyo Maldito, and Junior Kilat, among others. A small, close-knit neighborhood is #shookt when Inday, a down-to-earth girl, lets slip that all is not well in her relationship with Undo, her long-time musician boyfriend...

Artist Playground, in pursuance of its objectives of creating opportunities that facilitates a collaborative environment for artists from all fields of art and providing a context in which the processes of making art can be explored, is proud to announce its very first arts festival entitled “RATED AP”. It is a festival that celebrates the creativity and talent of young artists. This festival is created to provide a platform for young and budding artists to showcase their talent and artistry. Students of participating colleges and educational institutions are given the opportunity to showcase their works and share their art to legitimate audiences to be subjected for appreciation and appraisal. The festival promises an exciting experience, we believe it is the first of its kind, for it is a brave endeavor that banks on the freshness of the materials to be presented, the rawness of the talent to be showcased and the novelty of the ideas that sets each of the productions directions...

Will Smith is the supremely smooth and confident Lance Sterling, secret agent extraordinaire. Tom Holland is Walter – the somewhat less debonair scientist and inventor who provides Lance with an array of amazing gadgets. Fox Animation, Chernin Entertainment and Blue Sky Studios announced today the voice casting of Will Smith and Tom Holland as the lead characters Lance Sterling and Walter in the animated feature SPIES IN DISGUISE, an action comedy that will be released by Twentieth Century Fox in 2019. SPIES IN DISGUISE is a buddy comedy set in the high octane globe-trotting world of international espionage. Will Smith (Men in Black) voices Lance Sterling, the world’s most awesome spy. Cool, charming and super-skilled, saving the world is his occupation. And nobody does it better. Almost the exact opposite of Lance is Walter, voiced by Tom Holland (Spider-Man: Homecoming). Walter is a great mind but perhaps not a great socializer. What he lacks in social skills though, he make...

20th Century Fox has recently released the first look photos of 2018’s most awaited teen movie “Love, Simon”, directed by Greg Berlanti and based on the YA novel Simon vs. the Homo Sapiens Agenda by Becky Albertalli. At the heels and feels of the highly successful “The Fault In Our Stars”, the movie that gave the world the most unforgettable teenage love story, “Love, Simon” tells the coming-of-age story of Simon Spier (played by Nick Robinson), who has yet to tell his family and friends that he’s gay and that he’s fallen for an anonymous classmate online. Resolving both issues proves hilarious, terrifying and life-changing. “Love, Simon” is a funny and heartfelt story about the thrilling ride of finding yourself and falling in love. Directed by Greg Berlanti (Riverdale, The Flash), “Love, Simon” also stars Katherine Langford (from 13 Reasons Why), Alexandra Shipp, Jorge Lendeborg, Miles Heizer, Keiynan Lonsdale, Logan Miller, Jennifer Garner, Josh Duhamel, Tony Hale. “Ther...

From Academy Award winners Benj Pasek and Justin Paul, lyricists of La La Land comes the bold and original musical “The Greatest Showman” with a stellar cast that includes Hugh Jackman as P.T. Barnum, Zac Efron as Phillip Carlisle, Michelle Williams as Charity Barnum, Rebecca Ferguson as Jenny Lind, Zendaya as Anne and Keala Settle as Lettie, the movie directed by Michael Gracey. “The Greatest Showman” features powerful original music and songs that celebrates the birth of show business and the sense of wonder we feel when dreams come to life. Inspired by the ambition and imagination of P.T. Barnum, “The Greatest Showman” tells the story of a visionary who rose from nothing to create a mesmerizing spectacle that became a worldwide sensation. A cinematic and immersive experience with a highly-inspirational story, “The Greatest Showman” opens January 31 in Philippine cinemas from 20th Century Fox to be distributed by Warner Bros. Follow 20th Century Fox (Ph) on Facebook, 20thce...

Ground Zero presents works across various media that explore escape as a viable aesthetic and political—that is to say, artistic—response. Here, escape is not about a naïve denial of the real, but an acknowledgment of the absurdity that dominates the political sphere and increasingly, the hype-culture of contemporary art, and thereafter taking a moment to step aside. In this idea of escape, one remains in the midst of everything, in a paradox of stopping in motion. “Umuwi na tayo,” goes the song by the Eraserheads, “dahil wala ng sense ang ating mundo" — which in translation goes “Let’s get back home since the world doesn’t make sense.” Where—or perhaps more precisely, what—home is, sustains itself here as a lingering question whose openness is not only the rationalizing premise of the group exploration, but is also the very aesthetic held forth: these are works that could still the mind, that a new perspective might be born, one without prescription, out of the rare ...

“You are not ugly, and anyone who cares to know you will see that.” The world is full of insecurities, but when one kid changes the way people see things, it breaks barriers and sets in new norms for everyone around us, seeing how people that love us the most would do anything for us to fit into the society and that we should spread the thing the world needs these days, Kindness. Based on the New York Times Bestselling novel “Wonder” by R.J. Palacio and directed by Stephen Chbosky (“Perks of being a Wildflower”) the amazing story stars Academy Award winning actress (“Erin Brokovich”) Julia Roberts and Owen Wilson (“Marley & Me”) “Wonder” tells the inspiring and heartwarming story of August Pullman (Jacob Tremblay). Born with facial differences that, up until now, have prevented him from going to a mainstream school, Auggie becomes the most unlikely of heroes when he enters mainstream school on his fifth grade. As his family, his new classmates, and the larger community...

From his breakout role as Eduardo Saverin in “The Social Network” to finding himself as Peter Parker in “The Amazing Spider-Man”, Andrew Garfield is back in one of his most dramatic roles to date in “Breathe” co-starring Golden Globe winning actress (“The Crown”) Claire Foy. The film takes us back to the 1950’s at the height of the Polio outbreak and welcomes us into the life of Robin Cavendish, who after being given only three months to live after being paralyzed from the neck down by polio at age 28, becomes a pioneering advocate for the disabled. What does one do when an illness takes away your life during its prime? Does one succumb to the sickness or do you continue fighting and hope that somewhere along the way you find a silver lining? Together with his wife Diana, they travel the world with the hopes of transforming the lives of others like him. Critics could not help but find themselves spreading praises to the beauty of the story and how two of Hollywood’s finest ga...