Siddhartha Excerpt in Taiwan

Sept. 06, 2007

An excerpt of the Cebu hit musical, Siddhartha, A Musical Journey to Enlightment, was brought to Fo Guang Shan, Taiwan, the main head quarters of Buddha's Light Intl. Association (BLIA), as the Philippine chapter's special gift to venerable master Hsing Yun in celebration of his birthday, who's poetry composed the lyrics of the musical.

Artistic director, Daisy Ba-ad from Out of the Box Training and Productions , accompanied the group who performed before thousands of Buddhist monks and devotees on the 3rd of September. The performance drew the admiration of various cultures and races and paved the way for an additional performance conducted on the same day for a special audience. Another performance was scheduled on the 6th of September during a worlwide conference of Buddhist monks held at the Fo Guang Shan 100 hectar land.

The nine performers of the excerpt composed of three original cast members, the musical director-composer, BLIA Cebu officers and cast relatives effectively carried out the task of sending out the beautiful message of the excerpt. Their exceptional attitude towards work has motivated Ba-ad to decide that the new performers be given a chance to perform at the Cultural Center of the Philippines on November 3 & 4, 2007, much to the delight of the concerned performers with the exception of the musical director, Jude Gitamondoc, who would rather be doing his work backtage. It seemed he was not comfortable with his costume which the group thought made him look more like a member of the seven dwarfs rather than a citizen of India -- a running joke which lessened the tension of the performance

Meantime in Cebu, polishing of the musical's difficult production numbers are being done to prepare for the CCP version of the musical. Adjustments have to be made to adapt to the size of the theater and the modified set design.