Maniolas

WATERFALL15 PASADENA, CA – The Pasadena Playhouse (Artistic Director Sheldon Epps) announced today that, Thai superstar Bie Sukrit, along with Emily Padgett, Thom Sesma, and J. Elaine Marcos will lead the cast of the world premiere of WATERFALL, an epic new Broadway bound musical love story, featuring a distinguished international creative team and a cast of 20. Preview performances begin May 29, 2015 with the official press opening on June 7, 2015 at The Pasadena Playhouse (39 S. El Molino Avenue in Pasadena). WATERFALL is an epic love story, set in Bangkok and Tokyo between the turbulent years of 1933 and 1939, as a monarchy falls in Thailand and Japan is on the brink of war. A young Thai student (Sukrit) falls in love with the American wife (Padgett) of a Thai diplomat (Sesma), and the story of their forbidden love parallels history as the new democracy of Siam moves into the vortex of Japan prior to WWII. With a gloriously romantic score, WATERFALL is a modern love story of timeless scale. WATERFALL marks a groundbreaking collaboration between American and Asian theatrical artists. The musical, based on a contemporary classic Thai novel, Behind the Painting by Sriburapha, features book and lyrics by Tony Award-winner Richard Maltby Jr. and music by Oscar-winner and two- time Tony Award nominee, David Shire. The production will be directed by Broadway and Thai theatrical impresario Tak Viravan and co-directed and choreographed by Tony Award-nominee Dan Knechtges. Casting for WATERFALL is by Stewart/Whitley. Sheldon Epps, Artistic Read More …

(TOKYO, Japan) President Benigno S. Aquino III delivers his speech during the meeting with the Filipino community at the Ascot Hall of the Okura Hotel on Tuesday (June 02) during his State Visit to Japan. (MNS Photo) MANILA (Mabuhay) — President Benigno Aquino III on Wednesday drew a parallel between present day China and Nazi Germany during a speech in Japan, hinting the world cannot continue to appease Beijing as it claims ever-more territory in the South China Sea. The comments came as disquiet grows over the quickening pace of China’s land reclamation program in international waters, including its construction of a runway long enough for large military planes. “If there was a vacuum, if the United States, which is the superpower, says ‘we are not interested,’ perhaps there is no brake to ambitions of other countries,” Aquino told an audience of business leaders in Tokyo when asked about China’s rising might and the role of the US in checking it. “I’m an amateur student of history and I’m reminded of… how Germany was testing the waters and what the response was by various other European powers,” he said referring to the Nazis’ territorial conquests in the months before the outbreak of World War II. “They tested the waters and they were ready to back down if for instance in that aspect, France said (to back down). “But unfortunately, up to the annexation of the Sudetenland, Czechoslovakia, the annexation of the entire country of Czechoslovakia, nobody said stop. “If somebody Read More …

President Benigno Aquino III presents a scale model of the Kentex Manufacturing Corporation factory during a press briefing held at the Kalayaan Hall of the Malacanang Palace on Monday (June 1). Also present during the press briefing on Monday (June 1) at Malacanang are Interior Secretary Mar Roxas, Justice Secretary Leila de Lima, Labor Secretary Rosalina Baldoz, Social Welfare Secretary Dinky Soliman, and Communications Secretary Herminio Coloma, Jr. (MNS photo) MANILA (Mabuhay) – Despite an admission from lawmakers that passing the Bangsamoro Basic Law (BBL) will be an uphill battle in Congress, President Benigno Aquino III on Wednesday expressed his determination to have his allies in the majority pass the controversial legislation. In a speech during his state visit to Japan, Aquino maintained that the BBL will lead to stability in Mindanao. “We are determined to get the BBL passed in Congress, which will be a major step in freeing thousands of our countrymen from the shackles of conflict and attaining lasting peace and prosperity in the autonomous region,” Aquino said at the Nikkei International Conference in Tokyo. On Monday, House Majority Leader Neptali Gonzales II expressed concern about the prospects of the BBL’s passage in the chamber, saying the number of lawmakers supporting the controversial bill remained uncertain. The draft BBL is already being tackled in the House plenary. At the Senate, Senate President Franklin Drilon already pushed back the deadline of the BBL’s passage to October. The bill remains pending in the Senate Committee on Local Government. In Read More …

U.P. Town Center prides itself of its wide, open spaces.

Willie Revillame talks about his luxury cars—one of them had a price tag of 26 million pesos when he bought it in 2013.