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Rupert Murdoch scraps proposal to combine Fox, News Corp, eyes Move sale

Rupert Murdoch on Tuesday withdrew a proposal to reunite News Corp. and Fox Corp. as the company is also exploring a sale of Move Inc, which operates the Realtor.com website, to CoStar Group, according to a regulatory filing and sources familiar with the process.

Three sources familiar with the matter said News Corp was in talks to sell its stake in Move to CoStar for about $3 billion.

Several top shareholders had publicly said they opposed the proposed Fox–News Corp combination, and on Tuesday News Corp said in a statement that it was “not optimal for shareholders of News Corp and Fox at this time.”

The deal would have recombined the media empire Murdoch split nearly a decade ago.

News Corp confirmed the talks to sell Move to CoStar after Reuters reported it on Tuesday, adding that there is no guarantee the discussions will lead to a transaction.

A spokesperson for CoStar said the company “continuously evaluates M&A opportunities across a broad range of companies to maximize shareholder value” and does not comment on “market rumors or speculation.”

No offer was exchanged between News Corp and Fox Corp before merger deliberations were abandoned, according to sources familiar with the process, who said pushback from News Corp shareholders played a role in those plans being scrapped.

A rally in News Corp shares in recent weeks meant that Fox would have had to pay a significant premium for the merger to be agreed, something that the Murdochs did not believe they could justify to shareholders, people familiar with the matter said.

 

MARKET VALUE

While Fox‘s stock is down 5%, News Corp shares are up 25% since the talks between the two companies were first announced on Oct. 14. News Corp currently has a market capitalization of about $11 billion, while Fox is valued at a shade over $17 billion.

Murdoch proposed reuniting his media empire last fall, arguing that together the publishing and entertainment companies he split apart in 2013 would give the combined company greater scale in news, live sports and information, sources said.

Several people close to the Murdochs viewed the attempt to combine the media companies as driven by the 91-year-old Murdoch’s succession planning to consolidate power behind his son and Fox head Lachlan Murdoch, a notion the company described as “absurd” in November.

Some of News Corp’s larger shareholders, including Independent Franchise Partners and T. Rowe Price balked at the idea.

Rupert Murdoch and his family trust control about 40% of News Corp and Fox. Had a deal been reached, they would have abstained from voting their shares when each company sought shareholder approval for the merger, because of the potential conflict of interest. This made securing the backing of other major shareholders a prerequisite to the deal going through.

 

‘RIGHT DECISION’

Activist investment firm Irenic Capital, which was among the first to say that the proposed reunion would likely undervalue News Corp, on Tuesday applauded the decision to not move forward.

“This is the right decision,” Irenic’s chief investment officer Adam Katz said. “Looking ahead, News Corp has an opportunity to create substantial value for its owners.”

News Corp agreed to buy Move in 2014 for $950 million to diversify its digital real estate business which, at the time, was primarily in Australia.

Since then, News Corp investors had been calling on the company to spin off its digital real estate assets. Irenic also publicly urged News Corp to sell its Dow Jones media properties.

On a slide-deck presentation in November, Irenic estimated News Corp‘s 80% stake in Move was worth $1.4 billion on $2.47 per share.

In a letter to News Corp employees on Tuesday, News Corp Chief Executive Robert Thomson said: “In my note to you in October, I said the Special Committee assessment would have no impact on our current operations; that was indeed the case, and remains so following today’s announcement.” – Reuters

Amazon warehouse workers at Coventry walk out over pay in UK first

REUTERS

LONDON – Amazon workers at a warehouse in central England will walk out on Wednesday in a months-long wrangle over pay, marking the first time the US tech giant’s operations in Britain have faced strike action.

About 300 employees in Coventry are expected to take part in the industrial action, according to the trade union GMB.

Amazon increased starting pay by 50 pence to a minimum of between 10.50 and 11.45 pounds ($12.95 to $14.12) per hour last year. The country’s minimum wage, which is currently 9.50 pounds an hour, is set to rise to 10.42 in April.

Britain is facing its worst industrial unrest since Margaret Thatcher’s leadership, with staff in crucial sectors from nurses and ambulance workers to railways and lawyers staging strikes in fights for better pay to deal with surging inflation.

Setting out the strike date earlier this month, GMB Senior Organizer Amanda Gearing urged Amazon to give workers “a proper pay rise,” saying staff at one of the world’s most valuable companies should not have to strike to “win a wage they can live on.”

Amazon, which employs thousands of workers across its 30 warehouses in the UK, had then responded to say its pay was competitive.

Darren Westwood, who says he has been at Amazon for three and a half years, told Reuters that the latest pay rise was not enough, as wage growth has lagged inflation, which hit a 41-year high of 11.1% at one point last year.

“None of us want to strike. We’d all rather be in the warmth inside than be drinking tea out here in the cold, but it’s come to that point now where the cost of living has just gone crazy,” he said ahead of the walkout. – Reuters

Taxi drivers in Cancun drop airport blockade protesting Uber

STOCK PHOTO | Image by freestocks-photos from Pixabay

MEXICO CITY – Travelers reached the airport in Mexico’s tourist hot spot of Cancun without problem on Tuesday after a protest by local taxi drivers against ride-share app Uber left many stranded the day before.

Angry taxi drivers on Monday blocked the main road between Cancun‘s airport and central tourist zone, forcing tourists to trek on foot or ride on police trucks to catch their flights.

Two airport representatives said there were no blockades or confrontations related to the taxis on Tuesday.

Taxi unions were angered by a court ruling this month that Uber Technologies Inc. drivers were exempt from having to obtain a permit, called a medallion, to operate, as taxi drivers are required to do. This effectively ended a years-long taxi monopoly in the region.

Videos on social media showed taxi drivers harassing Uber drivers and their clients in recent days, with local media reporting several arrests of taxi drivers.

The events prompted an official alert from the US State Department on Monday for the state of Quintana Roo, where Cancun and other tourist hot spots are located.

“Disputes between these services and local taxi unions have occasionally turned violent,” the alert said.

A spokesperson for Uber Mexico said that the court’s decision “affirmed a basic and undeniable fact” that Uber trips are not public transportation.

“They’re private trips and, as such, driver partners do not need a concession (a medallion) to use the app,” the spokesperson said.

Cancun‘s largest taxi union did not immediately respond to a request for comment. – Reuters

US targets Google’s online ad business monopoly in latest Big Tech lawsuit

REUTERS

WASHINGTON – The US Justice Department accused Alphabet Inc’s GOOGL.O Google on Tuesday of abusing its dominance in digital advertising, threatening to dismantle a key business at the heart of one of Silicon Valley’s most successful internet companies.

The government said Google should be forced to sell its ad manager suite, tackling a business that generated about 12 percent of Google’s revenues in 2021, but also plays a vital role in the search engine and cloud company’s overall sales.

“Google has used anticompetitive, exclusionary, and unlawful means to eliminate or severely diminish any threat to its dominance over digital advertising technologies,” the antitrust complaint said.

Google, whose advertising business is responsible for about 80% of its revenue, said the government was “doubling down on a flawed argument that would slow innovation, raise advertising fees, and make it harder for thousands of small businesses and publishers to grow.”

The federal government has said its Big Tech investigations and lawsuits are aimed at leveling the playing field for smaller rivals to a group of powerful companies that includes Amazon.com, Facebook owner Meta Platforms and Apple Inc.

“By suing Google for monopolizing advertising technology, the DOJ today aims at the heart of the internet giant’s power,” said Charlotte Slaiman, competition policy director at Public Knowledge. “The complaint lays out the many anticompetitive strategies from Google that have held our internet ecosystem back.”

Tuesday’s lawsuit by the administration of President Joe Biden, a Democrat, follows a 2020 antitrust lawsuit brought against Google during the term of Donald Trump, a Republican.

The 2020 lawsuit alleged violations of antitrust law in how the company acquires or maintains its dominance with its monopoly in online search and is scheduled to go to trial in September.

 

EIGHT STATES IN LAWSUIT

Eight states joined Tuesday’s lawsuit, including Google’s home state of California.

California State Attorney General Rob Bonta said that Google’s practices have “stifled creativity in a space where innovation is crucial.”

Colorado Attorney General Phil Weiser said that Google’s dominance had led to higher fees for advertisers and less money for publishers with ad space to offer. “We are taking action by filing this lawsuit to unwind Google’s monopoly and restore competition to the digital advertising business,” he said in a statement.

Google shares were down 1.9 percent on Tuesday.

In addition to its well-known search, which is free, Google makes revenue through its interlocking ad tech businesses. The government asked for the divestiture of the Google Ad Manager suite, including Google’s ad exchange, AdX.

Google Ad Manager is a suite of tools including one that allows websites to offer advertising space for sale and an exchange that serves a marketplace that automatically matches advertisers with those publishers.

Advertisers and website publishers have complained that Google has not been transparent about where ad dollars go, specifically how much goes to publishers and how much to Google.

The lawsuit raises concerns about certain products in the ad tech stack, where publishers and advertisers use Google’s tools to buy and sell ad space on other websites. That business was about $31.7 billion in 2021 or 12.3 percent of Google’s total revenue. About 70% of that revenue goes to publishers.

An ad tech divestiture “may not be a game changer but it could be sneaky important to Google’s ad targeting capability,” said Paul Gallant with the Cowen Washington Research Group.

“It connects to all of Google’s other businesses and ties them together. I think Google might be more concerned about losing ad tech down the road than people might think,” Gallant said.

The company made a series of purchases, including DoubleClick in 2008 and AdMob in 2009, to help make it a dominant player in online advertising.

 

‘PROJECT POIROT’

While Google remains the market leader by a long shot, its share of the U.S. digital ad revenue has been eroding, falling to 28.8% last year from 36.7% in 2016, according to Insider Intelligence.

The Justice Department asked for a jury to decide the case, which was filed in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia.

The lawsuit lays out a number of Google’s attempts to dominate the advertising market.

The complaint discussed header bidding, which was a way that companies could bypass Google to bid on ad space on websites.

It lays out a series of projects including one dubbed “Project Poirot” named after Agatha Christie’s master detective, Hercule Poirot. The project “was designed to identify and respond effectively to ad exchanges that had adopted header bidding technology.”

The 149-page complaint said Google doubled down after Project Poirot’s initial success in manipulating its advertisers’ spending to reduce competition from rival ad exchanges. Rivals AppNexus/Xandr lost 31% of DV360 advertiser spending, Rubicon would lose 22%, OpenX would lose 42%, and Pubmatic would lose 26%, the complaint said. – Reuters

Philippine stock market opening delayed due to technical issue

MANILA – The Philippine stock market’s opening was delayed by half an hour on Wednesday because of a technical issue, the bourse operator said.

Trading on the exchange was supposed to start at 9:30 a.m. (0130 GMT).

The market opened at 10:08 a.m. (0208 GMT), with the benchmark index rising 0.44%, in line with a broader uptick across the region. — Reuters

GCash, CIMB Bank offer the highest interest rate of 8% p.a. via GSave

The country’s leading mobile wallet GCash and CIMB Bank, the country’s leading digital banking services provider, are offering their users up to 8% interest rate per annum (p.a.) on GSave until Jan. 31, 2023.

The offer, which is currently the highest interest rate available in the market, will be available for existing customers of the bank who opened their accounts for more than 60 calendar days at the start of the qualifying month. It will be applicable to the difference in total average daily balance (ADB) from the previous month.

The promo is also inclusive of other promo and base rates for ADB growth including the 2.6% p.a. for GSave accounts. This is also inclusive of the 4% p.a. promo rate applicable to the first P200,000 ADB. Any incremental ADB growth will receive 8% p.a. wherein the total reward given to a customer will be equivalent to 8% p.a.

To calculate their ADB, customers need to get the total of their daily balance at the end of each day for the qualifying month and divide them by the total number of days in the qualifying month.

For customers who have multiple deposit accounts with CIMB Bank, the interest rate reward will be computed based on the qualifying month’s Total ADB for GSave accounts.

With CIMB on GSave, GCash provides Filipinos, especially the unbanked and underserved, with the opportunity to open a savings account that requires no initial deposit, maintaining balance, or lock-in period.

To start their journey towards their financial goals via GSave, users simply need to log in to their GCash account and tap GSave by CIMB Bank which can be found in the GSave Hub section. Then, click “Open a Savings Account.” On the Save Money Registration page, tick the box under CIMB Bank Policies to agree to the Terms and Conditions and tap Open a Savings Account. Lastly, tap “OK” after the confirmation message has been displayed.

With over 71 million registered users, GCash continues to give more Filipinos an opportunity to grow their finances and build a better future for themselves and their loved ones, in line with its clear vision of “finance for all”.

For more information, visit www.gcash.com.ph.

 

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Infrastructure spending rises in Nov.

A worker is at a construction site in Quezon City, April 27, 2021. — PHILIPPINE STAR/MICHAEL VARCAS

INFRASTRUCTURE SPENDING rose by 38.4% in November as the government ramped up the completion of public works projects, the Department of Budget and Management (DBM) said.

Data from the DBM released on Tuesday showed spending on infrastructure and other capital outlays jumped to P80.2 billion in November from P58 billion a year ago.

Month on month, infrastructure spending increased by 31.1% from the P61.2 billion in October.

“The significant expansion was propelled by the completed and partially completed projects of the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) nationwide such as construction, improvement, repair and rehabilitation of roads, bridges and flood control structures, as well as the construction of multipurpose buildings,” the DBM said.

Capital expenditures related to various projects under the Revised Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) Modernization Program of the Department of National Defense (DND) also raised infrastructure spending during the month, it added.

In the 11 months to November, infrastructure spending went up by 14.3% to P869.2 billion from P760.4 billion in the same period a year ago.

The DBM said that it expects to surpass its target spending for the full-year 2022 on the back of releases for priority expenditures.

“While the actual full-year 2022 fiscal performance data will still be released between February to March this year, the government is upbeat on the higher public spending in 2022 and its contribution to the country’s gross domestic product (GDP), particularly through public construction, transfers to local government units, and subsidies to households,” it added.

Based on the latest Development Budget Coordination Committee (DBCC) report, the government indicated that infrastructure spending may have reached P1.23 trillion in 2022, a tad higher than the P1.199-trillion full-year program.

The higher infrastructure spending is mainly due to the economy’s continued reopening, analysts said.

“The increased infrastructure spending also benefited from the further reopening of the economy towards greater normalcy, with no more COVID-19 (coronavirus disease 2019) restrictions so far towards the end of 2022, as manifested by the optional wearing of face masks since the latter part of October, thereby allowing the faster rollout/progress of the country’s various infrastructure projects,” Rizal Commercial Banking Corp. Chief Economist Michael L. Ricafort said in a Viber message.

ING Bank N.V. Manila Senior Economist Nicholas Antonio T. Mapa said infrastructure spending was expected to continue rising in December.

“We continue to see the positive impact from the economic reopening post lockdowns. We could see another strong performance in December. The true indicator, however, for growth momentum will have to be shown this year as base effects are washed out,” he said in a Viber message.

The government plans to spend at least 5-6% of GDP on infrastructure. — Luisa Maria Jacinta C. Jocson

Gov’t to borrow P200B from domestic market

BW FILE PHOTO

THE NATIONAL government (NG) plans to borrow P200 billion from the domestic market in February, the Bureau of the Treasury (BTr) said on Tuesday.

The BTr released its borrowing plan for February, which is unchanged from this month’s program. The government raised P212.4 billion from domestic borrowings this month, higher than the programmed P200 billion. 

The BTr said it will borrow P60 billion in Treasury bills (T-bills) and P140 billion in Treasury bonds (T-bonds) next month.

The Treasury will offer P5 billion worth of 91-day, 182-day, and 364-day T-bills on Jan. 30, Feb. 6, 13 and 20.

For the long-term tenors, the BTr is looking to raise P35 billion from 13-year T-bonds on Jan. 31, and P35 billion from five-year T-bonds on Feb. 7. It is also eyeing to generate P35 billion from three-year instruments on Feb. 14; and P35 billion in 10-year bonds on Feb. 21.

“The P200-billion (government securities) auctions for February 2023 (are the) same as the target for January 2023 but the National Government’s borrowing costs would be lower in view of increased bids/demand recently,” Rizal Commercial Banking Corp. Chief Economist Michael L. Ricafort said in a Viber message.

A trader said the borrowing mix was expected as “the demand in recent auctions and drastic drop in rates allows BTr to take advantage by lengthening the maturity of their borrowings.”

Mr. Ricafort noted some of the T-bond auctions in February could be canceled if the government pushes through with a retail Treasury bond (RTB) offering.

In a financial literacy session before Filipino migrants in Frankfurt on Jan. 22, National Treasurer Rosalia V. de Leon said the government is planning to launch the country’s second retail dollar bond offering. No other details were available.

For this year, the gross domestic borrowing program is set at P1.654 trillion, composed of P54.1 billion in T-bills and P1.6 trillion in fixed-rate T-bonds.

The government borrows from local and external sources to help fund a budget deficit capped at 6.1% of GDP this year. — Aaron Michael C. Sy

Full MRT-7 operations seen by 2nd quarter 2025

The Metro Rail Transit Line 7 will run from North Avenue, Quezon City to San Jose del Monte in Bulacan and is expected to accommodate up to 850,000 passengers daily. — COMPANY HANDOUT

By Arjay L. Balinbin, Senior Reporter

THE planned demonstration and partial operability for San Miguel Corp.’s (SMC) Metro Rail Transit Line 7 (MRT-7) will no longer push through, an official from the Department of Transportation (DoTr) said.

Instead, the DoTr is now targeting full operations of MRT-7 by the second quarter of 2025.

“The demonstration is no longer feasible because they will have to finish the construction of the depot,” DoTr Project Management Service (PMS) Director Eduardo D. Mangalili told BusinessWorld on Monday.

Under former DoTr Secretary Arthur P. Tugade, the department wanted partial operability of the MRT-7 this year.

“So far, there is no more partial operation target,” Mr. Mangalili said, adding that what is being targeted now is to have the MRT-7 start full operations by the second quarter of 2025.

The MRT-7 will run from North Avenue, Quezon City to San Jose del Monte in Bulacan.

Mr. Mangalili said the depot in San Jose del Monte will have to be completed first because that is where the power will come from.

The DoTr official said the MRT-7 project is now 60.35% complete and that the stations in Tandang Sora, Don Antonio, Batasan, and Manggahan in Quezon City will be finished by June this year.

“San Miguel is trying to catch up, together with the construction of the depot and based on the schedule, they were given 12-15 months, and then they can accommodate the operation,” he added.

The P63-billion project has three major components: a 24.7-kilometer (km) mass rail transit system with 14 stations from North Avenue to San Jose del Monte, Bulacan; an intermodal transportation terminal that will serve as a transportation hub catering to other types of public transportation; and a 19-km highway from San Jose del Monte to Bocaue, Bulacan.

A total of 36 trainsets or 108 cars acquired by SMC from South Korea’s Hyundai Rotem will be used for the railway system.

The project, which started construction in August 2016, is expected to accommodate up to 850,000 passengers daily and cut travel time between Quezon City and Bulacan from four hours to 34 minutes.

The MRT-7 will also connect to the existing Light Rail Transit Line 1 and MRT-3 to improve accessibility throughout the capital region and the nearby growth corridor of Bulacan province.

PHL urged to ramp up infrastructure investment

Workers are seen in a construction site in Manila. — PHILIPPINE STAR/RUSSELL PALMA

By Luisa Maria Jacinta C. Jocson, Reporter

THE PHILIPPINES and ASEAN+3 member economies should boost infrastructure investments, which will help drive economic recovery while maintaining debt sustainability amid a looming global recession, the ASEAN+3 Macroeconomic Research Office (AMRO) said.

AMRO Senior Economist Byunghoon Nam said the Philippines’ infrastructure stock and competitiveness is “low” compared with its neighbors.

“Despite the ‘Build, Build, Build’ program launched in 2017, the Philippines still faces sizeable investment needs for both traditional infrastructures, such as transportation and utility, and new infrastructures for digitalization and climate change mitigation/adaption,” he said in an e-mail.

The Philippine government plans to spend at least 5-6% of gross domestic product (GDP) on infrastructure.

Based on the latest Development Budget Coordination Committee (DBCC) report, the government plans to allocate P1.248 trillion for infrastructure this year, up by 4.1% from the P1.199-trillion program for 2022. The Department of Budget and Management (DBM) has yet to finalize this year’s infrastructure program.

“Infrastructure investments can contribute to boosting economic recovery and enhancing growth potential, while, at the same time, maintaining debt sustainability,” Mr. Nam said.

In an analytical note “Public Infrastructure Investment and Macroeconomic Impact in ASEAN+3 economies,” AMRO said the fiscal multipliers and long-term effects of public investment “may be higher during the recession and under high uncertainties.”

Higher public infrastructure investments may increase the debt-to-gross domestic product (GDP) ratio in the first year, but will eventually reduce it in the medium term as the economy grows and raises fiscal revenues, it added.

“In Japan, Korea, the Philippines, and Cambodia, the debt-to-GDP ratio declines substantially in the medium term, compared to the baseline, mainly due to high revenue buoyancy,” AMRO said.

Mr. Nam noted that the extent of the debt-to-GDP ratio’s decline would depend on the “efficiency of investments in promoting growth and the responsiveness of revenue to growth.”

As of end-November, the National Government’s outstanding debt hit a record P13.644 trillion.

The debt-to-GDP ratio was 63.7% at the end of September, the highest debt-to-GDP ratio in 17 years. It also remains above the 60% threshold considered manageable by sovereign debt lenders.

For 2023, the government is aiming to bring down the debt-to-GDP ratio to 60-62%.

In its study, AMRO noted that narrowed fiscal space during the pandemic may prevent governments from hiking infrastructure spending.

“Due to the revenue shortfalls and massive healthcare/stimulus spending during the pandemic, the public debt-to-GDP ratios in all member economies have increased substantially, raising concerns about debt sustainability. As a result, the authorities are leaning toward restoring their fiscal buffers in the medium term, notwithstanding the need for continuing economic recovery support,” it added.

In 2020, the Philippines, Singapore, and Brunei governments reduced public capital expenditures, as they reallocated funds to healthcare and support for pandemic-hit businesses, but restored capital spending in 2021.

In 2021, infrastructure spending rose by 31% to P895.1 billion from the P681 billion spent in 2020. As of end-November 2022, infrastructure spending was up 14.3% to P869.2 billion.

Mr. Nam said governments should implement policy measures to improve investment efficiency and strengthen revenue collection.

“For investment efficiency, the authorities should pay more attention to choosing projects based on rigorous cost-benefit analysis; monitoring and reviewing the implementation of projects to address the potential risks and issues preemptively; and improving the coordination and cooperation among public and private stakeholders,” he said.

To boost revenues, Mr. Nam said authorities maximize collection capacity, strengthen tax compliance, introduce new taxes, and raise tax rates.

“In addition, encouraging the public-private partnership (PPP) with a well-designed legal or institutional framework would mitigate the government’s financing burden while inviting the efficiency of the private sector. Financing sources would also be available from China’s Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) that has been encouraging infrastructure investments in the region,” he added.

The government last year revised the implementing rules and regulations (IRR) for the Build-Operate-Transfer (BOT) Law, which it hopes will attract more private sector investment in infrastructure.

INCENTIVES URGED
Meanwhile, Terry L. Ridon, a public investment analyst and convenor of think tank InfraWatch PH, said that the government should focus on making more infrastructure investments in underdeveloped areas.

“For emerging and underdeveloped areas, it will be the government’s sole burden to fund infrastructure which can improve the economy in various localities. As such, government-funded infrastructure in emerging areas should be encouraged, as it can create new industries and jobs, and improve efficiencies,” Mr. Ridon said in an e-mail.

“This will consequently lead to higher incomes and broader economic activity in previously economically stagnant regions, and contribute to a better management of government debt,” he added.

Mr. Ridon urged the government to offer incentives to encourage private sector investment.

“Ultimately, the Marcos government will have to decide whether to take on more debt to fund its infrastructure program or grant significant incentives to the private sector to engage in PPPs despite threats of recession, rising interest rates and other uncertainties,” he added.

Antonio A. Ligon, a law and business professor at De La Salle University, said it is uncertain whether the government can maintain a sustainable debt level while raising investments in infrastructure “due to the unclear roadmap of economic programs of the government.”

The Sound of Music returns to Manila

(L-R) PRODUCER Marc Routh with the cast of The Sound Of Music Jill-Christine Wiley, Trevor Martin, and Lauren Kidwell.

MANY fans who have seen the film or have been exposed to its music in their youth have fond memories of The Sound of Music. Whether it’s seeing the mountain ranges at the introduction of the film and panning to Maria’s turns, or being introduced to the music by their parents. They may also have had the chance to watch the musical on which the film was based when the international touring production came to Manila in 2017.

Metro Manila audiences will again be able to see the musical live when the international tour of a reimagined version of Rodgers & Hammerstein’s The Sound of Music, produced by Broadway International Group, comes to the metro for performances from March 7 to 26 at the Samsung Performing Arts Theater in Circuit Makati.

The musical’s story follows the governess (and failed novice) Maria who changes the lives of the widowed Captain von Trapp and his seven children by reintroducing them to music. It culminates with the family’s flight across the Austrian mountains as tensions rise prior to the outbreak of World War II.

The music, which celebrates its 65th anniversary next year, won five Tony Awards including Best Musical, and the Grammy Award for Best Show Album for its original run. It has also entertained generations of audience members with live productions across the world, and, of course, the classic film starring Julie Andrews and Christopher Plummer, which won five Oscar Awards including Best Picture.

“It’s quite exciting because Jack O’Brien — who is truly one of the great Broadway directors — has reimagined the show. He’s been able to really dig deep into the heart of the show can find a lot of the humanity, a lot of the honesty and the integrity of this really beautiful musical,” said Marc Routh, president of Broadway Asia Group, who has been producing, managing, and licensing the show for 30 years, at a press conference on Jan. 18 at the Samsung Performing Arts Theater.

Aside from the Broadway Asia Group, the new touring production of The Sound of Music is produced by Simone Genatt, along with co-producers Roy Furman, Broadway Asia Group, Cornice Productions and Gabrielle Palitz, in association with GMG Productions.

THE CAST
At the age of five, Jill-Christine Wiley saw The Sound of Music – her first musical theater show – together with her mother.

“[I remember thinking that] this five-year-old would not make it through the show or be at all interested. I apparently sat at the edge of my seat the entire time and had to meet the girl playing Maria afterwards and hand her a rose,” Ms. Wiley recalled. Soon after, she auditioned for the musical bagged the role of Marta von Trapp, the second youngest child in the family.

Now she plays the governess Maria Rainer and recently performed her 500th show with the musical.

The children are what she loves about doing the show. “The children of our show are one of my favorite aspects of the show and getting to share the stage with them…There is no greater masterclass in acting than watching a child light up onstage and watching them discover their characters and make genuine connection with their stage siblings,” Ms. Wiley said. The cast of children from North America will be joining the full company for the first time during the Manila leg of the tour.

Joining Ms. Rainer onstage is Trevor Martin who plays Captain von Trapp, and Lauren Kidwell as Mother Abbess.

“I love singing with Jill… I don’t know if many of you know but ‘My Favorite Things’ is actually between Mother Abbess and Maria,” Ms. Kidwell said. Unlike in the 1965 film musical, Maria and Mother Abbess perform the song together in Act 1 of the musical.

“Being able to access my character in a way that is surprising to a lot of people who come to see our show and just getting to play and access a fun childlike enjoyment of music through my character is something I love discovering every single time onstage,” Ms. Kidwell added.

THE MUSIC AND STORY
The show features music by Richard Rodgers, lyrics by Oscar Hammerstein II, with a book by Howard Lindsay and Russel Crouse.

The touring production highlights the original creative work of three-time Tony Award winning director Jack O’Brien, Broadway choreographer Danny Mefford, and musical supervision by Andy Einhorn, as well as an award-winning Broadway creative, design, and production team.

“At the heart of it is the music,” Mr. Routh said of what makes the musical a classic. “It’s a story about self-discovery, deep romantic love, and supporting these children who are growing up in harsh environments and giving them love through the medium of song…,” he added.

Having performed in the show many times, Ms. Kidwell admitted to still getting emotional every time she sings her solo.

“Every time I sing ‘Climb Ev’ry Mountain,’ without fail I get emotional,” Ms. Kidwell told BusinessWorld. “I sing it twice throughout the show, and the moment that underscoring happens, I get goosebumps.”

Aside from its music, the story’s relevance remains evident in situations around the world today.

“Georg von Trapp was a real person, so was Maria Rainer, and obviously these situations really did happen,” Mr. Martin said of the themes in relation to the Second World War. “There are some parts that are brought into the theatrical realm in the show, but that context is still there.”

The story, he said, transitions to being about surviving authoritarian rule and “refugees having to leave their home.”

“At the end of the show, the last 30 minutes or so, really feel like [a] new show… and that makes me very proud to be a part of it. [Because] I felt like that is an extremely important subject to talk about, whether it be from the 1940s or today,” Mr. Martin said.

Tickets to The Sound of Music are now on sale, online at ticketworld.com.ph and at TicketWorld outlets. — Michelle Anne P. Soliman

Arts & Culture (01/25/23)

PHIL.KOREAN-CULTURE.ORG

Art Lounge Manila holds Lunar New Year show

THE YEAR of the Water Rabbit is marked by Art Lounge Manila through the exhibit “Auspicious Beginning 88” as a way to convey the wish of good luck, peace, stability, and prosperity that the year of the Rabbit is said to bring.  The exhibit features a selection of Filipino-Chinese artists brought together by visual artist Addie Cukingnan. They are Addie Cukingnan, Meneline Wong, Charlie Co, Ronnie Lim, Dexter Sy, Rudy Yu, Ed Uygongco, Seb Chua, Elena Coyiuto, Tracie Anglo Dizon, Jo Uygongco, Victor Ng, Kylo Yu, Winna Go, and Margarita Lim. The exhibition will run until Jan. 31 at Art Lounge Manila at the Podium, Ortigas Center. For more information, visit www.artloungemanila.com.

Ang Huling el Bimbo is looking for Ligaya

AFTER auditions last year, Newport World Resorts’ Full House Theater Company (FHTC) has announced the new cast of the hit Ang Huling El Bimbo The Musical which will be staged in April at the Newport Performing Arts Theater. The search is now on for a child actress to play the role of Ligaya. The role is open to female children ages eight to 12 who are fluent in Tagalog. Interested parties must send a three-minute audition video singing a Tagalog song, together with their CV, and half-body photo. Send the requirements to aheb2023@gmail.com and indicate “Ligaya Audition” in the subject. The submission period is from Jan. 23 to 5 p.m. on Jan. 31. Those who will qualify will be contacted for an in-person audition at a later date.

Korean center presents fairytale-themed exhibit

THE EXHIBIT “Once Upon A Time… Hanbok Fairytale of Wooh Nayoung,” a reimagined world of fairytales with Korean twist, runs until Feb. 28 at the Korean Cultural Center (KCC) in the Philippines. Artist Wooh Nayoung’s experience in majoring in Korean painting and working in a game company led to creating her own style combining Western and Eastern characteristics. She is currently promoting the beauty of the traditional Korean dress, the hanbok, to the world through her work and collaborations with Hollywood and Disney. The exhibit is meant to make the visitor feel like they had stepped into a giant fairytale book. Princess characters like Cinderella and Rapunzel are dressed in hanbok and their animal friends are as well. In the children section of KCC’s library, a coloring station has been set up for visitors to reimagine their own fairytales. Visitors who show themselves enjoying the exhibition in their social media can present their posts at the KCC reception area to get a set of postcards. The Korean Cultural Center in the Philippines is located at 59 Bayani Rd, Fort Bonifacio, Taguig City. It is open from Monday to Friday, 9 a.m. to 4 p.m., and every Saturday from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Admission is free. Guests are advised to bring their vaccination card to present upon entry. A maximum of 60 people is allowed inside the building at a time for health and safety regulations.

The Pasinaya festival is back

PASINAYA, the multi-arts festival, returns onsite at the Cultural Center of the Philippines (CCP) Complex and other outdoor venues on Feb. 3 to 5. The festival highlights the complex’s different outdoor venues such as the CCP Front Lawn, Liwasang Kalikasan, Tanghalang Ignacio B. Gimenez, and its surroundings, and parade ground of Vicente Sotto Street, among others. “This year, Pasinaya follows the theme ‘Piglas Sining.’ We are breaking away from the notion that the CCP is just the building.  We are emphasizing that CCP can be anywhere,” said CCP artistic director Dennis N. Marasigan. Pasinaya continues its experience-all-you-can, pay-what-you-can scheme. For a suggested donation of P50, participants may go in and out of the different CCP venues to attend the 30-minute workshops in various art disciplines conducted by leading artists, resource persons and teachers, or watch as many shows, screenings, and activities as they can. Registration starts at 6:30 a.m. at the Bukaneg side of the Front Lawn and at Vicente Sotto Street. On Feb. 3, there will be a Pagtitipon, an invitational gathering of the Kaisa sa Sining (KSS) regional partners. There are 59 regional partners from Luzon, Visayas and Mindanao in the KSS network, with three new partners joining. Palihan and Palabas happen on Feb. 4 and 5, kicking off at the CCP Front Lawn with a parade and special program. In Palihan, audiences can join the different workshops, and in Palabas they can watch unlimited shows, featuring more than 3,000 artists from different art fields. Pasinaya partners with various galleries, museums and art spaces around the metro to put the spotlight on communal artistic spirit and collaborations. For this segment, the Paseo Museo, there will be hop-on, hop-off shuttle vans that will go around the participating arts spaces for free on Feb. 4 and 5. Meanwhile, festival programmers and art groups will meet in Palitan on Feb. 4 and 5, on-site at Tanghalang Ignacio Gimenez and online via Zoom. For updates, visit the Cultural Center of the Philippines social media accounts. 

Salcedo Auctions announces new auctions

SALCEDO Auctions will be mounting the Gavel&Block “art + design” auction on Feb. 4. It features modern and contemporary art, and furniture, jewelry, watches, designer pieces, and other collectibles. A special section is dedicated to Scrapboards by Project Re-Dew — surfboard sculptures created out of PET bottles upcycled into resin and wood fragments from the aftermath of Super Typhoon Rai (Odette) — which are being sold to help rebuild the surfing town of Siargao. The auction preview will run from 9 a.m. and 5 p.m. daily except Sunday and Monday until Feb. 3 at NEX Tower, 6786 Ayala Ave., Makati City. Salcedo Auctions also announced that its auction, “The Well-Appointed Life,” will now be held twice a year, in March and September. The auction features important Philippine art, heirloom furniture and decor in the “Connoisseur Collection,” a collection of fine jewelry and timepieces, and rare automobiles. For more information, visit https://salcedoauctions.com/.

Artbook.ph’ offers new books for the new year

ARTBOOKS.PH has a new selection of books for the new year. Among the books are: Cuenca: Sketchbook of a Spanish Hill Town (₱6,000) in which artist Fernando Zóbel shares his memories in Cuenca, Spain from 1963-1965 through annotated drawings in ink and watercolor; Bullfighting in the Philippines, 1602-2022 (₱999) by Gaspar A. Vibal, which is the most comprehensive Philippine taurine history to date; Heritage Churches of the Cagayan River Basin (₱699) by Javier Galván Guijo, part of the Fifty Shades of Philippine Art series by Vibal, is a comprehensive architectural survey of the major heritage churches of the Spanish colonial era that were built due to the evangelical efforts along the Río Grande de Cagayan and includes the history of a church and its urban settlement, the description of its features, the measurement and typification of its major architectonic elements, and a critique of its aesthetics and conservation aspects; When We Danced (₱3,575), a photobook by Eddie Boy Escudero which captures the vibrant and liberated 1990s club scene in Manila; and CATipunan: Furrtraits Vollumes 1, 2, and 3 (P150 each) which are collections of written and visual portraits of cats produced for International Cat Day (Aug. 8) in 2022.

Virgin Labfest is looking for plays

NOW in its 18th year, the Virgin Labfest (VLF), the annual theater festival of unpublished, unstaged, untried, and untested works, is now open for script submissions for its 2024 edition. Deadline for submission is midnight on Feb. 28. Entries must be submitted in doc or pdf format only to thewritersblocinc@gmail.com. The call for script submissions is open to all Filipino citizens only.  Entries should have a maximum running time of 40 minutes. The festival is open to various themes and genres. All submitted works must not have been previously published in book form, staged commercially for more than two performances (staged readings and/or one-time workshop productions are allowed), or have not received any recognitions and awards in competitions and the like. Script entries may be in Filipino, English, Cebuano, Hiligaynon, or Ilocano, but should be submitted with accompanying Filipino translations.  Entries in other Filipino languages will also be considered based on availability and capability of performers. A partnership project of the Cultural Center of the Philippines, The Writer’s Bloc, and Tanghalang Pilipino, Inc., the theater festival will select 12 new one-act plays. The playwrights of the selected plays must be willing to undergo a script development process with the creative team of the festival. The finalists will be formally announced at the end of the VLF Year 18, slated this June. For inquiries, call 8832-1125 local 1600 or email virginlabfest2023@gmail.com

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