September 2, 2024 | 12:00am
MANILA, Philippines — After wrapping up the musical, “One More Chance,” where he played the iconic role of Popoy, the love of Basha, singer-actor-dancer Sam Concepcion was immediately called on to audition for “Once On This Island,” to be staged by 9Works Theatrical.
“I didn’t even know I would be called on until the first day of rehearsals (July 8) for ‘Once On This Island,’” shared Sam. “They hired me on the day of the first rehearsals.”
His inclusion in the musical has been floating around towards the end of the run of “One More Chance” and because of theater actor Floyd Tena.
“It was the idea of Floyd to make me do Daniel (Beauxhomme,) in ‘Once On This Island,’” shared Sam. “He said, ‘You know, the role of Daniel fits you. Let me call up some people.’”
Sam has been familiar with “Once On This Island” in the past, although he didn’t know it by heart, like a lot of other shows.
“I’ve been doing ‘One More Chance’ for three months every day (Wednesdays to Sundays) and that was heavy drama,” said Sam. “That ran from April to June this year with a total of 80 shows. After that, I thought maybe I should do something like classical theater like ‘Once On This Island.’”
“One More Chance is pop, Filipino OPM (Original Pilipino Music). It’s nice to go back to doing classical theater,” added Sam.
Sam admitted to being a “theater baby” way before he went to ABS-CBN and joined the Big Division of the first season of “Little Big Star” in 2006, when he bagged the trophy.
At five, he made his first public performance in a worship cantata that landed him a role in the stage play, “Sino Ka Ba, Jose Rizal?,” back in 1997.
Sam has no particular expectations doing “Once On This Island” right after his pop musical. “But going into music rehearsals of ‘Once On This Island’ and I saw the cast, heard everybody and I thought they sounded amazing.”
“I was convinced this ‘Once On This Island’ was great. I’m glad that I am around. Out theater vets who are here — Manong (Raul Montesa), Ate Sheila (Valderrama), Kuya Loy (Martinez) – to the newer ones who are our leads – Angela, Thea – I feel we are such a good mix of old and new, plus somewhere in between,” shared he.
It wasn’t hard for Sam to adjust after doing “One More Chance” to “Once On This Island.” He initially thought it was going to be hard for him.
“One, ‘Once On This Island’ is a completely different language after doing Tagalog songs and dialogue,” he reasoned out. “Tagalog and English. They are two different things. Different ways of acting also.”
“Music is very different, from pop to more traditional theater. But I think it helps that the two productions are very different. I think it’s easier to switch that way, because if they were similar, some of the things may seep into the other role if it was too similar,” added he.
“But these are two different things, two different productions, so I can just switch on and off and change. I’m juggling between the two roles at the moment, with ‘One More Chance’ and ‘Once On This Island’ at the same time.”
“Some days, I’m at RCBC for ‘Once On This Island,’ some days I’m at PETA for ‘One More Chance.”
Sam recently signed up with his new label, Universal Records. “So, we’ve been releasing songs,” he granted. “I just haven’t done it since I started ‘One More Chance’ and ‘Once On This Island.’ Hopefully, afterwards, I can go back to releasing music.”
Sam insisted the way things happen for him, things come in seasons. “I obviously cannot do all things at the same time,” he explained. “That’s physically impossible for me.”
“There are times when I’m just doing series, so when I do music or theater, I think it’s essential for me. I don’t feel completely satisfied or fulfilled just doing one thing.”
“I have to be always kind of circling around different mediums to feel like I’m exercising everything,” added he.
Sam expressed his desire to do a straight play, his dream production for theater. “If there is a good material that I will be interested in, I will have to do a straight play,” he said. “It can be an original production also.”
“Once On This Island” is a tale of love, loss and resilience. It follows the story of a young peasant girl, Ti Moune, who defies the gods to try and save the life of a young, wealthy boy, Daniel Beauxhomme, whom Sam will play.
The musical explores the themes of class, community and the power of the human spirit. For familiarity reasons, “Once On This Island” is also inspired by Hans Christian Andersen’s The Little Mermaid.
“Once On This Island” will run on all weekends of September. Also in the cast are Radha as Asaka, Jef Flores alternating with Sam as Daniel Beauxhomme, Shiela Valderrama-Martinez and Jasmine Fitzgerald alternating as Erzulie, Noel Rayos and Raul Montesa alternating as Tonton Juan, Lorenz Martinez as Papa Ge.
Jordan Andrews, Sam Libao and Jonjon Martin alternate as Storyteller, Garrett Bolden as Agwe, with Thea Astley and Angela Ken alternating as Ti Moune. Bianca Estacio and Reese Iso play Little Ti Moune.
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