Filipino makes it to ‘Phantom’ cast

Filipino Dondi Ong never expected he’d make the cut as Ubaldo Piangi, the principal tenor of the opera. He wanted to audition for another production at Resorts World Manila. But something happened along the way and he found himself trying out for Andrew Lloyd Webber’s “The Phantom of the Opera,” which opens on Saturday, Aug. 25 at the Cultural Center of the Philippines.

“I was nervous at first,” he recalls in an interview after the press conference for “Phantom of the Opera” at Diamond Hotel on Monday, August 13. “But later, everything just happened.”

Two weeks later he got a call, informing him that he would be part of the international cast that make up the internationally-acclaimed musical.

Dondi believes everything fell into place for him. But he feels the pressure of representing the Philippines in the lavish production.

Singing is not new to Dondi. He was a member of the University of the Philippines Ambassadors the and Philippine Madriagal Singers.

But Dondi says that it’s not enough to be gifted.

“One must also work hard,” he saysl.

“The Phantom of the Opera”, the longest-running musical on Broadway, tells the story of a mysterious phantom that haunts the Paris Opera House.

The Philippine run has been extended until Sept. 30.

Maridol Rañoa-Bismark | Yahoo! Southeast Asia Newsroom