( File Photo ) The Honoree of the evening , no other than the Founding Chair of the Cultural Center of the Philippines was given a tribute by the Cultural Center of the Philippines with " Seven Arts, One Imelda " , a gala event that extols the seven arts through signature pieces that display the virtuosity of the Filipino artists. (photo by : Ramon Lopez )
Cultural Center of the Philippines
40th Anniversary Festival
Seven Arts, one imelda program brochure
September 11, 2009
Excerpts from news on line from the Philippine Entertainment Portal (PEP) interview of Mrs. Imelda Marcos by Jocelyn Dimaculangan, September 17,2009
PEP (Philippine Entertainment Portal) asked the widow of the late Ferdinand Marcos how she felt about this tribute.
" Well, I am so happy that after all these years, the CCP is still producing so many great artists that we Filipinos can be proud of, " said Imelda. The sanctuary that we started to build 44 years ago, has become a sanctuary for the Filipino soul, a monument to the Filipino spirit, and has really given life to the spirits of our people. And it is here where the good, true and beautiful has become real.
"And so I am very grateful to the artists. I' am very grateful to everybody for making this Cultural Center a sanctuary for the Filipino soul and spirit. Hopefully, what is beautiful in all of us, will also unite us, not only enrich us and give us a great future. I pray and hope that this future is here forever. and i know it will.
" There is no politics involved here. We are honoring her not as the former first lady but as the founding chair of the CCP. The event is a tribute to her by the artists whom she helped, so let us take off the political color, " Sunico told the Inquirer by phone.
Two acts ! The first, a command performance type where the stars of Philippine Classical music would each shine with their spot numbers. Then , a second act where 'a little craziness" would be involved. We knew what we wanted images, we knew we wanted to evoke a sense of history, perhaps even irony. We knew we didn't want a puff piece, but one that a sense of folly, survival tragedy and continuum.
Thus, tonight's show combines the electric formality of a gala as well as the inspired madness of performance Art. Hopefully, the First Act
expresses the thanks of the artists whom Imelda has supported. As for the Second Act, well... the images will have to speak for themselves.
Imelda Marcos has always been many things to many people. This tribute or distillation or whatever is all about the Myth of the Muse and the resulting madness that inspires artists. Whatever else, one may think or say of Imelda, that contribution cannot be dismissed.
ALEXANDER CORTEZ and FLOY QUINTOS
September 21, 2009- In a related news online from NEMS360.com
World Famous pianist , LICAD , to perform at Link Center
by M. Scott Morris / NEMS Daily Journal
TUPELO - Music is an international language, and pianist Cecile Licad has earned applause around the globe.
A native of the Philippines, Licad will open the Tupelo Symphony Orchestra's season on Saturday at Link Center Concert Hall.
" Good is not a word to use for her, " said Dr. Noel Garcia, a Houston physician who helped arrange Licad's performance. " Such a person comes along once a generation.. "
The concert will be presented by TSO and the Philippine Society of Tupelo and friends.
She has performed with symphonies in Boston, New York, Tokyo, London, and beyond. During her Tupelo visit, it'll just be Licad, TSO's Steinway concert grand piano and the audience.
Garcia, also a native of the Philippines, saw Licad's February performance at the University of Memphis. He decided it was time to bring her to Northeast Mississippi.
" We raised the money, " Garcia said. " Doctors I know helped, and a lot of music lovers.
Deedee Cantrall, a Tupelo resident and a native of the Philippines, said Elvis Presley might have helped make the concert possible.
Cantrall lives on Elvis Boulevard, which Licad's manager noticed in an e-mail.
" He said she doesn't usually perform in small cities, but it is the birthplace of Elvis Presley. They got excited, " Cantrall said." Her manager said she is a fan. "
Don't expect any Elvis tunes during her concert. Licad will perform Beethoven's sonata, " Pathetique. "
" It's really a difficult piece, " Garcia said, " and an extra difficult piece to play well."
She'll also perform two works by Franz Liszt and two by a Filipino composer.
" when I see people like her, people who do so well, it inspire me to do what I can do as well as I can, " Garcia said. I can never play like her, but at least I can watch. I can listen. She is amazing. "
(September 6,2009) excerpts from an interview of Life & Style by Millet Mananquil of the Philippine Star
' THERE' S A LITTLE IMELDA IN ALL OF US
1. As First Lady, you were always surrounded by your Blue Ladies. are they still around?
There are still a few, you know, you still have friends if you have a little clout. There will be friends, yes, but only because they want this or that. Magpapasama ka lang nga, di ka masamahan.
2. Where are your most loyal friends?
gone...I have acquaintances, yes. But friends ?
3. Did anyone among them give you help when you needed it?
Sometimes, they cannot even help themselves, so how can they help me ? I was just lucky that for my trial in New york, Doris Duke was there. It was at this point, the millions of so- called friends, I could'nt find. ( Libyan President Muammar) Khadafi offered to give my bail of $5 million, but fortunately we didn't have to take it because Doris was there, when I was First Lady, I was nice to her, when I was no longer First Lady, she was still there...
4. What about your admirers?
Definitely, high-ranking and rich people tried to come and take care of me.
5. Having been widowed, was there ever a time when you thought of considering anyone from among your admirers? Did you find anyone worthy of attention ?
More than worthy admirers, what I needed most was my motherland..At this stage of my life, it's hard to find someone as prefect as Ferdinand was. The longer his gone, the more perfect he becomes.
6. Having gone through exile, court cases, and having been abandoned by friends and losing all your possessions, what else can make you cry now?
I cry at the thought that I have been orphaned too many times- I lost my mother when I was eight, I lost my husband, and I was orphaned away from my motherland. Even the Bible says there is a special place in hell for those who oppress widows and orphans.
7. Who are your Oppressors?
I have been persecuted, maligned and ridiculed. The ones who persecuted me were not individuals, but governments and superpowers. but I won my case and was cleared after the trial of the century where they questioned the four major buildings I bought in New York- the tallest building in Wall Street, the most beautiful building on Fifth Avenue, another on Madison...Look at the attack on the Twin Tower buildings, when did it happened? it was on 9 / 11, the birthday of Ferdinand. I believe there's a significance to that. there are no coincidences. there is such a thing as Karma... I have no bitterness in my heart nor anger in my soul. I believe in divine justice... The justice system works. God bless America.
8. How did you react to Newsweek's citing you in their list of " History's 11Greediest people" ?
I had mixed feelings. Genghis Khan was on the list too, and he was the greatest conqueror of mankind. Mrs. Marcos did not conquer the world with weapons...But I plead guilty to being greedy for the true, the good and the beautiful..the press both local and international, they have persecuted me. But I understand that is freedom of the press. They also have a deadline to meet, and they don't have time to research on the truth.
9. What could be the worst lie ever written about you ?
All they said which I was not. That I was a demon, a criminal, that I killed Ninoy. I liked Ninoy, he was even related to me by affinity. Speaker Romualdez's wife was Paz Aquino Gueco.. I even prayed for Cory when was hospitalized.
10. One of your children said that it was you who urged them to offer their condolences to the Aquino family during the wake for President Cory.
Yes, and i even asked the Marcos loyalists in Tondo to pray for her.
11. Is it Bongbong who will be the family's next political torch bearer ?
Bongbong is not only a visionary, he is also a doer. All my three children are brilliant. Imee is an Intellectual, and now she is busy helping street children. Irene nurtures and takes care of young musicians...The Lord has also blessed me with eight grandchildren, all boys. Bongbong and Lisa ( Araneta) have Sandro, Simon and Vincent who are now studying in London. Imee has Borgy, Michael and Mathew (with ex-husband Tommy Manotoc), and Irene and Greggy (Araneta) have Alfonso and Luis.
12. Next week, the Cultural Center of the Philippines which you inaugurated on the eve of your husband's birthday, September 10, 1969, is celebrating its 40th anniversary...
You know, I built the CCP as a sanctuary of the Filipino soul and a monument to the Filipino spirit. But after our exile, it was no longer that way. The soul is gone, the spirit is gone.
13. After your exile in Hawaii, how did it feel coming back to the CCP to watch a show?
Well, they gave me a seat nearest the bathroom of the CCP. But that's ok...I built this Kingdom, and wherever you sit is stone.
14. Perhaps the CCP presentation, " Seven Arts, One Imelda " on September 11, under the new CCP president Raul Sunico, one of your music scholars, will make up for that.
Yes, Raul is such a gifted person, I am sure he has the vision to bring back the soul and the spirit to the CCP..
You know , it's funny how even John D. Rockefeller was amazed at how I was able to build the CCP. During a visit here right after Ferdinand was elected President, I showed Rockefeller the Manila Bay area where I planned to build the CCP, He said: " But my dear girl, that's all water! ".....I said, " No. Mr. Rockefeller, I can do it...On the first year, I'll drive the file. On the second year, I'll cover the soil. On the third year, the building will rise. On the fourth year, the curtain will rise. "
15. You were able to rush construction of buildings to meet your target schedules. And it was said that in Malacanang, you worked till early morning and hardly slept. How's your typical day ?
Well, these days, I still sleep at 3 a.m. and wake up after two or three or five hours.
16. What do you do for relaxation ?
Now I am busy making jewelry out of basura (garbage). You see my brooch and earrings ? These are made from left over stones, resins and beads. Part of Imelda collection which was put together by Imee and Borgy years ago, and it's selling so fast, they can't produce enough.
17. What about these dolls in ternos ? They look like Imelda dolls.
Yes, these are made by people from Mindanao, and I'm glad they're making so much money on these. The workers buy dried coconut husk for one peso, then they make the doll and sell it for P150 each.
That's big business for them.
18. And that's a comfortable, stylized terno you're wearing.
Ay, I bought the material at 168 in Divisoria, which is my favorite shopping place now, and had my mananahi (seamstress) sew it at home.
19. Have you tried the new shopping places in town?
Yes, pag tumatanda ka na ( as you get old), you want to discover new things and new places. Yes, I've been to SM, Greenbelt, Serendra, , although I just enjoy looking, I can't afford even their sales. The nice thing when you go to 168 is that you see other people like you who are as deprived as you, and they can afford the same things that you like.
20. How many pair of shoes do you own now ?
I may have more than 3,000 pairs now because after the government got my shoes, people have been giving me , especially for my birthday. I just got another Marikina pair from Bayani Fernando, because I have been supportive of their Shoe Museum. For that matter, even the Metropolitan Museum of New York gave me a series of shoes, one of the biggest shows they've had.
21. At 80, you're still looking good. What's your beauty secret?
If I had bitterness in my soul, I wouldn't have lasted this long.
I always have something beautiful inside me, Maybe that's my only beauty secret. Because I do all the wrong things. I don't sleep enough. My makeup I do myself, and everybody complains that I don't do it well.
22. Tell us about your happiest moments in Hawaii.
I have none.... But yes, I was happiest when I was by the side of Ferdinand longer than any time, because we were married 35 years, and i was First Lady 20 years of that and busy getting used to political life. Today, he is more with me than before, I always consult him before doing anything.
23. The remains of your husband are still in Ilocos. Where and when do you plan to hold a burial ?
When I finish all my cares, I will fulfill his wish of an honorable burial. It may not be the Libingan ng Mga Bayani because even dogs are there now.
24. Famous people are always asked what words they want written as their epitaph. How about yours?
" Here lies love. "
' IMELDA, ' THE NEW MUSICAL OPENS IN NEW YORK, NEW YORK
(philstar.com) updated October 15, 2009 09:05 AM
New York --- ' Imelda,' a new musical of former First Lady Imelda Marcos, is showing at the Julia Miles Theater in New York until Oct. 18.
Staged by Pan Asian Repertory Theater, the musical spans the years after Philippine Independence in the 1940's to the Marcoses' fall from grace in the 1980s.
Pan Asian Repertory said in its website the musical is a " story of a powerful and controversial figure...an ambitious woman who wants to make her country an equal player on the world stage, "
Directed by Tim Dang, the musical opened last September 22 and will run until October 18. Among its many highlights are the songs " A Beautiful Place, " sung by Imelda Marcos, " If I Had Raised a Butterfly, " sung by former strongman Ferdinand Marcos and Ninoy Aquino, and " Myself, My Heart, " sung by Cory Aquino after her husband's assassination.
The New York Times has published a review of the show with good words for the show's lead star.
" The New York premiere has taken it up a notch with f-foot-6 " Miss Saigon" and "Aida " vet Jaycee Macapugay as Imelda. And Chou has made sure she is properly swathed in Imeldific ( a self-coined adjective that Meldy used to mean " ostentatious extravagance") wear, " it said.
And what is an Imelda musical without the famed shoes?
" Of course, there are shoes, " The New York Times review said. " And a song about them., " 3,000 Pairs of Shoes " - though Imelda insists there were only 1,060 ( " Why the thrills for my espadrills? What boring chat, I will tell my story, all without this Imelda Marcos shoe mystique. Love and Youth, tragedy and truth, laughs, romance and all that. Talk of shoes, what a pain. I'm here to entertain).
PRESS and REVIEWS FOR IMELDA : A NEW MUSICAL
The show I've seen is Imelda the friend, By Cindy Adams NY Post
Some show called " Imelda" by some company called Pan Asian Repertory is currently at some off-Broad way theater called Julia Miles. I haven't seen it. I have, however, seen and long known Imelda Marcos, the former first lady of the Philippines. She was my friend for many years. A production based on her life unlooses many memories. Like:
In the 70's, I was a director of the Miss Universe pageant. The event was previously staged in such domestic locations as California and Puerto Rico. Phoning my friend, I suggested sunny tropical Manila as the next venue. Celebrating her country on international TV? To 500 million viewers? Imelda loved the idea. She built a glorious new theater just for the telecast. It was open on three sides.
The eve of the telecast brought news that an imminent hurricane threatened the island of Luzon. The TV people, The sponsors, the organizers, everyone freaked. Imelda, not. In the presidential palace she calmly told me, " I will stop this hurricane. " what? Come again, lady? Imelda sent the Philippine Air Force up in Piper Cubs, which are roughly the size of my eyelashes, with orders to seed the clouds. Being neither meteorologist nor physicist, I don't recall exactly what they used, but I remember something like silver nitrate bullets.
All I know- and anyone involved will underscore what I now write- Is: Those ominous dark clouds floated out to sea and, within a 50-mile
radius of Luzon, the sun shone brightly and remained that way throughout the telecast. Just 48 hours later, the whole island was battered with a killer hurricane, the main drag Roxas Boulevard was flooded, and we were locked in for days.
Another memory. The time I flew over, bringing a whole platoon of television officials. She planned a lavish nighttime party. Songs, dancing, entertainment and feasting to celebrate. The problem was, crossing the world meant a forever endless flight. NASA gets to the moon faster. However, the first lady, who never slept more than three or four hours, arranged this gala for the very day we arrived. Hastily showered, barely unpacked, I was bedraggled and hadn't slept. She seated me in place of honor- on President Marcos's right. Despite trying to buy them up and bury them, there exist a photos of me fast asleep on his chest. My head laying across the top of the presidential body like the Order of the Garter.
Another memory. New York. The two of us shopping. In the late Pauline's Trigere's showroom. Standing in underwear like anyone else, Imelda picked a large selection, and payment came ( weeks later Trigere called me to call her to get it) by the hand of a staffer. One envelope. Thousands in cash. Nice crisp bills.
And no matter how long we were out or where we went, she never needed the ladies' room. Said the wife of Ferdinand Marcos. then president of the Philippines: " I watch whatever water or liquids I drink before I go out. It is not chic for a first lady to pee."
As I write, I am staring at the front pages on my office wall.
Stories of Imelda on trial here, accused of making a few hundred million dollars disappear. I was with her, every day, for months, in federal court in New York. The Wenesday, Nov. 2, 1988, front page, " Fallen first lady of the Philippines talks to Cindy Adams about her bail. " The previous afternoon a priest had come to hold a private Mass for her in the living room. Afterward, it was just we too in her Waldorf suite when Doris Duke, accompanied by lawyers, presented $ 5 million to keep her out of jail. Into the living room rushed aides and in Tagalog, which I don't speak- but which they translated-said Miss Duke was on her way up. Pushing me into the guest john in the foyer right outside the living room, they quickly shut the door. I heard everything.
Friday, June 1, 1990, the picture of Imelda collapsed, getting oxygen on a stretcher. The headline. " Cindy Adams at New York Hospital with stricken Imelda Marcos. " .... I was with her the day they found her not guilty and she went the entire length of St. Patrick's center aisle, front door to holy altar, on her knees.
I was with her all over the world when she'd party until dawn singing. Her favorite was " The Yellow Rose of Texas." I was with her in Persepolis, Iran, when we were both guests of the Shah. I was with her when she said she wasn't terrified because " I have faith in God, and the opposite side of danger is opportunity. " I was with her with exiled President Marcos in their small hous when she was still first lady and when she played with a trunkful of jewelry . I was with her when she talked of friendships with George Hamilton, Gloria Vanderbilt, Van Cliburn.
And I was with her in her post-exile, post- trial East 80s townhouse when she gave a rooftop dinner. attempting to reclaim those once-heady glory days, she served lamb couscous and pigeon pie, saying, " The King of Morocco personally sent this. " Caterer Samir Billan, who today owns the Upper East Side restaurant Michelle's Kitchen and who I knew because I, too, used him, told me. " Mrs. Marcos ordered this, and I cooked it and sent it over. "
No, I have not seen the play " Imelda".... but... yes...I know Imelda Marcos.
Imelda, The Musical !
Thursday September 10,2009
The Village Voice, New York News Blog
By Michael Musto in Featured, politics, theater
You'll have to suspend disbelief and trust me on this one, people. It's time for Evita to finally step back and make way for a lady with far better footwear.
You see, The Pan Asian Repertory Theater has announced the East Coast premiere of IMELDA, A New Musical, " a portrait of the ambitious and controversial woman ofter referred to as " The Steel Butterfly. " The musical spans the 1940s to 1980s, the pivotal years after the Philippines gained its independence. Imelda Marcos wanted to set her country as an equal player on the world stage and gain the respect of the world. " And she looked fabulous while doing so, darlings !
I just pray the show doesn't waste time with songs about trivial stuff like how Imelda hubby's top political rival was mysteriously assassinated. I only want lots of splashy numbers about her shoe collection.
The limited engagement plays September 22nd - October 18th at the Julia Miles Theater, 424 West 55th Street.
