Bacolod born Eduardo Varela Sicangco has blazed a trail - from small island hometown of grand designs to the bright lights of Broadway in the Big Apple, New York City. Recently his costumes were featured in the popular Showstoppersexhibit at NYC’s
Times Square.
Showstoppersmain window display, NYC’s Times Square
Toto, as he is known to us back home,
is a master scenographer and illustrator. His multi-awarded creative work - on
stage at the Cultural Center of the Philippines and on Broadway, in ballets and
opera, on Disney and Hollywood films - have taken him all over the
world.
Yet for us, it is his local roots in Bacolod that put the shine
on much of his spectacular achievements. Raised in a home surrounded
and immersed in culture and art - by his lyric soprano mom and audiophile
dad who possessed a vast collection of cast recordings.
Showstoppers' central display of Toto's red showgirls
Very early on he participated avidly in our local school and
community theater - while eagerly absorbed and absorbing the musicals and
theatrical releases of Hollywood and Broadway.
‘Paradis’ finale on display at the Showstoppers exhibit
In high school he joined a local drama guild and started designing
sets and costumes - on to college and after. He was part of a pantheon of Adonis youths who quickly mesmerized us all - Peque Gallaga the director, Rene Hinojales the choreographer, and Toto Sicangco for sets, props and costume design.
As a student of National Artist Salvador Bernal at the Ateneo de Manila University, he honed his craft into the demanding discipline
of scenic design - earning accolades as Bernal’s protégé. Sitting in in his class even after graduation - taken under his wing, hired as an assistant, and mentored until he got his first break - at the Cultural Center of
the Philippines, where he designed Le Carnaval for Ballet Philippines.
Upon completion of an MFA in stage design at New
York University, Tisch School of the Arts, he received the J.S. Seidman Award
for Excellence in Design. He currently shares his gifted talent as a Master
Teacher of Design at NYU and an associate professor of design at the University
of North Carolina, School of Design and Production.
To this day, Toto takes great pride in his "old school, tried and tested" techniques - preferring to work hands on and gadget free. To illustrate his designs his favorite tools are few yet quite specific - drafting vellum, tracing paper, B pencils, an eraser, a can of Krylon Workable Fixatif and Winsor & Newton Gouache paint tubes.
Showstoppers is a one-of-a-kind, immersive exhibition conceptualized to raise money for the Costume Industry Coalition Recovery Fund, which continues to support one of the hardest hit sectors of the entertainment industry during these COVID times.
Presented in New York City’s vital Theatre District - the former home of Modell’s, world-renowned design firm, Thinc Design. The Times Square space has been transformed into an immersive maze featuring more than 100 of the industry’s most beautiful and iconic costumes.
The exhibit showcases eight Sicangco showgirls - all in red from the "Paradis" finale - conceptualized as a phoenix rising from the ashes, according to the designer. Seven were arranged in fierce fashion at
the center of the main lobby and one is most prominently displayed in the front window.
"Paradis" video courtesy of Norwegian Cruise lines
“Paradis”
is a revue staged on the Norwegian Cruise Line - conceived, choreographed
and directed by Patti Wilcox. It takes the audience on a journey to Parisian
clubs like the Folies Bergère, Lido, Moulin Rouge, and Crazy Horse Saloon.
vintage costume making display at Showstoppers
“[Showstoppers] is a group show, and the focus is not on
the designers but on the incredible costume makers, artisans and craftspeople
responsible for turning a designer’s sketch into reality. I think this spotlight
will show the viewers not just what it takes to make a Broadway-level costume but will impress on them the fact that this is haute couture we’re dealing
with.” ~ Eduardo V. Sicangco
Belief in giant monsters eclipsing the moon and efforts to frighten them away are widespread throughout the Orient. Found all over Asia — in the Philippines, Malaysia, Indonesia, Thailand, Vietnam, Japan, Mongolia, China and India — these ancient stories were spread through trade routes with the expansion of the earliest empires. The folklore of Bisaya and Mandaya indigenous tribes of the Philippines tell different tales of a giant moon eating crab they call Tambanokano . Crab_king by noah-kh / DeviantArt Tambanokano the crab was the colossal son of LiAdlao, the golden orb of our sun and LiBulan, the silver sprite of our moon. They were two of four siblings born to LiDagat, the sea and LiHangin, the wind. Long ago in a tiny village of Buglas, the cloudless night sky was illuminated by a bright flash of lightning. Buglas is the fourth largest island in the ancient archipelago we now know as the Republic of the Philippines. As the ocean waves crash violently along the shore, smashing...
" If you white men had never come here, this country would still be like it was. It would be all pure here. You call it wild, but it wasn’t really wild, it was free. Animals aren’t wild, they’re just free. And that’s the way we were. You called us wild, you called us savages. But we were just free. If we were savages, Columbus would never have gotten off the island alive. Our religion is all about thanking the Creator. That’s what we do when we pray. We don’t ask Him for things. We thank Him [Her]. We thank Him for the world and every animal and plant in it. We thank Him for everything that exists. We don’t take it for granted that a tree is just there. We thank the Creator for that tree. If we don’t thank Him, maybe the Creator will take that tree away... We are made from Mother Earth and we go back to Mother Earth. We can’t “own” Mother Earth. We’re just visiting here. We are the Creator’s guests. " Leon Shenandoah , — former “Tadodaho” of the Grand Council of the Six Natio...
Noam Chomsky said the social conditions that are driving voters to Donald Trump also explain the rise of fascist leaders such as Adolf Hitler. The famed linguist and political scientist discussed the presidential election in a recent interview with Alternet , where he was asked to explain Trump’s growing popularity with Republican voters. Photo Credit: Tony Webster/Flickr CC Superficial social media news feeds as well as a growing trend to skim read could well be culprits to Trump's misleading misinformation campaigns.
Comments
Post a Comment