You Should be Dancing!

You should be dancing to Saturday Night Fever

Nickky Faustine P. de Guzman

IT’S stayin’ alive -- and is livelier than ever. The movie Saturday Night Fever,which catapulted John Travolta into stardom and made the Bee Gees’ songs the world’s disco anthems back in the 1970s, is now a stage musical set to wow its fans from July 3 to 26 at Solaire’s The Theater.

The Atlantis Theatrical Entertainment Group will bringSaturday Night Fever the Musical to Asia. Its first stop is in the Philippines, and will move to Malaysia and Singapore in September and October.

The movie was set in 1976 in Brooklyn, New York. Tony Manero (played by John Travolta) lives in a tough neighborhood with unstable job. But he has a knack for dancing and has only one dream: to become the disco king. Every Saturday night, he struts his stuff on the dance floor. There, he met Stephanie Mangano, who also dreams of a bigger world beyond Brooklyn. Together they train for a dance competition that would eventually change their lives.

The stage version is a throwback and a tribute to the colorful ’70s, but with more to give. While the audience is expected to relive the flair and pizzazz of that generation, thanks to the Bee Gees’ hit songs like “Stayin’ Alive,” “Night Fever,” “How Deep is Your Love,” and “Disco Inferno,” Director Bobby Garcia said in a statement that everyone should expect more. The play is going to be edgier and with a reconceptualized production, he said. 

“Every show that is converted from a movie to the stage is always going to be a little different. You don’t have the cameras, for one. I think this production is a challenge because of the dancing and singing in the different era and time. But it’s exciting to bring what we have in our generation to that generation and vice-versa. We say just go for it and feel the moment every night of the production,” said Brandon Rubendall during the show’s launch at Solaire. He’ll be playing Tony Manero while Jenna Rubaii plays Stephanie Mangano.

Both actors aren’t newbies to the dancing and singing stage. Mr. Rubendall has performed in Broadway shows like Wicked, Hairspray, and Spiderman and was a dancer for Beyonce, Madonna, and Jennifer Lopez. Ms. Rubaii has been dancing since she was six years old. She was part of Green Day’s hit musical American Idiot and Broadway’s Fifty Four Forever, inspired by New York’s club Studio 54.

The cast will start rehearsing in May.

Don’t think that the play’s for the older generation only. It’s for everyone.

“All the people see are the dancing and the iconic Bee Gees’ songs, but it is deeper. Most of the scenes in the movie take on many subjects. There’s the great juxtaposition of happy dancing and the grim of real life,” said Ms. Rubaii. She added that it’s important to honor the snapshots of the young lives of the characters during the ’70s.

“It’s about the people in their early 20s struggling and dreaming. I think it’s easier for younger people today to relate to it because we have the same feelings. It’s good to look back, see, and learn how people back then reacted to problems,” she said.

Mr. Rubendall agreed. “It’s a classic. Although it takes place in the ’70s you think it’s going to be fluffy, but it’s not, it’s meaty. The issues still exist today. There’s family obstacles, passion, and discrimination.”