The story of Filipino
singer-actors and actresses making it big overseas on major theatrical venues
like America’s Broadway or the UK’s West End are no longer surprising stories
to their fans in our country. It has already been seen in the longtime success
of Lea Salonga, who also got to be a Disney Princess singing voice on top of
her success in “Miss Saigon” and more. Nor can we forget the more recent
accomplishments of Rachelle Ann Go in “Hamilton.” But at the same time there
are also local stars with much potential for performing on stage that miss out
on their big break overseas.
Right now the latter part fits Mark
Bautista perfectly, as according to The
Manila Bulletin he had epically blown his opportunity to portray Disney’s “Aladdin”
for theatre in no less than Broadway itself. The singer-actor related that in
the previous week he received an email message from Disney that inquired about
his interested in being cast for the role of Aladdin, in the official
theatrical adaptation of the 1992 Disney animated film. Unfortunately for Mark,
the message was sent January 7, and he only spotted it on his inbox three days
later, on January 10.
What was worse, Bautista stumbled
upon the Disney email because he was looking for another message on his inbox. “While
I was scrolling, I saw a message for something about Disney,” he recalls. “The
email was sent to me on Jan. 7. And they also have that follow-up message
asking if I’m still interested. I replied late, so too bad.” Mark described the
feeling he had upon learning he had missed out on being Aladdin on Broadway as
being “nanghina.”
Interestingly, Disney perhaps
reached out to the GMA7 star because he had expressed interested in taking the
role of Aladdin for the theatre, even auditioning for it. However, Bautista has
accepted that some worst timing messed with his chances to score this
opportunity. “Of course, there was a sense of regret because the opportunity
was there, once-in-a-lifetime, Mark muses adding, “Although I wasn’t sure if I
would be the one selected but ‘what if’?” When news of the incident went out,
many of Bautista’s gave him their support, even asking him to try and
re-contact Disney about the missed invite.
For Bautista, he was pleased
enough that Disney officially contacted him about being in the “Aladdin”
musical, which has been a regular Broadway production since 2014. “I’m happy
that I was on their radar,” Mark says in closing. “Maybe there’s a bigger thing
for me.”
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