 | This biographical article is written like a résumé .(March 2023) |
Joanna Ampil | |
|---|---|
| Born | |
| Occupation(s) | singer, actress |
| Years active | 1993–present |
| Website | joannaampil |
Joanna Ampil is a musical theatre and film actress from the Philippines and United Kingdom. [1]
Joanna, at seventeen years old, auditioned for an open call in Manila for the original production of Miss Saigon in front of director Sir Nicolas Hytner. Despite not having any experience in theatre or the performing arts, she landed the lead role of Kim and was flown to London to rehearse with the West End company at the Theatre Royal Drury Lane. [2] She has since reprised her role as Kim in the original Australian production, the original United Kingdom and Ireland Tour and 10th Anniversary Performance.
Ampil's other notable roles include Mary Magdalene in the West End revival of Jesus Christ Superstar , [3] Éponine in Les Misérables, [4] Fantine in Les Misérables, [5] Mimi in Rent, [6] Christmas Eve in Avenue Q , [7] Sheila Franklin in Hair, [8] Thanh in the world premiere of The Real Love, [9] Heidi in I Sing!, [10] The ingénue June in the West End premiere of The Musical of Musicals: The Musical!, [11] Blue Fairy in Pinocchio: A New Musical, [12] West End Women (UK Tour), [13] The Magic of Disney in Concert (Hyde Park, London), [14] Defying Gravity: The Songs of Stephen Schwartz (Sydney), [15] [16] Grizabella in Cats, [17] and reprising Mary Magdalene in Jesus Christ Superstar in Concert . [18] [19]
In 2008, she made her Philippine theatre debut as Maria in West Side Story , [20] [21] alongside Christian Bautista's Tony. She played Maria Von Trapp in The Sound of Music , [22] at the Newport Performing Arts Theatre and was followed by Nellie Forbush in South Pacific in Concert. [23] [24] [25] She was invited by Philippine's Prima Ballerina Lisa Macuja-Elizalde to play Inang Bayan in the ballet Rebel EDSA 30. [26] In 2015, she played Francesca Johnson in the international premiere of The Bridges of Madison County, [27] and Jenna in the international premiere of Waitress [28] in 2018.
She performed on recordings of Miss Saigon (The Complete Symphonic Recording) as Kim, Jesus Christ Superstar (1996 London Revival Cast) as Mary Magdalene, The Postman and the Poet(Concept Cast) [29] as Beatriz Gonzalez and Ang Larawan “The Portrait”(Original Soundtrack) as Candida. [30]
Her debut musicals album "Joanna Ampil" was released 2007 by JAY Records, [31] followed with pop albums "Try Love" in 2010 [32] and "Joanna Ampil" in 2014 with VIVA Records. [33] Her latest singles are Reach for the Stars, Always Better and Memory.
In 2017, Ampil portrayed Candida Marasigan in the feature film Ang Larawan for which she won the Metro Manila Film Festival Award for Best Actress, PMPC Star Awards, Gawad Pasado, Luna, Gawad Tangi, Guillermo Award, Urduja Best Heritage Film Awards and the prestigious Gawad Urian Best Actress Awards. [34]
She worked on the television series "Call Me Tita" [35] "Babae Sa Septic Tank 3", [36] The Quest, Mummy Autopsy and Broken News . She portrayed Corazon in Maalaala Mo Kaya's "Kadena" wherein she won the GEMS Award for Best Actress for Television. [37]
She performed Grizabella in the 40th Anniversary Tour of Cats (South Korea, 2020/2021) during the height of COVID-19 pandemic with socially distanced audiences and local government protocols; along with Phantom of the Opera World Tour (South Korea and Taiwan, 2020). [38]
In the summer of 2021, Joanna made her Chichester Festival Theatre debut in Rodgers and Hammerstein's South Pacific as Bloody Mary. [39] In the summer of 2022, she reprised the role of Bloody Mary in London ahead of a UK Tour. [40]
In 2023, she played The Engineer in the brand new production Miss Saigon at Sheffield Theatres [41] by special arrangement with Sir Cameron Mackintosh, bringing together the original creators of the show Claude-Michel Schönberg and Alain Boublil along with Artistic Directors Robert Hastie and Anthony Lau in editing the book, lyrics and creating new arrangements for the reimagined production. [42]
Joanna joined international stars of the stage and screen, including Michael Ball, Daniel Dae Kim, Maria Friedman, Audra McDonald, Julian Ovenden, Lucy St. Louis, Aaron Tveit, Marisha Wallace and Patrick Wilson in My Favorite Things: The Rodgers & Hammerstein 80th Anniversary Concert, featuring a 40-piece orchestra on 12 December 2023, at the Theatre Royal Drury Lane. [43] [44] The filmed musical concert will be screened in cinemas across the UK, Ireland, Australia, New Zealand, and North America, and will be part of the PBS Great Performances broadcast this Spring 2024. [45] [46] [47]
| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1993-1995 | Miss Saigon | Kim | West End [48] |
| 1995-1996 | Miss Saigon | Kim | Sydney "Original Australian Production" [49] |
| 1996-1998 | Jesus Christ Superstar | Mary Magdalene | West End "West End Revival" [50] |
| 1998-1999 | Miss Saigon | Kim | West End [51] 10th Anniversary Performance (September 20, 1999) |
| 2000-2001 | Les Misérables | Eponine | West End [52] [53] |
| 2001 | Les Misérables in Concert | Eponine | Belfast, Odyssey Arena [54] |
| 2001-2002 | Miss Saigon | Kim | UK Tour "Original UK and Ireland Tour" [55] |
| 2003-2005 | Les Misérables | Fantine | West End [56] |
| 2004 | Les Misérables in Concert | Fantine | Winsdor Castle "Entente Cordiale" [5] [57] |
| 2005 | Hair | Sheila Franklin | West End [8] |
| 2006 | Rent | Mimi | European Tour [6] [58] [59] |
| 2006 | I Sing! | Heidi | West End "Original London Cast" [60] |
| 2006 | The Musical of Musicals: The Musical! | The ingenue June | West End "Original London Cast" [61] |
| 2007-2008 | Les Misérables | Fantine | West End [62] |
| 2008 | West Side Story | Maria | Manila [63] |
| 2008-2009 | Avenue Q | Christmas Eve | West End [64] |
| 2010 | Pinocchio: A New Musical | Blue Fairy | Singapore "World Premiere" [12] |
| 2011 | The Real Love | Thanh | Los Angeles "World Premiere" [65] |
| 2011-2012 | The Sound of Music | Maria | Manila [66] |
| 2013-2014 | Cats | Grizabella | New Wimbledon Theatre [67] UK Tour [68] European Tour |
| 2015 | South Pacific in Concert | Nellie Forbush | Newport Performing Arts Theatre [69] |
| 2015 | Ballet Manila's Rebel | Inang Bayan | Manila "World Premiere" [70] |
| 2015 | The Bridges of Madison County | Francesca Johnson | Manila "International Premiere" [71] |
| 2016 | Cats | Grizabella | European Tour [72] [73] |
| 2016 | Ballet Manila's Rebel | Inang Bayan | Aliw Theatre [70] |
| 2017-2018 | Cats | Grizabella | Middle Eastern Tour [74] [75] European Tour [76] |
| 2018 | Waitress | Jenna | Manila "International Premiere" [81] [82] [83] |
| 2019 | Jesus Christ Superstar in Concert | Mary Magdalene | Tokyu Theatre Orb [84] |
| 2019-2020 | Cats | Grizabella | Asian Tour [85] |
| 2020-2021 | Cats | Grizabella | 40th Anniversary Tour [86] [87] |
| 2021 | South Pacific | Bloody Mary | Chichester Festival Theatre [88] [89] [90] [91] [92] |
| 2022 | Cats | Grizabella | Asian Tour [93] [94] |
| 2022 | South Pacific | Bloody Mary | London [95] |
| 2022-2023 | Cats | Grizabella | 2023 Jellicle Ball Tour [98] |
| 2023 | Miss Saigon | The Engineer | Crucible Theatre [99] |
| 2024 | Your Lie in April: The Musical | Saki Arima | Theatre Royal Drury Lane |
| 2024-2025 | The Phantom of The Opera | Carlotta Giudicelli | His Majesty's Theatre |
| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2011 | One Day | Waitress [114] | |
| 2011 | The Real Love | Thanh [115] | |
| 2017 | Ang Larawan | Candida Marasigan [116] | Best Actress: Metro Manila Film Festival 2017 [117] ,PMPC Star Awards [118] ,Gawad Pasado,Luna,Gawad Tangi,Guillermo Award,Urduja Best Heritage Film Awards, Gawad Urian [119] |
| 2019 | Babae Sa Septic Tank 3 | Herself/Narcisa [120] | |
| 2021 | The Show Must Go On | Herself/Grizabella [121] | |
| 2024 | My Favorite Things: The Rodgers & Hammerstein 80th Anniversary Concert | Herself [122] |
| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1999 | The Quest | Herself [123] | |
| 2004 | Mummy Autopsy | Filipino Woman [124] | |
| 2005 | Broken News | Michelle Wong [125] | |
| 2018 | Leading Women | Herself [126] | |
| 2019 | Bulawan: The CCP 50th Anniversary Gala | Herself [127] | |
| 2019 | Babae Sa Septic Tank 3 | Herself/Narcisa [120] | |
| 2019 | Maalaala Mo Kaya's "Kadena" | Corazon [37] | Best Actress, GEMS Award for Best Actress for Television [128] |
| 2019 | Call Me Tita | Maya [129] | |
| 2022 | Flower of Evil | Daniel's Mother [130] | |
| 2024 | My Favorite Things: The Rodgers & Hammerstein 80th Anniversary Concert | Herself [122] | Sky Arts [131] & PBS [132] |
Carousel is the second musical by the team of Richard Rodgers (music) and Oscar Hammerstein II. The 1945 work was adapted from Ferenc Molnár's 1909 play Liliom, transplanting its Budapest setting to the Maine coastline. The story revolves around carousel barker Billy Bigelow, whose romance with millworker Julie Jordan comes at the price of both their jobs. He participates in a robbery to provide for Julie and their unborn child; after it goes tragically wrong, he is given a chance to make things right. A secondary plot line deals with millworker Carrie Pipperidge and her romance with ambitious fisherman Enoch Snow. The show includes the well-known songs "If I Loved You", "June Is Bustin' Out All Over" and "You'll Never Walk Alone". Richard Rodgers later wrote that Carousel was his favorite of all his musicals.
The Sound of Music is a musical with music by Richard Rodgers, lyrics by Oscar Hammerstein II, and a book by Howard Lindsay and Russel Crouse. It is based on the 1949 memoir of Maria von Trapp, The Story of the Trapp Family Singers. Set in Austria on the eve of the Anschluss in 1938, the musical tells the story of Maria, who takes a job as governess to a large family while she decides whether to become a nun. She falls in love with the children, and eventually their widowed father, Captain von Trapp. He is ordered to accept a commission in the German Navy, but he opposes the Nazis. He and Maria decide on a plan to flee Austria with the children. Many songs from the musical have become standards, including "Do-Re-Mi", "My Favorite Things", "Edelweiss", "Climb Ev'ry Mountain", and the title song "The Sound of Music".
Oklahoma! is the first musical written by the duo of Rodgers and Hammerstein. The musical is based on Lynn Riggs's 1931 play, Green Grow the Lilacs. Set in farm country outside the town of Claremore, Indian Territory, in 1906, it tells the story of farm girl Laurey Williams and her courtship by two rival suitors, cowboy Curly McLain and the sinister and frightening farmhand Jud Fry. A secondary romance concerns cowboy Will Parker and his flirtatious fiancée, Ado Annie.
Rodgers and Hammerstein was a theater-writing team of composer Richard Rodgers (1902–1979) and lyricist-dramatist Oscar Hammerstein II (1895–1960), who together created a series of innovative and influential American musicals. Their musical theater writing partnership has been called the greatest of the 20th century.
Les Misérables, colloquially known as Les Mis or Les Miz, is a sung-through musical with music by Claude-Michel Schönberg, lyrics by Alain Boublil and Jean-Marc Natel, and a book by Schönberg and Boublil, based on the 1862 novel of the same name by Victor Hugo. Set in early 19th-century France, Les Misérables tells the story of Jean Valjean, a French peasant, and his desire for redemption. After stealing a loaf of bread for his sister's starving child, Valjean is imprisoned for 19 years and released in 1815. When a bishop inspires him with a tremendous act of mercy, Valjean breaks his parole and starts his life anew and in disguise. He becomes wealthy and adopts an orphan, Cosette. A police inspector named Javert pursues Valjean over the decades in a single-minded quest for "justice". The characters are swept into a revolutionary period in France, where a group of young idealists attempts to overthrow the government at a street barricade in Paris.
Miss Saigon is a sung-through stage musical by Claude-Michel Schönberg and Alain Boublil, with lyrics by Boublil and Richard Maltby Jr. It is based on Giacomo Puccini's 1904 opera Madama Butterfly, and similarly tells the tragic tale of a doomed romance involving an Asian woman abandoned by her American lover. The setting of the plot is relocated to 1970s Saigon during the Vietnam War, and Madama Butterfly's story of marriage between an American lieutenant and a geisha is replaced by a romance between a United States Marine and a seventeen-year-old South Vietnamese bargirl.
Sir Cameron Anthony Mackintosh is a British theatrical producer and theatre owner notable for his association with many commercially successful musicals. At the height of his success in 1990, he was described as being "the most successful, influential and powerful theatrical producer in the world" by the New York Times. He is the producer of shows including Les Misérables, The Phantom of the Opera, Cats, Miss Saigon, Mary Poppins, Oliver!, and Hamilton.
Maria Lea Carmen Imutan Salonga, is a Filipino singer and actress. Known primarily for her work in theatre, she has starred in musicals on Broadway and in the West End. Her accolades include a Tony Award and a Laurence Olivier Award, in addition to nominations for two Grammy Awards. She was conferred with the Presidential Medal of Merit in 1990 and the Order of Lakandula in 2007, and she was honored as a Disney Legend in 2011.
Valentine Ruth Henshall, known professionally as Ruthie Henshall, is an English actress, singer and dancer, known for her work in musical theatre. She began her professional stage career in 1986, before making her West End debut in Cats in 1987. A five-time Olivier Award nominee, she won the 1995 Olivier Award for Best Actress in a Musical for her role as Amalia Balash in the London revival of She Loves Me (1994).
Enda Markey is an Irish-born, Sydney-based, theatrical producer and former singer and actor. He is the producer of the stage productions Side by Side by Sondheim and the international tour of Boublil and Schonberg's Do You Hear The People Sing?, and the Australian revival of Willy Russell's Blood Brothers.
Natalie Jackson Mendoza is an Australian actress. She is best known for her roles as Jackie Clunes, in the British drama series Hotel Babylon (2006–2008) and as Juno Kaplan in the horror film The Descent (2005), as well as its sequel, The Descent Part 2 (2009). Mendoza has also performed in various stage productions across the West End and Broadway, including Miss Saigon, Here Lies Love, and Spider-Man: Turn Off The Dark ("Arachne").
Jon Robyns is a British stage actor, who is best known for playing Jean Valjean in Les Misérables and the title role in The Phantom of the Opera in London's West End.
Sierra Marjory Boggess is an American theater actress, singer, and figure skater.
Norm Lewis is an American actor and baritone singer. He has appeared on Broadway and in London's West End, film, television, recordings and regional theatre. He is also noted for his wide vocal range. Lewis was the second African-American actor after Robert Guillaume to perform in the title role in Andrew Lloyd Webber's The Phantom of the Opera and the first one to do so in the Broadway production. In 2023, he reprised the role in the show's sequel, Love Never Dies, in the West End.
The ABS-CBN Philharmonic Orchestra is a Filipino radio orchestra based in Manila. It was founded in 2012 with financial support from ABS-CBN Corporation and First Philippine Holdings Corporation. It is composed of 40 instrumentalists. The orchestra's musical director and conductor is Gerard Salonga.
Ceara Grehan is a theatre and opera singer. She was first trained at the Belfast School of Music and trained with Laura Sarti plue one of London's top west end vocal coaches, Mary Hammond.
Ainsley Melham is an Australian actor and theatre performer. He began his career as a member of Australian children's musical group Hi-5 from 2013 to 2016, starring in the television series and performing in international tours. He later found success as a prominent theatre performer in Australia and the United States.
Ang Larawan, internationally released as The Portrait, is a 2017 Philippine musical film directed by Loy Arcenas.
Lucy St. Louis is an English actress and singer. From 2021 to 2023, she played Christine Daaé in the West End production of The Phantom of the Opera, making her the first black performer to do so. She was then cast as Glinda in Wicked, also in the West End.
Filipina singer and actress Lea Salonga has appeared in international theatre productions, television shows, films, and video games. She made her professional debut on stage in the 1978 Repertory Philippines production of The King and I. She went on to appear and star in productions such as Cat on a Hot Tin Roof (1978), Fiddler on the Roof (1978), Annie (1980), The Sound of Music (1980), The Rose Tattoo (1980), and The Bad Seed (1981) in Manila. In 1981, Salonga made her film debut as Lisa in the Filipino comedy Tropang Bulilit. Salonga continued performing in theatre productions in Manila, including The Goodbye Girl (1982), The Paper Moon (1983), a revival of Annie (1984), and The Fantasticks (1988). From 1983 to 1985, Salonga hosted her own television variety show entitled Love, Lea. In 1986, she also appeared as a Thursday group member on the television series That's Entertainment. Throughout the 1980s, she also appeared in the Filipino films Like Father, Like Son (1985), Ninja Kids (1986), Captain Barbell (1986), Pik Pak Boom (1988), and Dear Diary (1989).
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