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Joreen Bautista takes break from 'Miss Saigon' tour to mark birthday in PH

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Leah C. Salterio

<div class="embed-wrap"><figure data-feedback="fb:likes,fb:comments"><img src="https://sa.kapamilya.com/absnews/abscbnnews/media/2017/tvpatrol/11/29/joreen-bautista1.jpg"/><figcaption>Joreen Bautista with (from left) dad Joey, younger brother Jimuel and mom Maureen</figcaption></figure></div>MANILA -- After six months of playing Kim in the United Kingdom tour of “Miss Saigon,” singer-actress Joreen Bautista has apparently adjusted to her stage role with ease. As most everyone knows, Bautista’s theater debut as Kim, requires love scenes and kissing scenes with her leading man, something that the greenhorn has never experienced before. “The most difficult scene for me was not the love scenes, but connecting to the child, my son, Tam,” Bautista says. “I was 17 years old when I first did ‘Miss Saigon.’ I know the mother-daughter connection, because I’m very close to my mother. But I don’t know exactly how a mother feels.“The challenge was bringing that out because it had to be authentic that Kim is a mother and she would give her life for her only child. Eventually, they were able to bring that out from me. But that was the hardest. That was the struggle. After the workshops, I knew how it felt like to be the protector.”Bautista’s normal weekly schedule is to play Kim twice a week, but there have been times when she did as much as six shows a week because the main Kim (Korean actress Sooha Kim) was sick. When that happens, Bautista’s understudy takes over her part as the alternate twice a week. “We’re like a family,” Bautista maintains. “I think on tour, that’s the thing. We’re not just in one place. We consistently travel together. We’re you’re in a foreign place, each other is all you have. That’s why, it’s easy to build a family in the UK tour.”Although she did rehearsals in London, Bautista has yet to be seen in a West End stage. So far, she has performed at The Curve in Leicester, the Hippodrome Theater in Birmingham, the Bord Gais Energy Theater in Dublin, Ireland and presently, the New Wales Millennium Theater in Cardiff, Wales.“Playing the role of Kim, you pretty much experience a lot,” Bautista asserts. “She grows in the show. She experiences being a 17-year-old. She experiences being vulnerable. She goes through growing, pain, love, sacrifice. She experiences being a mother. From being raw and innocent, she turns into a lioness.”Bautista’s mom, Maureen, recalls “it was really, really difficult” the first time she left her daughter in London after 12 days. “That was the first time we had to live away from each other,” mom Maureen remembers. “We couldn’t show it. All the cast members were downstairs. They were having an orientation. We had to do quick goodbyes. The rest were crying.”Admittedly, the parents took a long while to get used to not seeing their daughter around their house in Angeles, Pampanga, where the Bautista family resides. ”For two weeks, we experienced jet lag and we couldn’t recover,” the mom shares. “Her dad would sometimes shout, ‘Joreen.’ It was hard. It was a good thing there’s FaceTime and we can afford to talk to her often.” <div class="embed-wrap"><figure data-feedback="fb:likes,fb:comments"><img alt="" src="https://sa.kapamilya.com/absnews/abscbnnews/media/2017/entertainment/12/03/joreen-bautista2.jpg"/><figcaption>Joreen Bautista with &#x27;Miss Saigon&#x27; co-star Gerald Santos. </figcaption></figure></div>Bautista returned home late last November, albeit only for five days, to celebrate her 18th birthday with her family. She originally planned to have an intimate dinner with family and close friends. However, she was treated to a surprise party, attended by more than a hundred guests and held in the private function room of Black Angus Steak and Rib House in Angeles, Pampanga.“I was getting homesick terribly,” Bautista admits. “I just wanted to come home for my birthday and cure the homesickness. Also to relieve me from the stress, since I am also into a home study program. Since I am here, I thought I might as well do a small dinner as an advanced celebration for my 18th birthday. I didn’t know the party was really big.” (Her actual birthday was December 1.)Bautista’s dad Joey, mom Maureen and younger brother Jimuel, connived with five of her closest girl friends and classmates from Brightwoods School Educational Venture Academy in Angeles, Pampanga, where Bautista is presently in Grade 12 under the school’s home study program.In an off-shouldered mocha cocktail dress created by her uncle Stephen Victoriano (brother of her mom), Bautista was blindfolded by her classmates and was ushered inside the venue’s function room.The guests were instructed to shout, “Welcome to Dreamland,” as the blasting music of “The Heat Is On,” set the tone for the party. When Bautista opened her eyes, she tearfully said, “I’m back to where my dream started. I’m going back to my roots. I didn’t know the party was massive. I was told it was just a simple dinner. It was bigger than I expected.”Bautista’s special guest that night was her “Miss Saigon” co-star, Gerald Santos, who plays Thuy in the musical. He was also on a two-week break from performing in the UK. In the party, they rendered “I See the Light” from “Rapunzel.” Also in attendance was Bautista’s talent manager, David Cosico, of Rank One Productions, who came all the way from Manila to attend the party.Bautista entertained her guests with memorable Disney classics – “Part of Your World” from “The Little Mermaid” and “Reflection” from “Mulan.” Throughout the night, she also gave her guests a sample of what she has been doing in the UK for the last six months. To a live piano accompaniment, she belted out Kim’s heart-wrenching number, “I Swear I’d Give My Life for You.”In “I Still Believe,” Bautista did a duet with her mom, while she rendered “Sun and Moon” with her dad Joey (short for Joselito). Bautista’s singing talent was apparently inherited from both her parents. Her name, Joreen, was a combination of the first names of her parents, while her second name, Moriah, was taken from the Bible.

Bautista returned home, albeit only for five days, to celebrate her 18th birthday with her family.

Bautista returned home, albeit only for five days, to celebrate her 18th birthday with her family.