Pinay ‘geek’ plays a ‘geek’ on West End
By JULIE JAVELLANA-SANTOS
abs-cbnNEWS.com
A brainy Pinay actress has landed the role of Gabriella, the class ‘geek’ in the West End version of the highly popular High School Musical, abs-cbnNEWS learned.
Florinda Hall said her daughter, Claire-Marie, a London based Welsh-Filipina, had her choice of studying in Oxford or Cambridge, and instead took a three year drama course at the Mountview Theatre School in London.
Immediately after, Claire-Marie landed her first starring role as Cossette in the West End production of Les Misérables.
In an overseas call from London, Florinda said her daughter was always ‘brainy’ and had originally wanted to become a lawyer.
She said her daughter fully understands her role as a maths geek who falls for the school’s basketball star, Troy. After all, Claire-Marie also stood out for being clever during her A-levels at St. Julian’s School in Newport, Wales.
In a South Wales Argus article, Hall said she can’t wait for the production to start at the end of June. She reportedly said “I’m really excited. I loved the movie - we watched it on New Year’s Day for a laugh. I was really surprised by how good it was.”
The actress said the lead character in High School Musical was not unlike her.
“She’s shy, she’s brainy and she’s the new kid in town. I was clever in school so I can relate to her, and it can be hard to fit in at school sometimes,” she said of High School Musical’s Gabriella Montez.
The production of High School Musical also features in a lead role Mark Evans as Troy and West End Star Letitia Dean as drama teacher Ms Darbus. Other stars include Norman Bowman (Coach Bolton), Rebecca Faulkenberry (Sharpay Evans), Michael Pickering (Ryan Evans), Nadine Higgin (Taylor McKessie), Damian Winter-Higgins (Chad Danforth), Dylan Turner (Zeke Baylor), Ben Nicholas (Jack Scott), Laurie Scarth (Martha Cox), Holly Taylor (Kelsi Neilson). Gregor Stewart, Simon Hardwick, Nyroy Dixon, Matt Flint, Adam Bracegirdle, Paul Riddiford, Stevie Hutchinson, Matthew Russell-Jones, Lauren Varnham, Kirsty McDonald, Helen Morris, Maxine Ewenson, Stephanie Siadatan, Carly Mercedes Dyer, Samantha Tan, Hayley Griffiths, Chris Milford, Carl Au, Karli Vale, Sarah-Louise Warden.
Some of the proceeds from its 5 July premiere at the Hammersmith Apollo will go to Great Ormond Street Hospital, as part of Disney’s pledge to help it raise £10million. Hospital spokeswoman Lesley Miles said: “This is particularly brilliant because High School Musical is so popular among our patients.” The show runs from 28 June to 31 August.
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