LOS ANGELES - “Nangulila ako bigla (I suddenly felt homesick)!” actress Marie-France Arcilla said via e-mail about a surprise from Lin-Manuel Miranda, Tony Award nominee and current Broadway sensation. He wrote Filipino lyrics for a new song he wrote for her character in the restaging of the 1978 Broadway musical, “Working.”

Lin-Manuel is up for Best Original Score and Best Actor in a Musical for the acclaimed “In the Heights” in the coming Tony Awards. He contributed the tune with Tagalog lyrics and another new song to “Working,” which is getting good reviews for Marie-France, her cast mates and the new production.

“Working” by Stephen Schwartz, the legendary composer behind such stage musicals as “Wicked,” “Pippin” and “Godspell,” and movies like "Enchanted,” is currently playing at the Asolo Repertory Theater in Sarasota, Florida through June 8.

It is hoped that, with the favorable buzz, “Working” will also play in Broadway, where it was originally staged in 1978 and earned several Tony Award nominations, including Best Book of a Musical for Stephen Schwartz.

Songs from James Taylor, et al

The musical is about the joys and frustrations of various workers, including immigrants in jobs where they “do what no one wants to do.” It was updated to reflect the present-day trend of outsourcing jobs and the proliferation of customer care centers, cell phones and computers.

Stephen adapted the musical from a book by Studs Terkel, “Working: People Talk About What They Do All Day and How They Feel About What They Do,” and tapped James Taylor, Mary Rodgers, Susan Birkenhead, Craig Carnelia and Micki Grant to contribute songs. He asked Lin-Manuel to compose the new material for the restaging directed by Gordon Greenberg.

Marie-France told us, “I was so thrilled to have been asked to do ‘Working,’ not only because I get to work again with Stephen Schwartz with whom I have done several readings of ‘Children of Eden’ (which hopefully will come back to Broadway), but most especially because I get to work with the freshly-minted Tony nominee Lin-Manuel Miranda! This man has such a grasp of giving characters a voice: It seems like he physically crawls into their heads and comes out with a song.”

Marie-France is an Ateneo/La Salle graduate, whom we enjoyed watching in the off-Broadway 1960s-inspired show, “Shout! The Mod Musical,” in 2006.

“I was doubly honored when I discovered, two weeks before opening night, that Lin-Manuel had written a song for me, a duet with Nehal Joshi. In it, Nehal plays an elder-care worker, and I portray an immigrant nanny. I can't tell you [how] I felt when, as musical director Mark Hartman (‘Avenue Q’) was teaching me the song, he turned to a page and I saw words underneath the notes in Filipino, a mother singing a lullaby to her daughter far away. Nangulila ako bigla! Buti na lang my mom (Good thing) is coming to see the show,” Marie-France continued.

“But I also got incredibly excited. If this show does go further, does this make my character the first Filipino on Broadway? Singing in Filipino pa! That thought is overwhelming to me! Even more so the idea that it raises awareness of the largely anonymous population of immigrant workers who come here to ‘do what no one wants to do’ as we sing in the number, people like my friend Carmen whom I interviewed for research for the show. People who have come here hoping for a better life and not giving up until they get it.”

Marie-France, daughter of Abigail Banzon and Philippine sportscaster Emy Arcilla, moved from Manila to work in Canada but her passion for acting pushed her to try her luck in New York. Her hard work, persistence and, most important, genuine talent, are paying off. In addition to stage performances and guest appearances on TV, she hosts “Cinema AZN” on the AZN cable channel. We ran into her when she covered the Sundance Film Festival for this weekly show.

Variety, Hollywood's trade bible, praised “Working” and its cast. Jay Handelman wrote: “[“Working's”] long life is likely to be extended through a vibrantly updated version of the show... What worked in the past remains effective now. Marie-France Arcilla leads the cast through the drudgery of “Millwork,” going through the repetitive motions required to operate a machine that makes fabric for suitcases. The cast is strong in both song and story segments - the obvious care and affection that has gone into this new version captures the essence of working America. It renews a sense of the common spirit that somehow allows us to get up each day and make it through another work week.”

More good reviews

Florida's theater critics also cited Marie-France. Here are excerpts from their reviews:

Mike Nolan, Bradenton Herald: “Marie-France Arcilla shows off her impressive voice in...'Millwork' and her comedic chops as Terry the flight attendant.”

Sarasota Herald Tribune: “Some remaining things still connect, such as the drudgery described in James Taylor's tender 'Millwork' by Marie-France Arcilla.”

Mark Leib, Creative Loafing weekly newspaper: “Marie-France Arcilla is riveting as a flight attendant who remembers how a night spent gambling in Vegas was followed by an emergency landing because 'we lost a pin out of the nose gear.'”

From “Ang TV” on ABS-CBN to an acclaimed restaging of a Stephen Schwartz musical - Marie-France has definitely come a long way.

* * *

Still on Stephen, in East West Players' current production of his “Pippin” in LA, Filipino-American actors Cesar Cipriano and Ryyn Chua, and musicians Marc Macalintal (also on keyboards in the live band) and Vince Reyes (guitar) shine. Like “Working,” “Pippin” was originally staged in the 1970s by no less than the late Bob Fosse.

Director Tim Dang also updated Stephen's stage chestnut by infusing anime and hip-hop themes. The result is an engaging show with an extended run through June 22 at the David Henry Hwang Theater in downtown LA's Little Tokyo.

More information on these talented Fil-Ams in “Pippin” and East West Players, the premier Asian-American theater organization in the US which presented “Imelda,” the original musical on the former First Lady of the Philippines, is available on www.eastwestplayers.org.

E-mail rvnepales_5585@yahoo.com and read “The Nepales Report,” on http://blogs.inquirer.net/nepalesreport.