Madrid Squad

Saigon Mantra

A school play can help mold a child. It boosts their confidence and enhances a student's acting skills. Things like that are just very beneficial to the children and are a delight to the parents. Kylie and Ruru were no different. They take pride in their theatrically active and inclined children.

"Mama, Baba! There's gonna be a school play!" Noelle announced, coming home from school with her older brother.

Kisses, hugs and manos were exchanged before Kylie replied, "Really? Would you like to audition?"

"The teachers said it's meant for the college and high school department to cast in. Something about being inappropriate for kids," Amir shrugged and took off his school bag.

"What play is it? Do you guys know?" Ruru asked, lifting Noelle into his arms.

"Miss.. Miss.. What was it, Kuya? Something like a place," the little girl tried to recall, her face scrunched up as she did so.

"Saigon. Miss Saigon," Amir filled in.

"Oh wow! That's a really good play!" Kylie commented.

"Really?" the three-year-old Silas said, just waking from his nap on the couch.

"Yes, it is really, really nice," she responded and messed up the boy's hair.

"If that's so, I don't think it will only be highschool and college students who will be in the cast then," Ruru smirked as Noelle poked his dimple out of habit.

"But, why?" Noelle tilted her head to the side.

"Because Kim and Chris, the main characters, have a little boy named Tam," he pinched her nose.

"So, they'll probably get a student from the preschool department," Amir concluded.

"Ooh! Ooh! Silas is a preschooler!" Noelle excitedly bounced in her father's arms. "Maybe he can play Tom!"

"Tam, Kikay, Tam. It's spelled with a letter a," the loving father chuckled.

"Where did they get that name?" Amir queried. His curiosity for the strange name gushing out through his facial expression.

"It's Vietnamese."

"Right! Because Saigon is a place in Vietnam," Amir laughed at himself.

"Oh, sige na. Let's talk about this over mirienda, okay?" Kylie announced as she and Silas walked to the island counter.

"How do you guys know so much about the play?" Noelle asked.

"Mama watched the rebirth of Miss Saigon on Broadway a few years ago," Kylie smiled proudly, reminiscing one of the most amazing experiences of her life. She could still see and hear Eva Noblezada's brilliance as she sang her lungs out on stage.

"What about Baba?"

"Well, princess, unlike your mother, I didn't have the opportunity to watch it on Broadway so, I watched the Philippine production instead," He smiled. "It would have been great to watch Eva Noblezada and Alstair Brammer on stage though."

"Yeah, it was," Kylie nodded and laughed.

"I heard Eva was another Lea Salonga."

"Yeah," she nodded.

"And that she's gorgeous," Ruru teasingly smirked.

"Yes, she is gorgeous," Kylie calmly replied to Ruru's dismay.

"So, Silas, do you want to try out for the role of Tam?" Amir asked.

"In the theatew?" the little one asked.