Spoofing Vilma Santos and other personalities is fun. But Jon Santos doesn’t want to stop there. He has a dream, something that would uplift, not just himself, but the performing community as well.
The comedian wants to save up for a Performance Studies course, even if he’s in the dark on what school offers the subject or degree.
But what’s Performance Studies?
“Ito’y may kinalaman sa harap at likod ng entablado, may halong admin (administrative work),” he explains over lunch at Makati Shangri-La Hotel a day before his 46th birthday.
Jon’s dream course would help him form theater groups in every community, making it come alive with songs, dances, plays and all kinds of performing arts.
Sleeping better
It’s Jon’s way of bringing not only himself, but others, “in a stable place, knowing that hindi ka nagkamali sa choice na ginawa mo to pursue the arts.” This, he thinks, will make him sleep better at night, happy in the thought that he has made some people’s lives better.
The comedian doesn’t want to shout it to the four winds. But he feels on top of the world whenever his show goes beyond its original run.
“Kapag long-running yung show mo, the crew, the lights men, props men, utility people, alam mo na may nakaka-enjoy ng blessings na nakukuha mo,” he relates.
Jon’s humility shines some more when he adds, “Hindi naman ako the Araneta level kind of show.”
His is more of the Music Museum and Teatrino kind of crowd, where the feel is intimate, the mood, more hushed.
It is in this kind of setting that Jon promises to “lay the red carpet for my audience. At uuwi silang nakangiti.”
Such is the kind of show Jon wants to mount with The CompanY on Friday, Jan. 27 at Music Museum. Titled “Rom-Com” (A Romantic Comedy), the show is everything Jon and The CompanY are: irreverent , witty, funny, free-wheeling.
The evening carries a love-centered, happy-ever-after theme.
“May konti akong Cupido character na pinag-uusapan ang mga nagkatuluyan and di nagkatuluyan. Merong Prince Wiliam and Kate, for instance,” says Jon.
Cool uncle
Romance – and love -- is something Jon can’t seem to run out of. The family’s resident event organizer wants to fix his parents’ golden wedding anniversary.
“I’m tempted to make it may halong showbiz. Sa dami ng kilala kong singers …” he relates.
Jon knows nephews and nieces call him “Cool Uncle.”
And of course, there’s West Stewart , Jon’s partner of seven years, whose question of adopting a child has become an eternal dilemma for the comedian.
It’s reached a point where the acronym wk – for `want kids?” -- has made Jon examine himself and see what he’s can – and cannot – do.
“I have been told I have a good heart for kids,” he relates. But Jon flip-flops when he reads about France losing its credit rating in the European news.
Leaving something to yourself
The UP Economics graduate in him pushes Jon to be practical. At the end of the day, he points out, you should leave something to yourself. If not, you end up losing, like the instant star who spent all his money on an Expedition without saving for the rainy day.
But that’s another story in the multi-colored tapestry that is Jon’s ever-changing life. Meantime, we take him one story at a time, the better to know everything and anything he is and can be.
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