There’s more to look forward to at this annual and highly anticipated holiday lights-and-music show, as AyalaLand turns on the switch this Friday, November 9, 6 p.m., at Ayala Triangle Gardens in Makati to mark the official start of the longest Christmas season in the world. Mickey and Elsa will be there in spirit.
By Alex Y. Vergara
A medley of classic tunes inspired by immortal and larger-than-life princesses? A suite of songs that your heart and mind can’t seem to let go of? A giant structure in the shape of one of the world’s most iconic and lovable cartoon characters? A dazzling display of lights as colorful and as magical as the Christmas season and in synch with the beautiful music, including well-loved Filipino holiday staples such as Pasko Na Naman, Ang Pasko ay Sumapit, Noche Buena and Kumukutikutitap?
There’s more to look forward to the annual and highly anticipated “Festival of Lights,” as AyalaLand turns on the switch this Friday, 6 p.m., November 9, at Ayala Triangle Gardens in Makati to mark the official start of “the longest Christmas season in the world.”
And since it’s celebrating its 10th year of bringing holiday cheer to countless Filipinos through this annual spectacle of lights and sounds, one of the country’s leading real estate companies is teaming up this year with Walt Disney Company, Philippines. Dubbed as “Reimagining the Magic: A Festival of Lights,” the Ayala-Disney partnership is very much evident in this year’s edition and extends to other AyalaLand developments all over the Philippines.
Extra-special edition
To make this year’s edition extra special, AyalaLand, led by Manny Blas, and Disney Philippines, led by country head Veronica Cabalinan, announced to lifestyle journalists during a recent media conference at the Holiday Inn Makati what’s in store for those who plan to troop to selected AyalaLand developments to experience for themselves this Disneyfied lights-and-music show.
Apart from Ayala Triangle Gardens, similar lights-and-music shows will run throughout November, December and early January at other Ayala Land properties such as Ayala Malls Centrio, Cagayan de Oro (starting November 9), Ayala Center Cebu (starting November 10), Bonifacio High Street, Bonifacio Global City (starting November 15), Nuvali, Sta. Rosa, Laguna (starting November 24), and Vertis North, Quezon City (starting November 29).
In the case of Ayala Triangle Gardens, Nuvali and Vertis, the three developments will all feature giant and lit versions of the iconic Mickey Mouse ears. The other developments will also have a number of other lit Disney and Christmas icons in their respective displays. But the main attractions will still be the happy play of lights and, of course, how they complement and “dance” to the specially arranged Disney music.
This music consists of four medleys: Disney princesses; songs from Frozen, including, of course, Let it Go; Mickey Mouse medley; and medley of upbeat Filipino Christmas ditties.
On opening night this Friday at Ayala Triangle Gardens, the event’s hosts will play all four medleys one after the other. During the festival’s regular run at all the above locations, one medley will be played every 30 minutes from 6 p.m. to 10 p.m. An entire medley runs for six minutes.
“Since it’s our 10th year of doing this, we thought as early as February that we should do something more memorable and more special this Christmas season,” said AyalaLand’s Catherine Bengzon, marketing head of corporate brand.
Even before they could answer such a basic question as what music really goes well with lights, they had to ask themselves this: who has a collection of good music that’s “special, relatable, has universal and global appeal and ideal for the holidays?” Nearly all of them pointed to Disney.
It was also serendipitous, Cathy added, because Disney Philippines also wanted to explore possibilities. It helped that a former AyalaLand executive now works for Disney in Hong Kong. He helped hooked the two companies up.
The best creative minds
To ensure that their joint vision is properly executed, Ayala Land and Disney tapped veteran lighting designer Voltaire de Jesus, who has been doing the lighting component of the annual Ayala-sponsored display since its first edition in 2008. Joining him on board this year is seasoned composer Rony Fortich, who also happens to be the former musical director of Hong Kong Disneyland.
It helped that the two gentlemen know and respect each other’s works. Whenever Voltaire, for instance, visited Hong Kong Disneyland in the past, he imagined himself, without even having met Rony then, providing accompanying lights to the theme park’s extensive and highly nuanced musical arrangements.
On the other hand, Rony, who was based for more than 12 years in Hong Kong, never failed to troop to the Ayala Triangle Gardens whenever he was in the Philippines during December to spend the holidays with loved ones. Indeed, it was a good start for the two creatives who seemed to have enjoyed themselves immensely in collaborating on the project.
“There are many Disney princesses, but if we’re going to bring it down to six minutes, we had to choose,” said Rony. “They’re all iconic, but I chose the more iconic ones.”
The princesses and their accompanying songs are: Cinderella, A Dream is a Wish Your Heart Makes; Belle, Beauty and the Beast; the Little Mermaid, Part of Your World; Jasmine (Aladdin), A Whole New World; Rapunzel (Tangled), I See the Light.
“The challenge for this entire light show is the range of medleys and characters,” said Voltaire. “In the princess medley, for example, I assigned a color associated with each princess.”
Of course, these play of lights, from the beginning up to its transition to introduce a new character, should be in synch with the music in terms of rhythm and tempo. Like the music, the lights should evoke certain emotions the lighting designer wishes to convey. The princess medley also happens to be Voltaire’s favorite among the three Disney-themed medleys they collaborated on since “I was able to use a lot lights.”
Having seen how big Frozen was during his time at Hong Kong Disney, Rony strongly felt that the movie, which features characters Anna and ice princess Elsa, deserves a medley of its own. There was a time in Hong Kong that whenever a musical group would play Let it Go, he said, all the kids would be running towards it. The character dressed as Elsa had the longest meet-and-greet line.
Frozen favorite
“And musically, for me, the texture of Frozen’s music is different from the usual Disney princesses,” Rony, who singled out the Frozen medley as his favorite, added. “For this medley, I chose Do You Want to Build a Snowman, The First Time and Forever, Love is an Open Door and the carrier single, Let it Go.”
Voltaire added: “For the lights in Frozen, I used a lot of cool blues and did a bit of play in terms of speed, sometimes slow, then gradually getting faster. Then there’s also a part when the lights start flashing.”
Finally, a Disney-themed experience won’t be a complete without a musical suite devoted to its most famous character: Mickey Mouse. For this medley, Rony chose the Mickey Mouse March—M-I-C-K-E-Y M-O-U-S-E, Zip-a-Dee-Doo-Dah from Song of the South, When You Wish Upon a Star from Pinocchio and a signature tune from Steamboat Willy, which marked the earliest appearance of Mickey Mouse on the silver screen.
“This medley is super feel-good, especially if you grew up with Disney,” Rony shared.
While the Frozen and Disney princesses medley have an elegant, “more royal” feel to them, the Mickey Mouse medley is said to be a lot more fun and upbeat, with different styles of music, including techno music thrown in.
The last Disney suite is also by far the most colorful, said Voltaire. And since there’s techno music in the mix, “I made use of laser lights and 3-D animations.” The last visual device, he added, would make you feel as if you’re inside a panel of images.
“Hopefully, this last Disney medley would make you stump your feet as you listen to and even sing along with the melody,” Rony added.
