Filipino-Montrealers prepare for SHOWPAO musical

A musical celebrating the culture and traditions of Filipino-Montrealers is set to run this weekend in Montreal.

According to Hensly Pedrosa, an organizer of the musical, SHOWPAO is a wordplay on the word siopao, a Philippine indigenized version of the Cantonese steamed bun called cha siu bao.

“”The inspiration came from how Chinese settlers came to the Philippines and then took space and made their own; shared their culture to the Philippines,” Pedrosa said. “SHOWPAO, it’s like us introducing our culture here in Montreal.”

SHOWPAO is a reimagined adaptation of a classic work that portrays deeply rooted values central to Filipino heritage. It aims to foster community dialogue, cultural understanding and a spirit of solidarity among Filipino-Montrealers eager to participate in the event.

The musical is presented by FOCUS, a Filipino organization of Concordia University students.

Shaelyn Lait, a backup dancer and singer at the musical, said they’ve always been musically inclined–but they didn’t originally intend to join the musical.

“My best friend, who’s part of the FOCUS community, was very encouraging and telling me to audition,” Lait said, explaining how she was involved in musicals put on by her high school, but always behind the scenes.

“I think now it was like time for me to not be behind the scenes and just show my talent with the Filipino community,” she said.

For Pedrosa, the event celebrates Filipino immigrant and Montrealer experiences.

“[For] a lot of us within FOCUS, the organization are born here,” she said. “Some of us were also from the Philippines. So you want to merge those two experiences, and we learn from each other.”

Mea-Anne Distor, the musical’s director, said she wants attendees to feel inspired and proud of Filipino culture.

“This musical is just all of our hard work, our sweat, blood and tears and all of our passion just combined all together,” she said. “I hope that all of the people in the audience just see all of our passion and love for the Filipino community.”

The show is set for Sunday, April 27 from 3:00-9:00 P.M. at the Maison Théâtre.

It’s free to attend–but completely sold out. You can stream it online.

“None of us have professional experience. So it’s kind of nice to see that we could all collaborate together and create one big show,” Lait said. “They’re all just like friends and just thought of this idea, and then for it to like all come together is just very amazing,” she added.

“We want to show our elders that we still know about that part of our culture as the youth,” Pedrosa said.