Arirang Fantasy is a heart-warming musical that is currently showing in different cities in Korea. It tells the story of a Filipina woman, who fell in love with a Korean man. However, her story did not turn out to be like those Tagalized Koreanovelas that she used to watch on TV. Her husband died early and she ended up taking care of their farm, her daughter and even the mother-in-law.

I’m sure that the production is top-notch and I’d be able to relate to it, especially since I’m in a Korean-Filipino relationship, too. But what excites me more about featuring this musical is the fact that the lead actress is a very good friend of mine from way, way back – Ms. Cherish Maningat-Bae!

Arirang Fantasy starring 체리쉬 마닝앗 Cherish Maningat, 박해미 Park Hae-mi and 김한국 Kim Han-gook.

Cherish was my classmate in 1st grade and we were schoolmates until college! We both majored in Communication Arts in UST though we never became block mates. We were good friends in high school because we both were active in extra-curricular activities, including cheer dancing and theater. My gawd, she was my actress in both my junior and senior plays so we rehearsed in our house A LOT. Girl, you’ve come a looong way since our tuknene and 10-peso burger days!

The cast of our over-the-top play, Pen Pen de Sara Pen. We were only 15 years old. HOLY SHIT.