AN ORIGINAL musical production about the life of Blessed Pier Giorgio Frassati, the patron of UST Senior High School (UST SHS), is in the works and is set to be staged in July.
UST SHS students from the Music, Arts, and Design track are collaborating with the Cultural Center of the Philippines to mount the punk-rock opera titled “Blessed: The Musical.”
Limited runs of the musical will be staged on July 4, the feast day of Frassati.
According to a casting call announcement from the UST SHS, the play will recount the life of Frassati as he “navigates family, friends, and faith in a world moving closer and closer to the brink.”
Initial rounds of auditions for eight roles in the production were held on April 6 and 13, and were opened to students and academic staff.
Frassati was born in Turin, Italy, on April 6, 1901.
He was an Italian sociopolitical activist who became known for his dedication to Catholic social justice and for carrying out charitable causes.
At the age of 17, Frassati joined the St. Vincent de Paul Society, where he tended to the needs of victims and servicemen returning from World War I.
In 1925, he died at the age of 24 due to poliomyelitis.
Frassati was beatified on May 20, 1990, by Pope John Paul II, who called the young man from Italy “The Man of the Eight Beatitudes.”
He is also considered the patron of young adult Catholics and was one of the patrons of World Youth Day 2023.
The 22-story building of UST SHS on España Street was named after Frassati. Jan Alyanna G. Tamaray
