Jhett Tolentino. PHOTO BY RUBEN V. NEPALES
Filipino-American theater producer Jhett Tolentino won his first Grammy last Monday for “The Color Purple,” which bagged best musical theater album. It bested “Fiddler on the Roof,” “Bright Star,” “Waitress” and “Kinky Boots.” He earlier won Tony awards for coproducing “A Gentleman’s Guide to Love and Murder” (best musical), “A Raisin in the Sun” (best revival of a play), and “Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike” (best play). The Iloilo-born talent moved to the US in 2004, blogged about plays he saw and eventually debuted as a producer in 2012. He and a partner brought the show “Here Lies Love,” about Imelda Marcos, to London and San Francisco. He once lived in a squatter’s area with no running water until he was 21. “But I do not let it define me,” he told the Inquirer in 2014.