STA. RITA, Pampanga?John Robertson, executive producer of Sir Cameron Mackintosh?s musicales in Asia and Australia, has come to this town before... incognito. But on Saturday night when the town celebrated the 7th Duman Festival, everybody got to know him at last.

Moments after the ArtiSta. Rita performed its last song to a standing ovation, Robertson allowed the troupe?s artistic director, Andy Alviz, to introduce him to the townsfolk for the first time.

(Alviz previously worked as choreographer on ?Miss Saigon.?)

Faceless no more

The crowd of about 10,000?mostly residents, plus a few dozens of visitors?burst into loud applause for Robertson. He had remained faceless until then, known only by his name and his being a patron of homegrown talents in Sta. Rita.

From among the members of the audience, Robertson raised his left arm to acknowledge Alviz?s introduction, but quickly aimed his camera at the performers onstage?50 ArtiSta. Rita artists and 20 cast members of the Teatro Ima at Arti (Maarti) taking their bow.

?They?re very talented,? said Robertson, who produced Mackintosh?s ?Miss Saigon,? ?Phantom of the Opera,? ?Les Miserables,? ?Mama Mia,? among others, in Asia and Australia.

?I truly enjoyed this show,? the Australian told the Inquirer as some of the artists came up to him and paid their respects via the traditional Filipino kissing of the hand.

It was Robertson?s third time to join the festival since 2006. He said he came back for Filipino food as well as the concert, which featured folk song revivals and locally composed tunes that, though modern in melodies, tackled rural life and concerns.

The Aussie visitor was heard singing parts of ?Kapampangan Ku,? an Alviz composition that capped the night?s event.

That same song is the carrier single of ArtiSta. Rita?s debut CD, bankrolled in part with Mackintosh?s assistance.

Happy for fest

Robertson, Alviz said, sponsored a plane ticket for ArtiSta. Rita?s tour in the United States last July?a year after the group was conferred the Gawad Alab Haraya Award by the National Commission for Culture and the Arts.

Robertson is happy that the Duman Festival has been sustained, Alviz said. In its seventh year, the event draws Kapampangan from all over the country.

Held at the courtyard of the Santa Rita de Casia parish, the festival celebrates the duman (green, sweet and crispy cereal made by pounding glutinous rice), the industriousness of the duman-makers and the collective process by which they prepare the local specialty starting October, when the amyam (northeasterly wind) blows to signal the rice harvest.