MANILA -- (UPDATED) Freddie Santos, a giant in the theater and live concert community, passed on Thursday, leaving a rich legacy of original musical creations.

Santos died in his sleep before 5 a.m. at his Quezon city condominium, according to his sister Bambi Santos, who also told ABS-CBN News about Santos’ struggle against diabetes and its complications. He was 64.

Santos’ sudden death shocked the showbiz community who had planned a musical tribute for him this December.

“We are overwhelmed with grief right now. We did not expect this. In fact, we were preparing a big homage for him when he he passed on," said Carlo Orosa, who along with Santos, Audie Gemora, Mari Kaimo and other stalwarts, founded the theater company Trumpets in 1991.

The tribute, a reimagination of songs from “First Name,” one of Santos' first musicals in the late '80s, had been postponed several times due to the pandemic and Santos’ hospitalization in recent months.

Orosa also detailed how many celebrities owe immense gratitude to him, citing the hundreds of concerts he directed at the height of his career.

“Ang dami niyang natulungan. Name it -- from Sharon (Cuneta) to Regine (Velasquez) to Raymond (Lauchengco), so many of us. Back in the '80s and '90s, he was a celebrated live stage director, lagare sa maraming shows, calling the shots in the script and production design.”

Known for his original works like the trailblazing “First Name” and “Joseph the Dreamer,” Santos also wrote and staged the musicals "Widows, Orphans, and Wildebeests," "Il Divino," "Sabel: Love and Passion," and others.

He also composed the OPM classic hit of Joey Albert and Pops Fernandez “Points of View,” “Yakapin Mo Ako” and “Two Words,” the wedding song of Lea Salonga, which Santos wrote with Louie Ocampo.

Santos also guided Resorts World Manila in its theater productions. He last worked with Manila Hotel as its artistic consultant for entertainment.

The Santos family is still finalizing details for the wake of the director.

“We might do an online memorial, “ said his sister. “I want him to be remembered as a generous person, very giving of his time, talent and resources. Freddie is also a very good song. He was really loved!”

LIFETIME ACHIEVEMENT AWARD

Even before he finished college, Santos plunged head first into theater. At 20, he ventured into working for theater and joined Repertory Philippines. He made his professional acting debut in “Juno and the Peacock,” staged in 1976.

Later that year, he was seen in another Rep play, “How the Other Half Loves.” He took on roles big and small that allowed him to display his multi-talented and multi-faceted persona.

Santos, who later worked with the genius Rolando Tinio in Teatro Pilipino, was a multi-talented and multi-faceted person, with a larger than life personality.

Last October, the public was given a rare glimpse into the life and works of one of the most highly creative, most prolific and well-loved icons of the Philippine stage, as this year’s recipient of Natatanging Gawad Buhay Lifetime Achievement Award for Theater.

In 1997, Santos formed an umbrella organization to help fill the performing arts industry, as one of the founding members of Philstage, that hands out the Gawad Buhay Awards.

In the tribute to him at the Gawad Buhay Awards, Gemora introduced Santos as “witty and wise, outlandish and outspoken.” He was also “creative, crazy, fun and funny, never stingy.”

He was “downright frightening, arrogant but amiable, gregarious, yet incongruously kind and incredibly thoughtful,” Gemora said, adding that Santos was a “know it all, but never stingy in giving. Generous in giving to a fault. Passionate and punctilious.”

A planned virtual tribute to Santos and some of his most recent works was supposed to start last October 9 and should have been staged every weekend till the end of December.

Scheduled to be staged were life-changing theater productions, inspiring events, industry-altering concerts from the career of Santos. It was a testament to his passionate years of loving God and living for the arts. Sadly, the tribute didn’t push through.

One of Santos’ last directorial works was “Sabel Love and Passion,” inspired by the Sabel paintings of National Artist for Visual Arts BenCab, staged by the Philippine Ballet Theater in 2015. The presentation combined poetry, ballet and pop music.

It was telenovela-like in treatment and starred a non-singer in a title role of a musical. Actress Iza Calzado was the storyteller and narrator.

Apart from theater, Santos dominated the concert scene in the '90s. It has been said that an OPM artist hasn’t truly made it unless Santos had directed one of his/her concerts. -- With report from Leah C. Salterio

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