Filipino Musical Theatre Performer in Germany Erick Arenas: From Cavite City to The Lion King in Hamburg

As a Filipino Musical Theatre Performer in Germany, Erick Arenas understands that international careers are rarely built through shortcuts, but through repetition, preparation, and endurance. He moves by disappearing into work.

Born and raised in Cavite City, Philippines, now based in Hamburg, he understands that progress rarely announces itself. It happens through leaving deliberately, waiting patiently, enduring uncertainty, and showing up prepared long before recognition follows.

What he left behind was not abstract. It was concrete: a newly built house in Imus, years of savings, a career already established, and a life interrupted by the pandemic. Letting go meant releasing stability without guarantees. What he found in Europe was not ease, but possibility—auditioning repeatedly, adapting constantly, working within systems that support artists both professionally and financially. What he is building now is quieter but heavier: earning trust, establishing presence, claiming space in a foreign industry.

The road was long. After the pandemic, Arenas began auditioning remotely, first landing Miss Saigon in Vienna. That opening led to Aladdin in Stuttgart, then to The Lion King in Hamburg. Since 2021, the work has stayed consistent—receiving offers, maintaining discipline, choosing continuity over comfort. Today, he is the only Filipino with a Philippine passport working for Stage Entertainment in Hamburg, and the first Filipino cast in The Lion King there. Every role carriesweight—not as spectacle, but as setting precedent.

His background spans jazz, modern dance, Filipino folk, and musical theatre—training across forms, absorbing structure, committing to stamina. Musicals are where his heart stays. Not because they are easy, but because they demand precision nightly, presence without ego, control over excess.

The visa process alone required persisting through paperwork, waiting through systems, choosing resilience over retreat—a familiar reality for many overseas Filipino workers. Arenas didn’t bypass it. He endured it.

Living abroad reshaped Arenas through learning languages, building chosen family, standing alone without hardening. This year, he doesn’t measure success by scale, but by alignment.

He continues by showing up, holding the work, and making space—not just for himself, but for those who follow.