musicals and live performances
Dekada '70 Musical 2020
Monday, March 16, 2020
This post is long overdue - I saw Dekada '70 Musical with Kim on March 1st. We barely got the tickets as it was selling like popsicles in the summer. I had no idea what I was going to see in the slightest, as I can barely remember the movie adaptation and I finished reading the book just last night (yes, shame on me but better late than never). But just like the other musicals I've seen in the past, this hit me hard, so hard that I was in tears by the end of it - it was a magnificent portrayal of what life was like in the Philippines during the '70s - under the atrocious hands of dictatorship.
What is it about?
Dekada '70 is about the upper-middle class Bartolome family, written in Amanda's (the mom) point of view. Amanda has five kids, all boys, and married to the classic patriarchal Julian who doesn't know anything but his pride and his responsibility as a father that begins and ends with providing the financial needs of his children. The story happened in the '70s, when Amanda's children are slowly transitioning from little boys to young men, their self-discovery and even her own.
What I think about it
The Black Box can only hold as much as 200 people (or that's what Kim concluded after counting the rows of seats), which meant this is going to be another intimate performance like Himala and Si Saldang, Si Marvin at ang Halimaw ng Gabi. I'm not sure if this is becoming a trend in Philippine theaters, but this setup brings the audience closer to the experience, like I was also in the story. I felt shame when Amanda confronted Gani about his late-night shenanigan involving Evelyn. I felt grief when Jules told his mom that his best friend was killed in an encounter. I felt annoyed at how Julian treated his wife with utmost disrespect. And damn, I cried with the Bartolomes during the Jason tragedy. I sat there in the front corner with the actors' sweat and saliva almost hitting me in the face, and witnessed the monsters invading this innocent, happy family.
Dekada '70 has always been one of our unfailing reminders of the atrocities of dictatorship. Giving it life as a musical play just made it stronger, a much louder call for us to take part in making the significant change the country needs even at the present time.
Himala: Isang Musikal gave me an intimate, one-of-a-kind, magnificent experience
Tuesday, September 24, 2019
There's not much that I know about the Himala film of 1982, except for one, the main lead was Nora Aunor; two, it was written by Ricky Lee; and three, the film is constantly played in local TV stations during the Holy Week. When I saw the poster of the musical I got thrilled, and told myself that I should see it after 2 musicals slipped off me. Plus it's a Ricky Lee classic. So I got myself a ticket to one of the shows during the opening week. Turns out, it's going to be one of the best things I forced myself into.
The venue isn't that huge - I suppose the PowerMac Center Spotlight can hold not more than 500 people. The audience surrounded the stage, kinda like what they did in Si Saldang, Si Marvin at ang Halimaw ng Gabi that reminded me of the classroom-held plays back in high school. The performers didn't require lapels and microphones, and there was only a single piano that accompanied their powerful theatrical voices. They didn't have makeup (maybe except for Nimia and her pouty red lips relevant to her role) and their clothes were typical of the neigborhood where I grew up. I was sitting on the first row and it allowed me an up-close and intimate moment the entire show, like I was one of the casts - albeit a mere expectator but still part of the production.
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| With Elsa |
I'm not gonna lie, I got sad when I realized it wasn't Aicelle that's gonna be playing Elsa in the show I was in. But my sadness dissipated within the next five seconds because Celine Fabie is just splendid - she and her powerful voice gave me goosebumps in various parts of the show. Then there's our favorite pokpok, Kakki Teodoro who plays Nimia, Cupang's cabaret owner and for many times I am reminded of the people I've met in my life who were too relatable to her character (or similar). I've read somewhere that it's not impressive when art imitates life too closely but to hell with them because I stan relatable art. And I am not just talking about Nimia, but also Orly the journalist played by David Ezra who was staying at Cupang only to make a name for himself out of Elsa's alleged miraculous faith healing. And of course, how can I forget Chayong and Pilo, played by Neomi Gonzales and Sandino Martin respectively - the lovers whose dreams and future plans brought me back to when I was a kid and my aunt would listen to drama series in the AM station at two in the afternoon. Needless to say, I drowned in nostalgia and familiarity.
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| This is Nimia and Orly. |
I can no longer remember the story from the 3-decade old film. And even if I still do, I suspect I'd still have the same goosebumps, speed of heartbeat, and teary eyes during what have become my favorite scenes. Himala isn't just Elsa's story. No, it's not even just Barrio Cupang's story. It's about us, the Filipinos, who made fanaticism and relying to miracles a tradition and our ultimate salvation. It's about us who claim to be afraid of God and yet we practice faithless religion. The magnificent portrayals of the characters though, is another story. Everyone should watch it.
In Good COMPANY for 2019
Tuesday, July 16, 2019
After the runaway success of last year’s “cheerfully deranged” (The Manila Bulletin) MONTY PYTHON’S SPAMALOT, Upstart returns with a brand new production of COMPANY, the well-loved Broadway classic that is currently making a splash in London’s West End. A “landmark musical” (Time Magazine) about love, marriage, friendship, and loneliness, COMPANY is one of theater legend Stephen Sondheim’s most beloved works, along with shows like INTO THE WOODS, WEST SIDE STORY, and A LITTLE NIGHT MUSIC. With its “unforgettable score” (The Bos-ton Globe) and the “sparse, elegant wit” of its lyrics (The New York Time), every major production of COMPANY in Broadway and the West End has earned accolades— including multiple Tony and Olivier Awards— since the show’s debut in 1970.
Helmed by acclaimed actor/director Topper Fabregas (Gawad Buhay Best Director 2016, “Tribes”), Upstart’s version of COMPANY will feature theater veterans like Ojay Mariano (“Ang Huling El Bimbo”), Cathy Azanza-Dy (“Silent Sky”), Ariel Reonal (“Miss Saigon”), and Caisa Borromeo (“Silent Sky”), along with a host of hot up-and-comers from the theater and entertainment scene. Fabregas was very particular about finding new, unexplored performers, and held open auditions for all the parts. He was not disappointed at the results: “We were blown away,” he enthuses. Producer Joel Trinidad, who is also part of the cast, concurs: “We said to so many people, ‘Why have we never seen you on stage before?!’”
Offstage, Fabregas has assembled an impressive team to help him realize his unique vision for the show: Handling the music is TOYM Awardee and former Hong Kong Disneyland Musical Director Rony Fortich; handling the Production Design is New York-based Joey Mendoza, freelance set designer and faculty member at Fordham University Theater Program at Lincoln Center.
What can audiences expect from COMPANY? The San Francisco Exam-iner said it best: “There’s never been a franker, more sophisticated work written for the musical stage.”
COMPANY runs on all Fridays (9:00 pm), Saturdays (3:00 and 8:00 pm), and Sundays (3:00 and 8:00 pm) between September 13 and September 22 at the Globe Auditorium, Maybank Performing Arts Theater, BGC Arts Center, Taguig. COMPANY is presented through special arrangement with Music Theatre International (MTI). All authorized performance materials are also supplied by MTI, 423 West 55th Street, New York, NY 10019. Tel.: (212) 541-4684 Fax: (212) 397-4684 www.MTIShows.com
Experiencing Noli Me Tangere thru the opera version
Wednesday, March 13, 2019
Noli Me Tangere is my all-time favorite literary masterpiece after we dissected El Filibusterismo (its sequel) in senior high school. I guess that's how superb my Filipino teacher was in my junior year. I even went wholeheartedly, when she required the class to see the musical which, she would say after, had a lot of inaccuracies it was such a waste. Last Sunday, I came to see Noli Me Tangere The Opera, and it was such an experience to see Crisostomo Ibarra and Maria Clara come to life in the form of opera singers.
I'm not gonna lie, I was a bit disappointed that it wasn't a musical, which I am a fan of. I would very much love to hear how the actors would deliver the romantic dialogues in Ang Suyuan Sa Isang Azotea in non-operatic voices. I'd love to hear Salome's voice come to life when she said, "Tell me how you passed the day... hearing it from your lips will please me so much as though I have been with you," to Elias (but of course this might not be included because it's an omitted chapter). Oh yes, I love these scenes because I am a hopeless romantic, but I'd also love to jump off my seat as Padre Damaso successfully provoked Crisostomo into pointing him the knife, causing the latter to be ex-communicado.
Though I prefer to see and hear these scenes in a non-operatic way, I must say there were scenes that gave me complete goosebumps. I felt Padre Damaso's fatherly anguish when Maria Clara asked him to break her engagement with Linares and allow her to be a nun, else she wanted to die (Padre Damaso Explains). It was as heartbreaking as I expected it to be, just like how my Filipino teacher described it to the class so many years ago, knowing what happened beyond the towering walls of the nunnery. And Sisa. How can I ever unsee that performance (Noche Buena). That chasing between Basilio and his mother, how his mother (Sisa) hummed in that operatic voice that made everyone who heard it understand there are fears and pain, loneliness and emptiness so deep and powerful they cannot be put into words. It made me cry... well, almost.
Too bad it was only performed for the weekend (from March 8-10). But I'm glad that I decided to see it despite my cravings for a musical. A timeless classic that contains a bit of every life aspect, Noli Me Tangere deserves another kind art form that will make people remember.
I watched Mula Sa Buwan the second time around and my heart still breaks
Monday, December 3, 2018
I didn’t have plans of watching it again – Mula sa Buwan broke my heart the first time I saw it, though I should say it threw the pieces in the right places. But I loved everything about it, from the songs (Tinig sa Dilim for the win!) to the actors, as well as the experience and the feelings it gave me in all life aspects. Talk about being attacked on a personal level. And I must say this play has left me with a bittersweet memory I’d never forget in my lifetime. So when I saw their Facebook announcement that they are going to do one final run on December 1st, I took it as a sign that I must see it one last time.
I told my friends that the 2018 version was better than that of the 2017. Though now I’ve thought it through, I could no longer decide whether it was true or it’s just that, the experience was better this time around. What I saw last weekend was the same Cyrano – Nicco Manalo couldn’t have done it more perfectly than he did. The Christians I saw were different, I like both Edward Benosa and Myke Salomon though I could barely remember how Ed did it really (it’s been more than a year, forgive me). Gab Pangilinan gave me the chills when she finally performed Ang Sabi Nila, but not the way KL Dizon made me cringe and cry and feel like someone was really dead. Hey, I love Gab, too, don’t get me wrong. Especially when she gives life to the #romanceclass MCs along with Jef. And Rosanna, what can I say more about her?
The story broke my heart, and I guess everyone who saw it would say the same. It was a sad love story, unrequited, unsaid and lost. It was also a story of defiance. Roxane told the priest that she should be married to the man she truly loved instead of the one who was pursuing her. The cadets fought bravely during the war. Cyrano went back and forth to the woman he loved the most just to send his devotion despite of the danger that awaited him, or the fact that the woman was already owned by someone else. The world has clearly changed after the war and yet they weren’t keen to embrace it. Roxane chose to grieve forever, refusing to take off the shroud of emptiness that prevented her to see through her best friend’s heart. All these broke my heart and made it whole again. I cried again, during that last scene with Cyrano and Roxane. This time, harder.
I really hope this wouldn’t be the last time they run the show. The entire experience was too violent yet too sweet and I would love to spend more just to get that feeling again, and I’m not even kidding. Mula sa Buwan will always have that special spot in my heart reserved for Filipino musicals.
xo
When I've finally watched Sa Wakas
Tuesday, April 17, 2018
Cheaters have no right to be happy.
I'm not bitter, okay? I'm just triggered by the cliche yet mainstream storyline Sa Wakas presented. This Pinoy rock musical was actually shown last year, and I could no longer remember the reason why I missed it. Thankfully, there's a farewell run this year where I finally took the opportunity to see it and decide whether it was really worth raving about. The show I've seen had Vic Robinson instead of Pepe Herrera. Both actors are equally great, I think. They played the role of Topher (did I spell it right?) the great, cheating scum.
The music is great, no questions asked. Sugarfree is one of the OPM bands whose music conquered the FM stations across the country, and it heavily reminded me of my graveyard shift nights when I'd listen to the radio on the bus and in cabs. There were songs I didn't even know were sung by them. No, I didn't necessarily have them on my playlist since my playlist consists of hits from twenty years ago, but I got heartbroken when there wasn't a CD merch aside from the #SaWaKit that costs a whopping Php2000. Maybe I'm just gonna have to download the songs on Spotify.
Then there's the story. Maybe I don't need to talk about the story being too common as most of us have probably seen it in different forms - movies, novels, TV series and maybe even in real life. I don't need to talk about cheating as something that's always been justified by lack of time, lack of connection, lack of enough affection and maybe even the lack of benefit. And although the actors were super great (I love Vic Robinson for his magnificent performance), for some reason I couldn't find the chemistry between him and his ladies. One friend who also watched the show and saw Pepe Herrera said he felt the same. Maybe they looked too good to be cheating their girlfriends, I don't know.
Sa Wakas left me a mark, for I didn't know it told the story of one of my friends. And who knows, maybe it's also the story of that woman I rode with in the elevator a few days ago. And hell, yes. It was my story too.
xoxo❤
Mula Sa Buwan still breaks my heart after a year
Sunday, February 25, 2018
Facebook just reminded me that today, one year ago, I saw Mula sa Buwan. It was the first musical I've seen last year, and the one that still affects me until today. I'm not sure if it was because of the fact that Ultimate Crush saw it too and we both like it, or because Nicco Manalo was a super magnificent Cyrano. But I know for a fact that the songs seared a mark in my head and in my heart, making sure I wouldn't forget about them for a long time.
The CD was sold during its February shows and some of the songs were also released on Spotify not so long ago. Believe me when I say that these songs effectively motivated me to finish the book that I'm writing (more about this later). Though I love listening to the entire album, there are a few songs that made it to my mixtape, the always-on-repeat playlist.
1. Ikaw. Imagine being compared to the beautiful sunrise - so warm and bright (uhmm, did I just quote a Moffatts song?) Lovely and heartwarming, right? Can't say anything further.
2. Awit ni Roxane. The powerful voice of KL Dizon gives my stomach the feels like it has a thousand butterflies, as it gives life to the words that define how I feel when Ultimate Crush acts like the feeling is mutual (duh, I know I'm imagining things but it's a colorful world, so).
3. Tinig sa Dilim. This song sounds like mixed pop and kundiman, and brings me back to the time when boys pursue girls by singing songs of endless devotion under the windows (it's called harana here in my country). The lyrics also talks about keeping love a secret, like when you're secretly pining for someone you know who can never be yours. Ouch!
4. Ang Sabi Nila. This one's a heart-wrenching song that talks about someone's unwillingness to get over a lost love. And I figured it's because moving on is much easier said than done.
If Mula sa Buwan is going to have a rerun, I'd watch over and over it because it's just heartbreakingly splendid. And it won't matter if my heart breaks over and over too, because the pieces are surely gonna fall in the right places. I figured through this show that there's nothing more romantic than the Filipino language. Well, there's Salome's "isalaysay mo sa akin kung paanong lumipas sa iyo ang maghapon. Marinig ko lamang ito sa iyong mga labi ay para na rin akong nakipagsaya sa inyo." (describe it to me just how your day went. Just hearing it from you would be as if I was there having fun with you." I did my most accurate translation but I still like the Filipino version) from Noli Me Tangere's missing chapter, but still. And yes, maybe I could ask Ultimate Crush if we could watch it together. Teehee
We watched Si Saldang, Si Marvin at ang Halimaw ng Gabi on Sunday
Monday, February 19, 2018
What if your dreams can betray you and turn its back on you in the end? Are you still going to continue working for it?
Si Saldang, Si Marvin at ang Halimaw ng Gabi is the first theater play I’ve seen this year, and I couldn’t be more impressed. When I saw it on Facebook, I immediately told Kim we need to watch it, but of course I didn’t tell her about Gio Gahol and Fred Lo as part of my many reasons for wanting to see it.
I know I don’t need to go over the fact that The PARC Foundation where the play was held isn’t the easiest place to locate if you’re not familiar with the area. I won’t tell you anymore how the actors delivered in the most excellent way possible, especially Gio who appeared to have brought the first part of the show by himself and Fred who portrayed the different kinds of evening monsters. I don’t want to bore you of fact that it was an intimate presentation, kinda like the classroom plays I did in college. The poster told me what the story was, an EJK story – something that has been the central issue of the current administration in my country. I want to clarify I am not a subversive individual, but then it’s disheartening when you see young and innocent people die in this so called “war on drugs”.
So yeah, what if your own dreams could turn you down? What if being a news reporter suddenly becomes about what the people would love to hear from you and not about exposing unbiased and naked truth? What if being a gay fashion designer brings you in the middle of a condemning and judgmental society who has a very odd definition of decent sexuality? What if being a teacher becomes a futile responsibility because children no longer has the desire to learn and dream for the future. These things and more, stirred up my head and made me ponder on what kind of society I am living in these days.
Si Saldang, Si Marvin at ang Halimaw ng Gabi is just one of the many things that can be done to challenge one to try make a difference. I wish there’s a rerun. I’d love to watch it again, and bring as many friends as I can.
Monty Phyton’s Spamalot is Back and We Couldn’t Be More Excited
Friday, January 26, 2018
Monty Phyton’s Spamalot is said to be the best-reviewed musical comedy of 2017. After I enjoyed the Improv Press Play last year, which is by the way one of the best laughtrip evenings of my life, I couldn’t be more excited to hear that this musical is having a rerun here in Manila. And what’s more, I was invited to the press night which will give me the opportunity to speak with the casts and take pictures with them!
A Bit of a Background
Monty Phyton’s Spamalot is a musical comedy based from the 1975 film called Monty Phyton and the Holy Grail. The story is set in medieval England and just like the film, this comedy musical is a derisive parody of the Arthurian legend.
It’s been a while since the last time I’ve seen a musical (it was Mula Sa Buwan, god!) and the experience is just overwhelming. This is different from the Improv performance, of course, and since I promised myself that I would do more things (exciting things) this year, I’m gonna give myself this chance to spend another laughter-filled night. The repeat run of the musical will happen from April 13 to 22 at the Globe Auditorium, Maybank Performing Arts Theater, BGC Arts Center. For ticket reservations, you may contact the email and phone number listed below.
Email: upstarttickets@gmail.com
Phone #: 09178116156
Cheers to a great 2018 ahead!
Spread the looooove!
xoxo,
Beth G.
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