Tanghalang Ateneo's Walang Sugat--musical highlights on video, part 1

And my own HD video clips at that, taken with the gracious permission of Walang Sugat director Ricky Abad.

Not only is the sarsuwela a historic and cultural treasure, but its main musical numbers--especially those featuring the young leads Arman Ferrer and Janine Santos--were so stirring and memorable for me that I thought they needed to be memorialized somehow, recorded and shared with more people. On the Thursday evening I watched the show (for the second time), Ateneo's Irwin Theater had a sparse audience. Sad, because the production almost always brought people to their feet in the end.

This production of Walang Sugat (libretto by Severino Reyes, music by Fulgencio Tolentino) was first staged in February this year as part of Ateneo De Manila's sesquicentennial celebration. The production design of pop-up children's book illustrations (by National Artist Salvador Bernal) was all of a piece with the production's spirit of bringing the material closer to a younger audience. I saw it then, and while it struck me as a frisky, charming show, with glorious music supplied by a full orchestra under Chino Toledo's baton, there was also a tentative feeling to it, taking its cue perhaps from its newbie lead actor, who sung robustly but acted rather stiffly.

What a difference six months can make. Ferrer, as the young man Tenyong who grows up to become a revolutionary while also fighting for the love of his childhood sweetheart Julia, loosened up considerably for the restaging. The greater ease and confidence he now exhibited onstage translated to beautifully ardent, dashing singing--a rich, full-bodied and resonant sound that, in tandem with the lustrous soprano of Janine Santos' Julia, enabled this Walang Sugat--hokey moments and all--to raise the flag of beauty on the Irwin Theater stage with its heartfelt, youthful romanticism.

Santos is only 19; Ferrer is 21. Both are UP Voice students. What moved me so much when I heard them sing was realizing that the kind of voices they have is hardly heard onstage nowadays. Most young musical-theater actors, in keeping with the times and the demands of newer material, take to the pop-rock idiom and sensibility by default. Nothing wrong with that--Rent, after all, is but La Boheme in modern garb. But here are two kids who have decided to take the longer, more difficult route of formal training in classical music, in a country that has ceased listening to it.

Virtually unknown before this show, they break through with voices that would make you sit up, thumb frantically through the program in search of their names, and afterwards exhale a silent prayer of thanks for their teachers'--and the kids' own--stout-hearted commitment to honing those rare instruments. For the bright promise of their youth and talent, these two--Arman Ferrer and Janine Santos--deserve to be heard far more widely. They are major finds in my book.

About the sarsuwela--here's Walang Sugat in a nutshell, from an Inquirer piece by Ambeth Ocampo:

The zarzuela is set in Bulacan during the years of the Philippine Revolution, and centers on the lovers, Julia and Tenyong. Their love is tested when Tenyong joins the Revolution and leaves for the battlefield to avenge his father who died in prison from torture ordered by the friars. While Tenyong is away, Julia is forced by her mother to marry Miguel the rich nephew of the parish priest. The highlight of this play occurs on the day of Miguel and Julia’s wedding. Tenyong, mortally wounded, is brought into the church on a stretcher heavily bandaged. He asks for the last rites and interrupts the wedding. Then he asks to marry Julia before he dies. Naturally, Miguel and Julia’s mother object but cannot deny the dying man’s request. Julia and Tenyong are married and to everyone’s surprise the dying revolucionario rises from the stretcher and removes his bandages to reveal that--you guessed it--walang sugat! (No wound).

Part 1 of the video excerpts below. (I had to limit myself to recording only the leads' musical numbers since sitting behind me, no doubt distracted by the glare [small, but still...] of my HD Flip camera, was no less than Ateneo president Fr. Bienvenido Nebres. Who knew he'd also watch that night? My apologies, sir.)

1. Huwag Mong Silaban. Tenyong and Julia, second cousins and childhood sweethearts, engage in giddy banter. Julia has sewn a kerchief with Tenyong's initials on it, but her refusal to show it to Tenyong provokes the guy to threaten (playfully) to burn it. Hence the song's title, and the reaffirmation of love between the two.



2. Dalawang Braso. Tenyong's father is hauled to jail and tortured by the friars and town mayor. On his deathbed, his son vows revenge. Note both the exquisite delicacy (in “A, kapag namatay ka, o ama kong ibig...”) and thrilling power (the top notes in “frayle” and “bangkay”) of Ferrer's pipes.



3. Bayan Ko. Resolved to join the Katipuneros, Tenyong tries to dissuade the boy Pabling from following him, citing the dangers. The lad argues that even kids are capable of loving their country and fighting for its freedom. Against Julia's fears, and leaving his mother behind, Tenyong heads for the hills, to the soaring strains of Bayan Ko. End of Act 1. (This song, by the way, originally a poem by Jose Corazon de Jesus set to music by Constancio de Guzman, was a later addition to Walang Sugat).



[Thanks to Frances Sion for the photos. More clips in Part 2, up next.]

Gantimpala Theater's Kanser (Noli Me Tangere) returns

Gantimpala Theater restages “Kanser” on Sept. 3, 4, 10 and 11 at 9 a.m. and 12 noon at the AFP Theater, Camp Aguinaldo, QC; and on Sept. 17 and 18, from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. at SM Southmall, Las Piñas City.

“This is a play that people should watch over and over again,” says Tony S. Espejo, artistic director.

Written by National Hero Dr. Jose Rizal, the novel is a stark reminder that the societal cancer brought about by corruption and greed remains to this day.

In “Kanser (Noli Me Tangere),” Crisostomo Ibarra returns home after his European studies and rekindles his romance with childhood sweetheart Maria Clara. His return triggers an old rift with the town friar, Padre Damaso. As the play progresses, Ibarra realizes that the malady of oppression and colonial brutality has been killing not only his town, but his motherland as well.

The play stars Randy Villarama (Crisostomo Ibarra), Meliza Reyes (Maria Clara), Mayen Estañero (Sisa), Bert William Angeles (Elias), Ed Murillo and Joey David (Capitan Tiago), Paolo O’Hara (Tenyente Guevarra), Dante Balois (Filosofo Tacio), Manolet Concepcion (Padre Damaso), Floyd Tena (Padre Salvi), April Anne Dolot (Doña Victoria), Neisty Lopera (Don Tiburcio), Meldea Flor Formacil (Doña Consolacion), and Abby Vicente (Mang-aawit).

“Kanser” is directed by Adriana Agcaoili, with Jose Jeffrey Camañag as associate director; Jospeh Matheu, lights designer; Norma Peñaflorida, set designer; Darby Dizon, choreographer; Charyl Chan de Guzman, production manager; and Wilmark Oliver Tabio, stage manager.

For inquiries, call 8995745 or 8963503, or visit www.gantimpalatheater.multiply or www.facebook.com/gantimpala.

[Photo: Meliza Reyes]

Shame, shock, anger in 140 characters

COMMENT (here): gibbs, you always have strong opinions on social matters, curious to find out your take on the hostage taking crisis. hindi ba “theatrical” din naman ang nangyayari dito? :)

Hmmm, you don't follow me on Twitter, do you? (Quick, here!) It's there where I've been letting off steam real-time. And since my tweets are automatically uploaded on Facebook, they generate separate threads there. A recap, from the top:

• PNP = sheer staggering, unbelievable incompetence.

• policeman takes hostages. policemen bungle rescue. who in god's name do you turn to in this case? heads MUST roll here.

• no police direction, so media was all over. that simple. put a perimeter fence there, and media would follow. d cops should've been on top.

• side by side w/ sentimental coverage of mr. mendoza's grievances, dig too into the young chef he and his men allegedly forced to eat shabu.

• when u're being manhandled by d cops, believe me, u'd thank d rolling TV news camera that records ur ordeal and restrains further abuse.

• pulis on tv: 'a successful hostage negotiation is where no one get hurts.'--sige na, oks lang mali grammar, basta sana tama ang ginagawa.

• corruption and deceit won't be noynoy's undoing. indecisiveness, it seems, will be. in this case, he is truly his mother's son.

So there, I hope that answers the commenter's question (though not much there on the “theatrical” angle). This particular tweet, by the way--no police direction, so media was all over. that simple. put a perimeter fence there, and media would follow. d cops should've been on top.--generated this discussion on my FB page (Reo is a lawyer-friend based in Tokyo; Dona is a fellow Inquirer journalist):

• REO: nope. i don't think media will follow police orders. sila pa! (di ka kasali hehehe). Media bosses should have ordered restraint. Sa kanila lang susunod ang reporters.

• DONA PAZZIBUGAN-PORCALLA: yes the police ground commander shld have immediately ordered a video blackout of the brother's arrest and the assault. but really, kung walang police order ganon ba katanga ang mga bossing ng dos/anc not to realize that they are compromising/broadcasting police operations to the hostage taker; paano kaya kung kapatid nila yung nasa loob ng van, would they still have aired all those things live?

• ME: they DID follow orders. it was the police that herded them to a certain vantage point, that's why puro long shots and zoom ang visuals before the bloodbath. but afterwards, when the police should've cordoned off the area as a crime scene, it didn't--so naturally everyone, media and usisero alike, swarmed the bus. the task to impose order and minimize provocation was the police's; that it would arrest mendoza's brother in full glare of the cameras, goading the unhinged man inside to begin shooting, was the height of carelessness.

• REO: The Mendoza brothers ran to the media area to seek “protection”. Kahit ako, I had to turn the TV volume off dahil sa ingay ng dalawa. How else could the police have contained them without causing a stir? But if there was no blow-by-blow coverage of the event, the hostage-taker wouldn't have had any idea of what was going on.

• ME: the blow-by-blow is the media's task, and those guys ran to them precisely because the exposure guaranteed them, in their mind, a measure of security. who knew that the TV coverage was also being seen inside the bus, as eventually surfaced only when mendoza protested his brother's arrest, which he saw presumably on the bus monitor? whose responsibility was it to know what that bus had inside, how it was designed, etc, down to whether it had a tv monitor? the cops', right? they had the whole day to find out, but they apparently didn't! because the police were at the front lines, the ONLY source of first-hand information, it was their responsibility to determine which information was critical and which was not, which one might compromise operations and which would not. to ask that media censor itself WITHOUT official clarity or guideline is asking that it shortchange its work.

• REO: Pray tell me, after the Manila Pen incident, haven't the police and media discussed rules of engagement for crisis scenarios? Taken that one party fails to act as required, will it be a go-signal for the other party to have a field day? What happened to civic duty? I do not fault the reporters - it's more the province of media's management. I'd like to know if any of the news organizations gave specific guidelines as to how to act yesterday (they also had the entire day to d so). Or was it just “go until the police arrests you”.

• ME: this is not a question of civic duty. those cops and media people were doing their respective civic duties, what was expected of them, what they were trained to do and had sworn to do. the question is how adequately and responsibly they did their tasks... more later, i'm off my desk. :)

End of the back and forth--for now. I'm pretty certain you've had the same exchange with people around you. Keep at it; better we're worked up over what happened than to shrug our shoulders in apathy.

P.S. You thinking of joining the fray by commenting anonymously? Forget it. Just this once, in this major major issue that I imagine you're frothing in the mouth, just like the rest of us, to have your say, have the balls to credit your opinion with your real name. You ask the police and media to be more responsible citizens? Walk your talk by standing up for your own role as an engaged citizen. “Anonymous” is for wusses.

Acting royalty lights up Tanghalang Pilipino's American Hwangap

Mario O'Hara. Gina Pareno. Bembol Roco. Celeste Legaspi.

That is, without question, a formidable foursome--a quartet of some of the finest, most accomplished artists in Philippine film, theater, TV and music.

Well, Tanghalang Pilipino has achieved what might be the casting coup of the year by gathering these four acting royals to headline its production of the acclaimed play American Hwangap, by the Korean-American playwright Lloyd Suh. (That's him on the right; he was here a few days ago for consultations on his play.)

Screen legend Bembol Roco and musical-theater institution Celeste Legaspi topbill the original English version of the play, while the Filipino version, translated by Joi Barrios, has the protean talent of Mario O'Hara teaming up with the multi-awarded Gina Pareno, who is making her stage debut in this production. American Hwangap also marks Celeste's return to theater after 12 years, her last appearance having been in the musical Larawan in 1998.

Playing their three kids, in both the English and Filipino versions, are Jeremy Domingo, Liesl Batucan and Nicco Manalo.

The play, directed by Chris Millado, runs September 10-October 3 at CCP's Tanghalang Aurelio Tolentino.

From left, seated: Director Chris Millado, Bembol Roco, Gina Pareno, Celeste Legaspi, Mario O'Hara. Standing: Jeremy Domingo, Liesl Batucan, Nicco Manalo. At the presscon for the play yesterday at Casino Espanol (lovely vintage structure!), Kalaw, Manila.


“Hwangap” is a Korean ritual celebrating one's 60th birthday--a special, auspicious event in Korean culture because on this day, the celebrator is supposed to have completed the zodiac cycle. In American Hwangap, a Korean family transplanted to Texas is forced to confront its dark, painful past when the father who had abandoned them 15 years ago now returns to mark his 60th birthday with the wife and three kids he had left behind.

The play had its world premiere in March 2009 at the Magic Theater in San Francisco, then made its New York premiere in May of the same year, presented by the Ma-Yi Theater Company and The Play Company.

The raves so far:

Minutes into “American Hwangap,” Lloyd Suh’s likable new play about a Korean-American family, which opened on Sunday at the Wild Project, the author’s affection for his characters is clear. The five people are lovingly drawn from the very first line (“I wrote a poem for you, Dad”) and filled with endearing quirks that make them a delight to watch... Those moments prove that no matter how much a playwright loves his characters, sending them to unhappy places can be the most thrilling thing for an audience to watch. -- Ken Jaworowski, The New York Times

Suh strikes just the right balance between humor and deeply felt emotion. His dialogue not only captures what the characters express to one another, but also hint at the subtextual thoughts that they're unable to say. Director Trip Cullman elicits fine performances from his ensemble cast... -- Dan Bacalzo, Theater Mania

Backed by lean, crisp design elements, Cullman directs his talented cast to a sharply pointed T. The few quieter moments (such as a bonding fishing expedition for Dad and Ralph) are as astutely handled as the more manic ones. -- Dennis Harvey, Variety

Suh reminds us that we often have to live into questions before answers begin to surface, and his convincing, compelling writing exposes these familial relationships with grace, poignancy, and bursts of humor. Under the deft direction of Trip Cullman, this compact 90-minute production flies by, offering a vivid, intimate portrait of a family attempting to patch itself together. -- Amy Krivohlavek, CurtainUp

The play explores familiar territory… like the loss of the American Dream and the wreckage that Min Suk’s wife Mary (Mia Katigbak) and three kids have coped with, but Suh does it with some surprises and genuine lyricism. Director Trip Cullman’s well-calibrated staging deftly navigates the naturalistic and the fantastical qualities of the high-stakes reconciliation Suh has conceived. -- Andy Propst, Timeout New York

To see simple, expert stagecraft at its very best, look no further than the Magic Theatre’s world-premiere production of American Hwangap by Lloyd Suh... But mostly the play pops because Suh is a funny writer who knows just how powerfully humor resonates through deep pain... Cullman’s cast is incredibly appealing. -- Chad Jones, San Francisco Bay Area Backstage

A representative American Hwangap birthday spread--60th birthday cake with kimchi and Korean wine Soju on the side (incidentally, the signature drink of the Fabcasters parties!)--before grande dames Gina Pareno and Celeste Legaspi.

She often plays glum, dowdy if headstrong old women on screen, but you have to see Gina Pareno in the flesh to realize how radiant and attractive she still is. And gracious, too. Asked why she agreed, after much prodding from Chris Millado and TP Artistic Director Nanding Josef, to finally take the plunge and act in a play, she said: Gusto kong matuto pa at makatrabaho silang lahat (pointing to her co-stars), kasi ang gagaling nila. At para maiba naman, kasi ibang klase ang disiplina at concentration na kailangan sa teatro. Kaya nung unang reading namin, ayun, nakatungo lang ako, tinitingnan ko sila, kasi ang gagaling nila!

Celeste, meanwhile, looks as chic and sharp as ever, especially with that becoming shock of white hair (I got tired of dyeing my hair; now I feel freer!, she said). What “seduced” her to come back to theater and do this role, she was asked. Well, I've always been into seduction, she quipped. Like Gina, she felt it was a challenging enough script, and she had long wanted to do a straight play for a change. So here she is, back from retirement and, with her rare reappearance (in the company of three other esteemed senior artists), adding greater heft and stature to TP's new production.

“American Hwangap,” directed by Chris Millado, runs September 10-October 3 at CCP's Tanghalang Aurelio Tolentino (Little Theater). For inquiries, call 8321125, loc. 1620 to 1621. Telefax 8323661. E-mail ccptanghalan@yahoo.com or visit www.tanghalangpilipino.com

Since we're on the subject of 'beaucons'...

Reposting an old favorite--

-------------------------------------------

Mandaya Moore has a hilarious account of a recent gay beauty contest he attended, ending with this Q&A:

Question: What is your best asset and why?

Mahal (that's the name of the contestant): Good evening ladies and gentlemen, board of judges, barangay captain. Thank you for that very beautiful question. What is my best asset and why? My best asset? My eyes. Because with my eyes I can see the world tonight with Loren Legarda and Angelo Castro Jr. Thank you.

Winner!

Which had me recalling my own treasure trove of "beaucon" Q&A stories, some true, some fanciful. Here goes:

Story #1. This happened in Albay.

Emcee: Contestant No. 7, here's your question: What is your favorite animal, and why?

Contestant: (Confident) My favorite animal is a bird, because it can fly, it symbolizes freedom!

(Audience claps wildly.)

Emcee: Good answer! So what is your favorite bird?

Contestant: My favorite bird is ah... eh... chicken.

Story #2. Somewhere in Laguna

Emcee: Here's your question. Titanic was called the ship of dreams. Why?

Contestant: (Thinks long and hard, crowd beginning to hoot). Ahh... Flis rifit.

Emcee: Your question is, Titanic was called the ship of dreams. Why?

Contestant: (Thinks long ang hard again, then...) That's true.

Story #3. Just heard this from a friend.

Emcee: What is your motto in life?

Contestant: My motto in life? Opportunity knocks but once and I thank you!

Story #4. A recent male beauty pageant in Intramuros

Emcee (Boy Abunda no less): Contestant so-and-so, eto ang tanong. Ano sa tingin mo ang natatanging kaugalian nating mga Pinoy na dapat nating pahalagahan at ipamana sa ating mga anak?

Contestant: Dapat ho tayo magtapon ng basura.

Story #5. Joke making the rounds

Emcee: What do you think is the biggest problem facing the youth today?

Contestant: Drugs.

(Audience cheers.)

Emcee. Well said! Why do you say drugs?

Contestant: Ang mahal kasi e!

Story #6. Not Q&A, but funny nonetheless.

This girl has joined and lost in so many beauty contests, and she's deeply frustrated. One Sunday it's her turn to do the reading at Mass. She begins:

A reading from the letter of Paul... (flings her arms up) TO HEBREW CITY!

PLUS: You've seen this, haven't you? The money moment is at 2:29--and top 15 pa lang yan!

Crap alert

[h/t: The Daily Wh.at]

PLUS: Dodo Dayao over on Twitter, re the Mendoza hostage drama: CNN just called the Philippines “the worst country to go to.” yes, even foreign media can be fucked-up and irresponsible.

If the quote is accurate--agree. Worst? Hyperbole is the enemy of sober reporting--especially if it's hyperbole based on one admittedly attention-grabbing but isolated incident. If that's the game to be played, then what's sauce for the goose is sauce for the gander. On the basis of that one faulty head above, CNN might as well be called the Crappy News Network. Deal?

Rachel Alejandro topbills Atlantis Productions' Xanadu

Atlantis Productions brings the surprise hit Broadway musical comedy "Xanadu" to Manila.

"Xanadu" follows the journey of a magical and beautiful Greek muse, Kira (played by Rachel Alejandro), who descends from the heavens of Mt. Olympus to Venice Beach, California in 1980 on a quest to inspire a struggling artist, Sonny Malone (played by Felix Rivera), to achieve the greatest artistic creation of all time, the first Roller Disco--hey, it’s 1980.

But, when Kira falls into forbidden love with the mortal Sonny, her jealous sisters take advantage of the situation and chaos abounds.

This hilarious, roller-skating musical adventure about following your dreams despite the limitations others set for you, rolls along to the original hit score composed by pop-rock legends Jeff Lynne and John Farrar, and includes the hit songs "Magic," "All Over The World," "Suddenly," "I’m Alive," "Evil Woman," "Have You Never Been Mellow" and "Xanadu," to name a few. It is based on the Universal Pictures’ cult classic movie of the same title, which starred Olivia Newton-John and Gene Kelly.

It’s hilarity on wheels for adults, children and anyone who has ever wanted to feel inspired, as one of Broadway’s master storytellers, Douglas Carter Beane, weaves a moving, electrifying tale of endless fun that will keep you in stitches, while the original, legendary chart-topping tunes lift you out of your seat. You’ll want to keep the music in your head, and "Xanadu" in your heart, forever.

Starring in "Xanadu" are pop singer and theater actress Rachel Alejandro, Felix Rivera, Noel Trinidad, Chari Arespacochaga, Yael Pineda, Bea Garcia, Anthony Ong, Glen Llanes and Alys Serdenia.

Following "Xanadu," Atlantis Productions brings the highly anticipated Stephen Sondheim musical "A Little Night Music" to Manila in October, starring Dawn Zulueta, followed by a run at the Esplanade Theater in Singapore in November.

Directed By Bobby Garcia, "Xanadu" runs Sept. 3-19 at the Carlos P. Romulo Auditorium, RCBC Plaza, Makati. For tickets, call Atlantis Productions at 8927078 or 8401187.

A-twitter on Twitter

The Mcvie started it all, but of course.

Mcvie: Is a disco-dancing, Oscar Wilde-reading, Streisand ticket-holding friend of Dorothy.

Me: and i'm a broadway-loving, babs-adoring, whitney-over-mariah-fuck-off-spouting, pink guava juice-drinking friend of d wicked witch!

Mcvie: Let's go local: I’m a Bed-dancing, MGG-reading, Bench Underwear fashion show ticket-holding friend of Darna!

Me: not only local, provincial! am a gay beaucon-watching, kanto beauty parlor-peeking, chinese garter-playing friend of mandaya! [Mindanao-based blogger Mandaya Moore, “ang bayot sa bukid”]

Mcvie: How about personal? I’m a bikini open-watching, tricycle driver-ogling, Lucban-lovin’ friend of @dalumat and @lobster_tony! [Our friends Tony and--um, can't tell you who Dalumat is because he's famous!]

Me: bi (!) turn. am a fitness first-going, limpwrist-hating, buff-only-for-same-advertising 'discreet lang tsong' friend of planet romeo!

Bluebaby98: panalo! :D para sa makakati: i'm a bathhouse-going, QC circle-cruising, globe pasa-loading friend of valentina!

Lobster_tony: @mcvie @gibbscadiz ay bakit kami nasama ni @dalumat sa usapang ito! Haha

And there ended a lazy afternoon of beki balderdash. Unless you, too, have a line or two to throw in (comment section open!), only keeping in mind the Roger De Bris standard: Keep it happy, keep it snappy, keep it gay!

Auditions for Tanghalang Pilipino's children's musical Ang Hukuman ni Sinukuan

Tanghalang Pilipino will hold open auditions for the cast of its new children's musical "Ang Hukuman ni Sinukuan" on Tuesday, August 24, 2010, 2 p.m. -9 p.m.; and on Wednesday, August 25, 2010, 2 p.m.-6 p.m., at the 2nd Floor Production Design Center (PDC) Building-Seminar Room, Cultural Center of the Philippines, Roxas Boulevard, Pasay City.

The third production in TP's 24th Theater Season which celebrates National Artists, "Ang Hukuman ni Sinukuan" is a children's musical based on a folk tale as retold by Virgilio Almario, National Artist for Literature. The libretto was written by Liza Magtoto, with music by Jed Balsamo.

The musical will be directed by Tess Jamias and will run at the CCP Tanghalang Huseng Batute from November 19 to December 12. It is TP's second National Artist Project in cooperation with the National Commission for Culture and the Arts.

The production is looking for strong male and female performers who can sing, dance, act and perform any musical instrument (example: guitar, flute, banduria, octabina, and ethnic Filipino musical instruments, except piano).

Those interested to be part of the production are required to submit their resume together with 2 pictures (a head shot and a full-body photo) and to prepare a 1-to-2 minute Filipino song and a 1-to-2 minute dance or movement piece incorporating a musical instrument, prop and/or costume.

For scheduling, inquiries and other details, call Tanghalang Pilipino before August 24, 12 noon, at 8323661 or 8321125 local 1620/1621. Or e-mail ccptanghalan@yahoo.com.

UPLB Samasining presents Ondine

UPLB Samasining, the laboratory arm of the Department of Humanities, in collaboration with the Theatre Communication class of this semester, is staging Jo-Anne D. Quiros’ Filipino adaptation of Jean Giraudoux’s “Ondine,” to be directed by Mr. Jeremy N. Dela Cruz and Mr. Ron H. Biñas.

The play “Ondine” is a classic, archetypal of fantasy, love and heroism that explores the tension between the real and ideal. Alfonso, a knight errant, shows up in a fisherman’s hut. The old folks’ foster water-nymph daughter Ondine falls in love with him at first sight. Awed by Ondine’s beauty, Alfonso reciprocates--and disregards his feelings for Berta, the woman who sent him on his quest in exchange for her hand in marriage. Together, Ondine and Alfonso travel back to Ondine's water kingdom even though her fellow water creatures object strongly to her human lover.

Composed of faculty and students, UPLB Samasining aims to provide alternative venues of education through theatrical presentations, dance and musical concerts, art exhibits, film screenings, creative writing workshops, and other related activities. It also aspires to develop faculty members and students’ potential in the literary, visual and performing arts.

For Communication Arts students, Samasining is a creative ground where they gain practical and hands-on experiences in various aspects of collaborative artistic work and production management.

The show runs September 22, 7pm; September 23 and 24, 3pm and 7pm; September 25 and 26, 10am and 3pm, at the D.L. Umali Hall, UPLB. Tickets atP200 each. For reservations, call Camille Custodio 0906-7813195.

Magsimula Ka!--the new generation--opens Nov. 17

Spotlight Artists Centre, the performing arts school, proudly announces its final cast lineup for “Magsimula Ka," its very first musical, to be staged at the Music Museum on November, 17, 18, 19, 20, 24, 25, 26, 27, and December 2, 3 and 4, 8:00 p.m., with matinees on November 20, 27 and December 4.

The auditions, which started last February, yielded a fresh bumper crop of “triple threat" artists (budding theater performers with exceptional singing, acting and dancing skills), all eager to relive the glory and nostalgia of the memorable ‘80s musical.

The talented cast includes Ciara Sotto, Myke Salomon, Poppert Bernadas, Fred Lo and Kyla Rivera, ably supported by Ana Feleo, Tricia Amper-Jimenez, Sherwin Sozon, Sheng Belmonte, Gerald Napoles, Sophiea Reyes, Cheeno Macaraig, Rafael Sudayan, Ava Santos, Kakki Teodoro, Heidi Arima, Carlos Canlas, Pamela Imperial and Migs Ramirez.

Written by Nestor Torre and Gines Tan, “Magsimula Ka” premiered at the CCP Little Theater in the early ‘80s. These were the golden years of OPM, when songwriting contests such as the Metropop Music Festival churned out an equally impressive roster of winning songs and songwriters such as Ryan Cayabyab, Gary Granada, Nonong Pedero and many more.

The musical was also the launching pad for the theater careers of then-budding actors Robert Seña, Isay Alvarez, Tricia Amper and many others, before they garnered global acclaim upon joining the original Asian cast of "Miss Saigon” in London in September 1989.

The much-awaited reprise of “Magsimula Ka” could very well be considered a passing of the torch, so to speak, as Isay, Robert and their cohorts eagerly await the grand moment when the new set of young upstarts get their turn to take the spotlight--a rite of passage that could very well serve as their ticket to stardom and equally enduring showbiz careers.

“Robert and I owe our careers to ‘Magsimula Ka,’ and this is our way of paying tribute to Nestor, Gines and all the great musical talents who inspired us back then,” says Isay. “With the same fervor, we hope to instill the same inspiration among the younger generations.”

As it embarks on the production of its very first musical, the entire Spotlight family is working double time to ensure its success. “Magsimula Ka” is directed by Robert Seña and produced by Isay Alvarez-Seña, Tricia Amper-Jimenez and Carl Balita, with Boni Juan as set designer, Georcelle Dapat as choreographer, JonJon Villareal for lights and Krina Cayabyab as vocal coach.

With its inspiring music and timely, socially-relevant commentary on Pinoy pop culture, the musical promises to be a fun and wholesome entertainment treat for the whole family.

“It bridges the gap between two different generations,” Isay says. “And it’s an eye-opener for today’s kids who don’t have any idea what growing up was like before cellphones, YouTube, iPods and all of today’s high-tech toys.”

And because of its strong appeal to its wide, inter-generational market, the show is also a lucrative venture for producers and block/show buyers as a fund-raising initiative for their target beneficiaries. Interested parties may call Spotlight Artists Centre at 899-8089 or visit www.spotlightartistscentre.com for more details.


PLUS: Reposting an earlier blog with rare audio excerpts from Magsimula Ka!--

As far as I know, no soundtrack of Magsimula Ka! is commercially available on CD--another instance of a valuable homegrown production becoming forgotten because of the lack of resources for proper documentation and preservation. The young generation can't be faulted for not knowing much about our musical theater heritage simply because they have no access to it, either through easily available cast recordings or archival video.

Thank goodness for friends, then, who gave me a CD copy of the soundtrack transferred from original cassette tape recordings. Because of their origins, the music formed two long audio tracks corresponding to Act 1 and Act 2. I had to resort to some crude editing on Nero to come up with what I think are the individual tracks (the CD copy didn't come with song titles).

Let me share with you three of the most compelling tracks in Act 1 alone:

1. The intro/prologue, where the main melodic motifs of the musical are presented as entries in a songwriting contest and sung by five guest artists: Leo Valdez, Louie Reyes, Eugene Villaluz, Cynthia Patag and Pat Castillo--incidentally, among the biggest names in OPM during that time.

2. A beautiful duet by Isay Alvarez and Tricia Amper (I think), who plays a young crippled woman embittered by her disability. Their song explores the question of hope and faith and making the most of what is left behind.

3. The finale of Act 1, which features a shorter choral version of Magsimula Ka, the song. Even with the diminished condition of the audio track, the powerful chorus is still evident.

Magsimula Ka! is a brassy, sassy, old-fashioned--I say that as a compliment--musical that demands big voices and the kind of “triple threat” (singing-dancing-acting) actors that are rather scarce nowadays. May Isay and company find a great new crop of young performers to bring this musical back to blazing life. Enjoy the clips.

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Loboc Children's Choir in concert at PETA Theater Center

The world-renowned Loboc Children's Choir, which currently performs live choral music for the PETA production "Ang Post Office" (a Filipino adaptation of Rabindranath Tagore's play "The Post Office"), will hold a concert titled "In the Loboc Heartland" on September 8, 2010, Wednesday, 7:30 p.m., at the PETA Theater Center (No 5 Eymard Drive, New Manila QC).

Their showdates for "Ang Post Office," meanwhile, are on the following dates: September 3-6, 10-12, Friday, Saturday and Sunday, 10 a.m. and 3 p.m. The choir chants and sings songs inspired by the fusion of three musical motifs: Philippine ethnic styles, Asian sounds and western music.

For their concert, the choir will be singing a combination of classical, folk, modern, pop and show choir pieces, as well as special numbers with two other local artists, Noel Cabangon and Bodjie Pascua.

In its 23 years of existence, the Loboc Children's Choir has received great adulation and admiration from local and international audiences. However, the Loboc Children's Choir is heard not only in concert halls or auditoriums, but also in prisons, hospitals, orphanages and homes for the aged.

Dubbed a "cultural treasure" of its home province of Bohol, the choir started as an ordinary school choir, established to perform during school and community events. Composed of 30 schoolchildren between nine and thirteen years old, who all attend the Loboc Central Elementary School, the choir eventually blossomed into most outstanding choirs on the local and global scenes.

It garnered two major awards in 2003 at the Europe and its Songs 6th International Folksong Choir Festival--First Prize in the Children's Choir category, and the Europe and its Songs 2003 Cup, for having achieved the overall highest mark in all categories, surpassing the marks of 12 other international choirs.

The choir has also excellently promoted the country and its hometown through concerts and productions in the USA (1996, 2008), Europe (2003), China (2000, 2005, 2007), and Korea (2004), and has held very successful concerts in Netherlands, Belgium, Spain, Italy, Austria, Hungary, Czech Republic, Germany and Switzerland.

The PETA Theater Center concert is supported by the Prince Claus Fund for Culture and Development, National Commission for Culture and the Arts, UNESCO Commission for the Philippines, MISEREOR/KZE and Zest Airways Inc.

For inquiries and reservations, call 7256244, 410821 or 0917-8044428.

Three weekends of all-Pinoy klasiks

I didn't notice it, but last weekend was the first of a rare confluence of shows of a particular kind happening in Manila at the moment. On August 14-15, 21-22 and 28-29--a fleeting three weekends--three classic Filipino works are playing simultaneously in different venues around the metro.

There's Francisco Baltazar's Orosman at Zafira, of course, now playing to raucous sold-out houses at UP's Guerrero Theater, courtesy of Dulaang UP. This eye-popping Dexter Santos-directed spectacle runs until Aug. 29.

At the Irwin Theater of the Ateneo de Manila University, meanwhile, Tanghalang Ateneo is presenting Severino Reyes' landmark sarsuwela Walang Sugat, directed by Ricky Abad, until Aug. 28. This show is a repeat of the successful first run held earlier this year as part of the Ateneo sesquicentennial celebrations.

And this Wednesday, completing the triumvirate, Tanghalang Pilipino's rock-musical production of Lope K. Santos' novel Banaag at Sikat opens at CCP Little Theater, with music by Lucien Letaba, libretto by National Artist for Literature Bienvenido Lumbera, scenery by National Artist for Theater Salvador Bernal, and choreography by Edna Vida.

How about that? Three of Philippine literature's canonical works, all playing at the same time within an hour or two's distance from each other (sans the damn traffic) in the city. More, all three are, or appear to be, products of brave, thoughtful contemporizing, the artistic teams behind them having arrived at the conclusion that presenting these works in their original, now-archaic forms would be pointless and counter-productive.

Hence, Balagtas' 1800s Tagalog, while still heard throughout Orosman at Zafira, is now garlanded with stupendous bells and whistles, as it were, to help audiences understand what it's basically saying--the conventional comedia radically transposed to the key of movement and dance, and reassembled as a galvanizingly modern piece of musical theater.

That, too, seems to be the tack with TP's Banaag at Sikat. No less than Mr. Lumbera, an august practitioner of Filipino in his writings, admitted to extreme difficulty in deciphering Santos' 1906 novel about volcanic socio-political changes in turn-of-the-century Philippines, and adapting it for the stage. Having done that, his libretto now pulses to music, too. And not just any type of music--not even the sarsuwela kind, which would seem to be the default idiom given the period milieu--but pop-rock, with its driving beats, belting voices and electric guitars. The production under Jose Estrella's direction is hoping the hybrid experiment would help attract younger audiences to rediscover and learn something from Santos' work.

A similar youthful appeal informs Tanghalang Ateneo's Walang Sugat, as immediately apparent from its whimsical, evocative backdrops of blown-up children's book illustrations--the work, again, of Mr. Bernal. Severino Reyes' sarsuwela, written (in 1902) as a defiant protest against the American occupation of the Philippines, tends to be played as a jaw-jutting, flag-waving call to arms. Mr. Abad's take for TA--at least based on the first run--kept the tone respectful of the material but not slavishly so. The proceedings had a brisk, convivial tone to them, and the sarsuwela's stirring music (Bayan Ko being only the most popular) came to the fore via a sumptuous live orchestra and a cast of vibrant voices.

Hopefully, the current restaging is able to keep to that spirit. That first run, incidentally, had young actress Delphine Buencamino playing one of the female leads. Now she's hopped over to UP and is burning up the stage as a fierce Zafira (alternating with Natasha Garrucha). Walang Sugat also served up another find in newbie performer Arman Ferrer, who played the male lead Tenyong, and is reprising the part in the restaging. A UP Voice student, Mr. Ferrer's tenor is one of the most ravishing you'd hear lately; along with his youth and gangly leading-man looks, it should assure him--if casting directors hereabouts keep their eyes open--of more good roles in musicals and other shows needing cultivated voices from hereon.

Orosman at Zafira, Banaag at Sikat, Walang Sugat. Three Filipino classics reinvented for the contemporary stage, and now running side by side (with only two weekends remaining). Lovely serendipity--something that shouldn't go to waste, don't you think?

PLUS: Salvador Bernal's set for Banaag at Sikat--

Kasumpa-sumpang pag-ibig, kagila-gilalas na palabas!

I brought 11 friends to the Sunday (Aug. 15) 3 p.m. show of Dulaang UP's Orosman at Zafira, and was happy to see them afterwards unanimously fired up over the show. One of them was so moved by it that he posted his thoughts on his blog--in Filipino verse, inspired by the sonorous bygone Tagalog of Balagtas that he heard on the show. Here it is--a unique and brilliant appreciation.


PAG-IBIG PA RIN
O musang marikit at kaakit-akit
Ibahagi sa akin mga katagang ninanais
Diwa kong hapo ay 'wag bigyang pasakit
Sa paghanap, paghalaw ay naghihinagpis.

Sa pagkamangha sa nasilayang komediya
Na halaw sa likha ng Dakilang Makata
Tuloy ay naisip na tumipa sa letra
At magpugay sa dula sa lengua Tagala.

Sayaw at galaw ay kagilagilalas
Sa halaw ng himig na buhay at wagas
Puso'y napako sa aking namalas
Na siyang dahilan at nagbabalagtas.

Pag-ibig, pag-ibig at pag-ibig pa rin
Kasumpa-sumapang pag-ibig, salarin
Tatlong kaharia'y napailalim
Sa dusa at dugo at waging malagim.

Salamat sa aking mga katoto
Na nag-imbitang manood ng teatro
Orosman at Zafira, aking ginusto
At nagbigay kulay sa aking Linggo.

Ngayon ako, sa inyo'y nag-aanyaya
Huwag palampasin yaring naturang dula
Inyo itong antabayanan
Sa kuta ng mga Iskolar ng Bayan.

Muna'y lubayan ang banyagang produkto
At ang pilak na tabing na ating gusto
Kayo ay magmadali ng husto
Ang dula ay lamang hanggang dulo ng Agosto.

The original blog is here (where you'll discover that the guy is also a fine writer in English).

To quote that CCP ad: O di ba mas cool 'pag me art sa buhay mo?



PLUS: “'Musical' might not be the best word to use to describe Dulaang UP’s production of Orosman at Zafira, but whatever it is it is mesmerizing theater.” -- Exie Abola's review of the original (2008) production here. Mine here.

And since this restaging is substantially the same show that shook the rafters of UP's Guerrero Theater two years ago--give or take the fresh nuances of a new cast, plus further improvements by director Dexter Santos--let me reiterate what I wrote then, when I chose Orosman at Zafira as the best musical production of 2008: A blazing musical-theater experience, and, not incidentally, a calling card for how disparate elements--Baltazar’s archaic Tagalog text, Bello’s neo-ethnic world music, Santos’ hybrid choreography--could create something uniquely, arrestingly homegrown, as far away from Broadway as could be.

I'm happy to report that the show I saw yesterday has not given me any cause to revisit my judgment.

You still have time--until August 29--to catch it. Go.

[Thanks to Zaf Masahud Jr. for the photos.]

Here, Louis Armstrong songs are piped from bushes

There are plenty of parks and trees. Called Astana, it is the world's latest example of a rare but persistent type, the capital from zero. It is in a line that includes St Petersburg, Washington DC, Canberra, Ankara and Brasilia and like them it provokes a question: can a city, in all its teeming complexity, really be planned? Or does the attempt lead only to a synthetic simulacrum, a kind-of city that is not quite the real thing?

To look at, Astana is so strange that it has one grasping for images. It's a space station, marooned in an ungraspable expanse of level steppe, its name (to English speakers) having the invented sound of a science fiction writer's creation. It's a city of fable or dream, as recounted by Marco Polo to Kublai Khan. Except it's not quite so magical: it's also like a battery-operated plastic toy, all whirring noises and flashing colours, of a kind sold by the city's street vendors.

-- “Astana, Kazakhstan: the space station in the steppes”

PLUS: The lady in her dotage: “Margaret Thatcher has written a foreword to [Kazakhstan president Nursultan] Nazarbayev's book 'The Kazakhstan Way,' praising him for throwing off 'the Soviet yolk [sic].'” A true Borat line, that.

Also, from another British-authored tome, Nazarbayev and the Making of Kazakhstan, by the UK former minister Jonathan Aitken (what is it with British politicians and the Kazakh strongman? My guess: oil.]--“Among its gems is a description of the romance between the president and his future wife, which flourished after an accident at a steel works: 'While the flames of the blast furnace were damped down, the fires of love ignited.'”

Tacky think, tacky do. And that's how you get plastic and metal trees that glow at night in hot pink [below], while Louis Armstrong songs are piped from bushes. Wait, who am I to smirk? Manila's ugly, overpriced street lamps, hello. At least these artificial... thingies look sorta kinda pretty.

[Photo 1/Antoine Lambroschini--AFP/Getty Images; Photo 2/Rowan Moore. Both from The Observer.]

Sneak peek: Tanghalang Pilipino's Banaag at Sikat

DECADES before the electric guitar and rock music were introduced to the Filipino audience, there was the groundbreaking novel “Banaag at Sikat” by Lope K. Santos. It exposes the breakdown of the traditional Filipino family among the ruling class in the early 1900s and the rise of socialism in the country.

The parallelism between the two--rock music and the novel--is, in the operative word, “revolutionary.” And what a coincidence that in the middle of the prolonged staging of “Cats” at the Tanghalang Nicanor Abelardo of the Cultural Center of the Philippines, literally under its ground, or at the Tanghalang Aurelio Tolentino, will be the 10-day run of “Banaag at Sikat, Isang Rock Musical” by Tanghalang Pilipino come mid-August...

-- “Lope K. Santos’ 1906 novel ‘Banaag at Sikat’ gets the indie-rock treatment,” Philippine Daily Inquirer, Aug. 2, 2010

The rest of Totel De Jesus' feature story is here, detailing the process by which National Artist for Literature Bienvenido Lumbera adapted the archaic language of the pioneering Tagalog novelist and social thinker Lope K. Santos for the contemporary stage, and how composer Lucien Letaba went about writing the music for it. Joining them is another National Artist (for Production Design)--Salvador Bernal, who does the sets and costumes, making this production one of the season's true heavyweights.

At the presscon a few weeks ago, the lead members of the cast previewed four tracks from the score, the comeliest of which, it seemed, was the duet between Al Gatmaitan and Ayen Munji-Laurel (the second song in the two-part clip below). The performers--which also include Franco Laurel, Banaue Miclat, Greg De Leon, Angeli Bayani, Roeder Camanag, Clottie Lucero and Raymond Roldan--have uniformly strong voices, most of them having had formal backgrounds in classical singing. (Gatmaitan, in fact, alternates with John Glen Gaerlan as the cocky tenor Anthony Candolino in Philippine Opera Company's ongoing Master Class, where he gets to sing a transporting Recondita Armonia from Tosca.)

But now, while yet garbed in period attire, they're being asked to retell Banaag at Sikat in the looser, hipper idiom of pop-rock music (hence the glut of shades above), so it'd be interesting to see how they'd pull it off. At the presscon, the excerpted music and vocals still sounded rough, but rehearsals should have remedied this by now. Also among the leads, by the way, is Cinemalaya 2010 Best Actor winner John Arcilla.




“Banaag at Sikat,” directed by Jose Estrella, runs Aug. 18-29, with 8 p.m. performances every Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday; 3 p.m. shows every Friday, Saturday and Sunday, at the Tanghalang Aurelio Tolentino (CCP Little Theater). Special performances available upon reservation. For inquiries, call 8321125, loc. 1620 to 1621. Telefax 8323661. E-mail ccptanghalan@yahoo.com or visit www.tanghalangpilipino.com

Cecile Licad in The New Yorker

The musicians were recording “Tournament Galop,” a Romantic piano piece that was written by Louis Moreau Gottschalk... Take 67 had been Brahms’s Hungarian Dance No. 6, also written for the piano but arranged in this case for piano and brass. Both pieces will accompany a new silent film, “Louis,” a fictionalized account of the childhood of Louis Armstrong. When “Louis” is shown, in five cities over seven days at the end of August, [Wynton] Marsalis and the others will perform the score live. They were recording the soundtrack for a CD.

The arrangement for “Tournament Galop” was done by Andy Farber, who conducted it, and includes sections for classical piano, which were played at the session by Cecile Licad, who is highly admired around the world. She is small and dark-haired, from the Philippines, and when she wasn’t playing she held her hands in her lap, if her rests were long, or above the keys, if they were brief...

-- from “Two Beats”, by Alec Wilkinson, in The New Yorker

Monique Wilson returns in controversial new play My Name is Rachel Corrie, Sept. 3-4

After four years away from the Philippine theater scene, acclaimed actress Monique Wilson stars in a controversial new play--“My Name is Rachel Corrie,” produced by the New Voice Company--at the Music Museum on September 3 and 4.

Rachel Corrie was an American peace activist from Olympia, Washington, who was crushed to death by an Israeli bulldozer on 16 March 2003, while undertaking non-violent direct action to protect the home of a Palestinian family from demolition.

Why did a 23-year-old woman leave her comfortable American life to stand between a bulldozer and a Palestinian home? “My Name Is Rachel Corrie”, edited by Alan Rickman and Katharine Viner, taken from the writings of Rachel Corrie herself, tells the story of her short life and sudden death from the words she left behind.

Shortly Corrie's her death, several of her e-mails home from Gaza were published in a number of media outlets, including in the Guardian UK. British actor and director Alan Rickman was so moved by them that he approached the Royal Court Theatre about finding a way to tell Rachel’s story onstage.

A year after her death, Corrie’s family sent the theater 184 pages of documents: copies of Rachel’s letters, e-mails and journals, some dating back to her childhood. Guardian journalist Katharine Viner was brought on board to work with Rickman at editing the material into a play. The two decided to let Rachel’s story be told in her own words.

“Rachel Corrie found a way to be political in a depoliticised age; she cared passionately for injustice, and unlike many of us, she tried to do something about it. There are few such figures in our commercialised culture,” said Viner in an interview in The Guardian.

In April 2005, “My Name is Rachel Corrie,” directed by Rickman and performed by Megan Dodds, opened at the Royal Court Theatre, and became the fastest-selling play in the theater's history, selling out two complete runs before transferring to the West End the following year. The play was critically acclaimed and won the Theatregoers’ Choice Awards for Best Director, Best New Play and Best Solo Performance.

“Funny, passionate, bristling with idealism and luminously intelligent, Corrie emerges as a bona fide hero for this brutalised world of ours,” said Time Out. “Theatre can’t change the world. But what it can do, when it’s as good as this, is to send us out enriched by other people’s passionate concern,” echoed The Guardian.

The Asian premiere of “My Name is Rachel Corrie” will be directed by New Voice Company associate artistic director Rito Asilo, with light design by Martin Esteva, set design by Denis Lagdameo and technical direction by Jamie Wilson.

“My Name is Rachel Corrie” celebrates Monique’s 30 years in theater, and New Voice Company’s 16th anniversary. The Manila production begins an Asian tour of the play.

Monique, fresh from a recent trip to Palestine and back in Manila for a few weeks to star in the play, is currently Head of the MA/MFA Acting for International students course at the East 15 Acting School in England, where she is now based. East 15 Acting School is a member of the Conference of Drama Schools in the UK. She has just finished directing Martin Crimp’s “Attempts On Her Life” at the Actor’s Centre, London, and Federico Garcia Lorca’s “Dona Rosita the Spinster” at the Battersea Arts Centre, London. Both productions featured international artists from all over the world.

For tickets, call the New Voice Company 8966695, 8965497, 8990630; e-mail nvc@pldtdsl.net or visit www.newvoicecompany.com. Tickets are also available at Ticketworld outlets (8919999). For more information on Rachel Corrie, visit www.rachelcorriefoundation.org.

PETA presents Filipino Adaptation of Rabindranath Tagore's The Post Office

PETA's second offering for its 43rd season is "Ang Post Office," a Filipino adaptation of Indian poet and dramatist Gurudev Rabindranath Tagore's (1861-1941) play "Dak Ghar" or "The Post Office." It runs August 6-September 12, 2010 at the PETA Center Theatre in New Manila, Quezon City.

In Rody Vera's adaptation, Amal, the 10-year-old ailing child in Tagore's play, is now named Abel. The role is played by child actor Martin delos Santos, who appears alongside stage luminaries Bembol Roco and Bodjie Pascua. The newly-adapted piece transposes early 20th-century rural Bengal into a modern-day Filipino town.

The production also features a live vocal score from multi-award winning children's choirs, the Kilyawan Choir and the Loboc Children's Choir. Included in the cast are Lao Rodriguez, Ian Segarra, Jojo Atienza, Jack Yabut, Lot Lot Bustamante, Abner Delina Jr., Ness Roque, Jason Barcial, Mary Jane Medina, Josh Tecson, Sweet Ramos, and Julia Chua.

"The Post Office" was most recently staged in New York City by a Bangladeshi theater group, Charanik, with five performances at the New York International Fringe Festival in Lower Manhattan in 2001. The production featured a strong multiracial cast with three different young actors playing Amal--a Latino, a South Asian and a Chinese.

On May 7, 2011, the world will celebrate Tagore's 150th birth anniversary. Tagore, the first Asian who won the Nobel Prize in Literature, is also often referred to as Bengal's Shakespeare.

Gardy Labad directs the show. PETA's "Ang Post Office" has received art grants from the Prince Claus Fund for Culture and Development, National Commission for Culture and the Arts, UNESCO Commission for the Philippines, MISEREOR/KZE, and Zest Airways Inc.

For ticket inquiries and reservations, contact PETA Marketing and Public Relations at (632) 7256244, (632) 410821 or (63)917-8044428. Visit www.petatheater.com.

Playdates: August 6 (3 p.m. and 7 p.m.), 7, 8, 13, 14, 15, 20, 21, 22, 23, 27, 28, 29, September 3, 4, 5, 10, 11 and 12 (10 a.m. and 3 p.m.)

Lani Misalucha at Cinemalaya

Sexy, self-assured, in sleek vocal form, she brought the house down with her all-too-brief appearance at the recent Cinemalaya awards. Her Bukas Na Lang Kita Mamahalin reaffirmed her absolute ownership of the song--and the superfluity of the pair of Ballet Philippines dancers in the background. Not their fault; the song needed only those pipes to ascend the heights.



The crowd demanded more, but apparently only one music track had been prepared for her! Talk about foresight. So with skill, poise and self-deprecating humor--Las Vegas seemed to have loosened her up--Lani improvised. Or at least appeared to, demands for encores presumably now par for the course with her. The audience loved the bit, and she exited to some of the night's loudest cheers.

The Wedding Singer from 9 Works Theatrical in October 2010

9 Works Theatrical announces its new production--"The Wedding Singer," a riotous yet heartwarming musical comedy based on the New Line Cinema film starring Adam Sandler and Drew Barrymore. "The Wedding Singer" is set to open at the Meralco Theater on October 23, 2010 and will run until November 17, 2010.

Written by Matthew Sklar, with lyrics by Chad Beguelin and book by Chad Beguelin and Tim Herlihy, the Tony Award-nominated musical captured the hearts of audiences all over America with its hilariously written script that paid tribute to the '80s, and songs like "Someday," "If I Told You," and the phenomenal hit, "Grow Old With You." The musical-comedy is set in New Jersey circa 1985.

The final cast of "The Wedding Singer" will be announced soon. The artistic and production team includes director Robbie Guevara, musical director Rodel Colmenar conducting the Manila Philharmonic Orchestra, choreographer Francis Matheu, vocal coach Onyl Torres, scenographer Mio Infante, lighting designer Martin Esteva, sound designer Chuck Ledesma and costume stylist Rosanna Aranaz.

The production team is composed of executive producer Santi Santamaria, production manager Sunshine Domine, technical director Paul Domine, PR and publicity consultant Toots Tolentino. PR director Toff de Venecia, PR manager Jonjon Martin, marketing manager Shelyn Tayanes, stage manager Lambert de Jesus and company manager Anna Santamaria.

"The Wedding Singer" is presented by special arrangement with Music Theatre International (MTI), 421 West 54th Street, New York, New York 10019, Tel.: (212) 5414684. For tickets and inquiries, call 5867105, 5575860, 0917-5545560, or visit www.9workstheatrical.com.

Cats in Manila: pre-gala press peek--the videos

Finally--after God knows how many failed uploads. (Wi-Tribe and YouTube, you both officially suck.)

These video clips were taken during the final presscon before Cats-Manila's gala opening last week. Three musical excerpts were presented--Jellicle Songs for Jellicle Cats, Rum Tum Tugger and Memory Act 1. The first two numbers were done twice--the first performance to accommodate flash photography, the second for video-taking and photos without flash. Apparently, this is how things are done in shows abroad.

1. Jellicle Songs for Jellicle Cats. This bit is over two-thirds into the full song. The cats assemble on the stage silently, then arrange themselves into a choir formation for that hymnal-sounding interlude in the song (note the church organ intro, a motif that is repeated in Old Deuteronomy's The Ad-dressing of Cats, further down in the finale), before launching into explosive dancing and--the number's most enjoyable moment for me--the feline roll call (Practical cats, dramatical cats, pragmatical cats, fanatical cats...)



2. Rum Tum Tugger. The first time he performed this number, John O'Hara scampered down the stage to prowl the orchestra aisle on my far left. In the repeat, he did the same--but on my side of the aisle, passing right beside where I sat and looming large in my videocam. So that's the clip that made the cut.



3. Memory from Act 1. Before Lea sang her song, director Jo-Anne Robinson (who seemed quite a sweet, kind woman) came out to introduce her and John Ellis as Old Deuteronomy. They were to go around the stage and do a series of poses for the photographers before the musical number. Afterwards, the seemingly endless flashes done, Lea/Grizabella was left alone, and the familiar strains began.

Soundtrack! Soundtrack!

For theater lovers there can be no greater current pleasure than to witness Bernadette Peters perform the show’s [“A Little Night Music”] signature number, “Send In the Clowns,” with an emotional transparency and musical delicacy that turns this celebrated song into an occasion of transporting artistry. I’m not sure I’ve ever experienced with such palpable force--or such prominent goose bumps--the sense of being present at an indelible moment in the history of musical theater...

The halting phrases of the song suggest the overwhelming emotion Desirée is just keeping in check. Ms. Peters invests each brittle line with a full measure of feeling without losing the arc of the music or any of the delicate irony in the lyrics. Despite her sadness Desirée is too generous and too sophisticated to make a melodrama even of her own heartbreak. And yet while Ms. Peters’s Desirée erases her tears with flashing smiles, the inner devastation comes through with moving clarity. Ms. Peters transmits with equal force the sense of Desirée growing into new wisdom about what matters in love--and in life--at long last, and much too late.

-- “Desirée, Making Her Entrance Again,” by Charles Isherwood, in the NYTimes

[Photo: Sara Krulwich/The New York Times]

PLUS: All about that Clowns song. Stephen Sondheim: “I wanted to use theatrical imagery in the song because she's an actress. But it's not supposed to be a circus; it's supposed to have that circus reference--but a theater reference, meaning, if the show is not going well, let's send in the clowns. In other words, let's do the jokes.”

Lea main draw in year’s splashiest, if dated, show

Philippine Daily Inquirer, 08.01.2010

[Note: My review of “Cats” on the front page of today's Inquirer. The show runs until Aug. 22 at CCP’s Tanghalang Nicanor Abelardo. Call the ticket hotline (+63-2) 8919999 or visit www.ticketworld.com.ph]


THE CHERRY ON TOP, of course, is Lea Salonga as Grizabella, this production’s biggest draw and the reason even the theater-indifferent are now scrambling for tickets to “Cats,” the splashiest show of the year.

At Wednesday’s gala opening of “Cats” at the Cultural Center of the Philippines, you would be hard put to catch anyone among the chi-chi crowd that showed up, openly expressing even a hint of disappointment at the show that unfolded.

The applause was thunderous, the cheers heartfelt and hearty. Never mind that a furtive glance here and there during the show would reveal the barong-clad geezer two seats away from you nodding off, or the bejeweled matron busying herself with her Prada bag as the felines onstage launched into yet another distended dance-o-rama.

They paid the equivalent of a poor man’s salary for Andrew Lloyd Webber’s warhorse of a musical (top tickets at P7,000) and, fair enough, for that money they got the real deal--a production that reassembled on the Tanghalang Nicanor Abelardo stage all the elements that made “Cats” such a groundbreaking musical when it opened in London in May 1981.

These included John Napier’s jaw-dropping set and costumes; David Hersey’s lighting; Gillian Lynne’s inventive choreography; Lloyd Webber’s daring potpourri of melodic genres and styles set to T.S. Eliot’s airy verses, all held together by Trevor Nunn’s masterful direction.

Jo-Anne Robinson recreates Nunn’s blueprint for this show.

Worth a look
The Manila staging, courtesy of Lunchbox Theatrical Productions, David Atkins Enterprises and Citibank in association with Lloyd Webber’s own The Really Useful Group (and local partners Concertus and All Youth Channels), is as close as local audiences can get to the original design and intent for the show.

That does make this “Cats” worth a look, even if the stagecraft arrives here only some 30 years after its West End debut. (To the question whether the touring show is ever tweaked for local audiences, a producer told the assembled pre-opening night media: “‘Cats’ does not change.”)

It simply goes on and on. The beast, we’ve been told, has nine lives. That must explain the extraordinary longevity of the show that bears its name. From where we sat on Wednesday, though, watching “Cats” baring its art-directed claws (until Aug. 22 at CCP), we could make out, at most, two.

Breathtaking staging
There’s the “Cats” of the often breathtaking staging and delightful performances, particularly Adrian Ricks’ virtuoso Mr. Mistoffelees (his 24 balletic turns taking a page from “Le Corsaire”); Shaun Rennie’s authoritative singing and dancing as Munkustrap; an alluring Bombalurina in Monique Chanel Pitsikas; John O’Hara’s scenery-chewing Rum Tum Tugger; and John Ellis’ indispensable Old Deuteronomy.

To each of the cats, Lloyd Webber assigns a distinctive piece of melody, and it is his abiding genius that the songs not only enhance the innate music of Eliot’s lines (“Old Deuteronomy’s buried nine wives/And more—I am tempted to say, ninety-nine/His numerous progeny prospers and thrives/And the village is proud of him in his decline”), but also come across as organic to the character.

The score itself is a pastiche (as in Lloyd Webber’s earlier “Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat”), but the deftness and specificity with which the motifs are applied are unassailable. Thus, the narrative lilt of “Gus: The Theatre Cat;” the plausible stab at operetta in “Growltiger’s Last Stand;” the charming Andrews Sisters-like harmonizing in “The Old Gumbie Cat;” the propulsive staccato of “Macavity;” and the majestic church-anthem quality of Old Deuteronomy’s “The Ad-dressing of Cats,” which caps the musical triumphantly.

For every less-than-compelling musical number, Nunn and his team devised a diversionary tactic, as it were. In “The Old Gumbie Cat,” it’s a scintillating tap dance; in “Skimbleshanks,” an ersatz train assembled from various oversized items in the trash heap.

Sugar overload
Through all these, however, there is also the “Cats” of sheer sugar overload. After one more cutesy set piece (“The Awefull Battle of the Pekes and the Pollicles” lives up to its title), after yet another high kick and hip thrust of Lynne’s feline-mimicking choreography, the repetitiveness becomes tedious, the anthropomorphism wearisome. (Yes, that poor geezer has reason to doze off.)

“Broadway’s first show for the tired Japanese businessman” was how Ken Bloom and Frank Vlastnik appraised “Cats” in their book “Broadway Musicals: The 101 Greatest Shows of All Time.” And they’re already fans.

The grinding earnestness of the musical’s revue format--its bent for visual dash over recognizable conflict or emotion--frequently invests “Cats” with all the seriousness of a high-toned theme-park entertainment.

Those stretches of ennui are compounded by a weakness in this cast: Many of the songs sound unintelligible. The likes of “Mungojerry and Rumpleteaser” and “Skimbleshanks” would fly over the heads of those unfamiliar with Eliot’s verse.

We know the lyrics by memory from having listened to the soundtrack all these years. Surprisingly, hearing them live only rendered them muddy, inaccessible.

Incandescent clarity
Which brings us to Salonga’s Grizabella. She stands out simply for the incandescent clarity of her singing, the lines unspooling from her throat in glistening ribbons. Her voice is, as usual, a marvel--soaring and crystal-clear.

That’s one-half of it. The other half involves a heretical thought. Is it possible for Salonga’s voice--the glorious instrument that has brought her to Broadway, and now to this pass--to sabotage her performance?

“Memory,” Grizabella’s big 11-o’-clock number, comes out of Salonga sounding pristine and radiant.

Now, consider how the former Glamour Cat’s backstory is described: “She haunted many a low resort/Near the grimy road of Tottenham Court./She flitted about the no-man’s land/From ‘The Rising Sun’ to the ‘Friend at Hand.’”

Grizabella is that most fascinating female variant in drama--the magnificent wreck. Blanche DuBois in fur. Here’s a woman of ruin haunted by years of gin and smoke, faithless men, backdoor trysts, failed promises--by a life of hardscrabble pawing and scratching made all the bleaker by the shining memory of her past glory.

Grizabella’s shabby overcoat and tatty fur are the perfect visual cues for her status: “You’d really have thought she’d ought to be dead,” sing the cats.

That kind of character requires a weathered voice--not a coarse or ugly one, mind, but simply a grittier, more grounded kind informed by the pathos of her condition. Salonga’s youthful-sounding “Memory” leaves the song curiously disembodied--her character’s spectral presence detached from that clarion sound.

Fuzzy interior
Salonga’s uneven turn is but the two sides of this “Cats” writ large: spectacular surface, fuzzy interior.

You could, without much effort, glimpse from this show the audacity and quirkiness that made it such a game-changing work in its time. “Cats” in Manila is still a frisky romp with moments of true theatrical dazzle, thanks to a largely topnotch cast and undiluted production values.

Before that, it was the odd undertaking that proved the British could do a dance musical as well--as exhilaratingly--as the Americans could. More, “Cats” inaugurated the British invasion of Broadway and indelibly defined the surging era of the ’80s mega-musical.

With three other Cameron Mackintosh productions--“Les Misérables,” “Phantom of the Opera” and “Miss Saigon”--the ethos of the Spielbergian blockbuster swept into Broadway, changing its dynamics forever. Without “Cats,” where would the warbling warthogs of “The Lion King” be?

But you could, also without much effort, understand why, in the course of three decades during which special effects took over mass entertainment, and the amusement park, the video arcade and the concert arena seemed to have dissolved into each other, “Cats’” unyielding chorus line of prancing furballs--“Now and Forever,” purrs its tagline--has made the show a curio piece. One of those form-busting creations that, in time, would run the whole hog from landmark work to cultural phenomenon to stale artifact and late-night joke.

The next time Old Deuteronomy seeks a new candidate to send to the Heaviside Layer, “who can now be reborn and come back to a different Jellicle life,” he’d be wise to consider his own show.