PDI Review: 'Walang Aray' by PETA

It's ironic how the less heavy-handed-political a Peta show gets, the better it turns out. The dotnet version of my "review" here. I've been told this show already has the go signal to join next year's season, ergo I smell a hit.

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Peta's 'Walang Aray': Rare, intelligent gem

Curtain call at the first of two "preview" performances of "Walang Aray."

It feels premature to review "Walang Aray," the new musical by Philippine Educational Theater Association (Peta), mainly because what was shown to the public during its two-performance run last October was supposedly a "laboratory" production.

Indeed, what we saw was a full-fledged musical that was obviously put together in a limited amount of time. The rough edges, in both the material and the staging, were pretty evident.

And yet, it was also evident that, should Peta play its cards right--give this show the intricate incubation it deserves, then rightfully put it in next season's lineup--the company might just be looking at its next surefire hit.

Joyous romp

"Walang Aray" is a joyous romp that feels unmistakably of our time. It is essentially Severino Reyes' classic zarzuela "Walang Sugat," only now it sings pop, thrives in irreverent humor, and gladly lets the past and the present bleed into each other. Think star-crossed lovers by way of "Romeo and Juliet," but set in a satirist's Philippine Revolution.

The libretto is by Rody Vera; the music by Vince Lim. Together they have created what is probably the smartest--and funniest--musical piece to have hit the Peta Theater Center since "Kung Paano Ako Naging Leading Lady" four years ago.

And "Walang Aray" does share one fine trait with that other musical: It captures the idiosyncrasies of modern Filipino culture in a way that is both refreshing and mind-tickling.

There are front-act performers who sing about being front-act performers; lecherous priests and gossiping maids (swelling in number as they gabble their way down the neighborhood street); self-absorbed gym buffs led by Reyes' Miguel, now a man-child with an identity crisis hoisted to surprising farcical heights by Bene Manaois; the underrated Gio Gahol in only his first musical leading role as Tenyong; and a deliciously shrill and overbearing mother figure in the excellent J-mee Katanyag, who gets to choke on her food in slow-mo and gawk in horror at her own criminal hand after slapping her daughter (Shaira Opsimar).

The production directed by Ian Segarra could use some more tightening, some more fine-tuning with the comedy, some more calibration to make everything and everyone move in perfect synchrony.

All of which could happen when the musical runs again--because it should. As it was, "Walang Aray" was already a massive trip--one of those rare, intelligent gems that leave you slightly cramped and dyspeptic from too much well-earned laughter. 

PDI Review: 'Antigone vs. the People of the Philippines' by Tanghalang Ateneo

When was the last time I raved over a Tanghalang Ateneo show? The dotnet version of this review here.

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Why you shouldn't miss Ateneo's 'conyo'-infused 'Antigone'

Information board at the theater lobby.

How often does it happen that a production staged mostly by theater newbies leaves you thoroughly enthralled by curtain call, and beyond excited for its playwright's next work?

Rarely, actually, which is why, on that account alone, Tanghalang Ateneo's (TA) "Antigone" becomes one of those pieces of theater that shouldn't be missed.

Those familiar with the eponymous Greek tragedy by Sophocles upon which this play is based will be in for a wonderful surprise with this lucid and concise Filipino-language adaptation by Sabrina Basilio. Those entering the theater cold will nonetheless stumble upon a production of admirably outsized virtues.

Basilio's script is key to "Antigone's" success. Before this production, she already has three indelible turns this year as featured actress--as the abused Martha in Ateneo Blue Repertory's "Spring Awakening" (stealing the spotlight with just one number--"The Dark I Know Well"); as the activist Chedeng in TA's "Dolorosa"; and, most remarkably, as the very convincing Japanese girlfriend of the male lead in the Virgin Labfest's "A Family Reunion."

Actress as playwright

That the actress is just as capable a playwright is one of "Antigone's" many pleasures.

The crux of Sophocles is its titular character's defiance of the king's edict to disallow any form of burial for her brother, who died an enemy of the state.

Basilio places this story under her microscope, then weaves around it a world of her own--Sophocles deconstructed, a post-"Antigone" "Antigone." The warring elites of the original have all fallen from grace, the once powerless citizens in the background now in power, anarchy the new name of the law. Everyone involved in the whole royal-versus-royal shebang is made to stand trial in the people's court, in a performative arena where the convicts are made to "reenact" their crimes for the benefit of the viewers.

Parallel

A fundamental parallel is first drawn between the felonious burial in Sophocles' play and that of the dictator Ferdinand Marcos' in the Libingan ng mga Bayani three years ago. From there, Basilio crafts more parallels between the original and her adaptation, those ancient, almost abstract issues resonating with the horrors of the present.

The result, now titled "Antigone vs. the People of the Philippines," isn't exactly wholesale narrative transposition, but an organic mirroring of present-day Philippine politics in the events and dialogue of the play. How Basilio is able to entwine the drama of real life with her fiction in a way that doesn't feel strained at all is perhaps the play's most admirable achievement, a paragon for those who aspire to write political theater.

This "Antigone" also succeeds in demarcating class, and the subtle infusion in the dialogue of the "conyo" sensibility--that mixed tongue of English and Filipino that has always been a point of mockery against affluent schools such as Ateneo--adds a surprise meta dimension to the production.

Prose and poetry

The technique involved here is also breathtaking: Basilio tells her story through an amalgam of prose dialogue and "balagtasan" poetry, and the latter is a gold mine of unexpected rhymes that should make literary aficionados swoon.

Even more swoon-worthy is how the cast performs the verse as natural dialogue, the poetry coming across as pedestrian language, which only further highlights the skill involved in the writing.

The production is a whole other matter, of course, this being run by a cast of new recruits to the company. In Tata Tuviera's retaso-laden set that grants the production a low-key apocalyptic aesthetic, the cast performs with a raw energy that director Tara Jamora Oppen understandably has some difficulty containing and modulating, but what strikes you by the end is the multitude of promising talent that can easily be groomed for the stage.

This rawness is further reflected in this production's major shortcoming--its lack of mastery of "order in chaos," especially in the sequences portraying anarchic disorder, but also in the percussion-heavy sound design that, though enhancing the primal atmosphere, tends to drown out the dialogue and action.

Still, the overall picture is an immensely gratifying one. And by curtain call, avid theatergoers can breathe a confident sigh of relief: The future of Filipino theater is indeed in safe hands.

PDI Review: 'Cats' - The 2017 Asian Tour in Manila

When I saw "Cats" for the first time a little over nine years ago, it was only my sixth time in the theaters of Manila (and seventh, because I'd see it again). Before it, I'd only seen Atlantis' "Spring Awakening" and the rerun of "Avenue Q"; Rep's "Sweeney Todd" and "Equus"; and and the first run of 9 Works' "Rent." How time flies. The dotnet version of this review here.

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'Cats': Joanna Ampil's 'Memory' is one for the books

My view of the junkyard.

One main criticism against the Manila premiere of Andrew Lloyd Webber's "Cats" nine years ago was its lack of clarity. Not only did "many of the songs sound unintelligible," as former Inquirer theater editor Gibbs Cadiz wrote about the Asia-Pacific touring production, the musical also came across as directionless carnival entertainment.

None of those problems are evident in the current Asian tour of "Cats" at The Theatre at Solaire.

A character in Tony Kushner's "Angels in America" summarized this musical best: "It's about cats. Singing cats!" And dancing ones, too, as the story gathers its anthropomorphic felines to decide who will proceed to a new life (because, you know, they get to have nine), the resulting revelry resembling a theater-school bacchanal, with high kicks and high Cs in place of inebriation.

What constitutes the score is basically a bunch of poems by the literary luminary T.S. Eliot set to melody, each song devoted to a particular cat, all of it essentially "audition pieces," as the cats vie for that once-a-year chance at rebirth.

Perceived plotlessness

It's all silly song and dance, and it's this perceived plotlessness that can understandably turn off viewers in search of more, shall we say, formalist offering.

But nowhere in Lloyd Webber's oeuvre is the art of make-believe more vital and accorded such high regard than in this musical, which arguably also features the composer's most accomplished, eclectic score, the genres spanning gospel to burlesque to Elvis-inspired rock to traditional Broadway anthem.

And this touring production delivers Lloyd Webber's songs with remarkable crispness. Mathieu Serradell's musical direction is, in truth, the inadvertent star of the show.

The achievement extends beyond plain singing (which is expectedly terrific). It includes the choices of phrasing (individual and choral) and modulation, and bits and pieces of instrumental tinkering, that collectively make this production sound like a reinvention most worthy of a brand-new recording. And making the score of a grand old dame of musical theater sound like a completely new piece is no mean feat.

True-blue storytelling

It is remarkable, too, how the songs here come across as occasions for true-blue storytelling, and not just for bombastic theater--for instance, Elizabeth Futter (as Jellylorum) and Andrew Keelan (as Gus) turning "Gus: The Theatre Cat" into a genuinely affecting moment of nostalgia; or Erica-Jayne Alden (as Demeter) and Alexandra Wright (as Bombalurina) infusing "Macavity" with a real sense of loathing and danger.

It also helps that this production takes after the latest West End and Broadway revivals in omitting the self-indulgent "Growltiger's Last Stand" and putting "The Awful Battle of the Pekes and the Pollicles" after "Gus." Such changes only serve to tighten the show, the once "Awful Battle" now actually making narrative sense.

The dancing here is nothing short of mesmerizing, the choreography at times spilling across the theater, which has become testament to the lengths that stage technology can be pushed: lights sprawling all over the ceiling, a gigantic tire rising from the iconic junkyard set.

But the real spectacle remains human in form. The 10-minute-long, Act I dance-o-rama titled "The Jellicle Ball" is still a thrilling highlight, while the sight of Harry Francis effortlessly executing to perfection those 20-plus balletic turns in "Mr. Mistoffelees" is simply breathtaking.

Of course, the main draw for Filipino theatergoers should be Joanna Ampil's turn as the faded glamour cat Grizabella--a role the acclaimed actress has already performed across Europe and China.

Grizabella gets to sing the 11 o'clock number "Memory," which immediately secures her the ticket to rebirth. And in Ampil's hands, the song becomes one of those exceptional moments that musical theater worshipers live for: The way she deliberately mines its dramatic arc infuses the number with palpable pain and sorrow, and the climax is a potent tug at the heartstrings.

As emotional highlights go this year, Ampil's rendition of this song is clearly one for the books.

PDI Review: 'The Quest for the Adarna' by Repertory Philippines

Two articles in the Inquirer today! The first one--here--is a review of a show that I had to see twice because it has a cast chockfull of freakin' alternates. 

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'The Quest for the Adarna': Good script, remarkable stagecraft, but...

Curtain call during my second serving of "The Quest for the Adarna."

The most remarkable thing about Repertory Philippines' "The Quest for the Adarna" is Luna Griño-Inocian's condensation of the labyrinthine "Ibong Adarna" into a 90-minute, English-language musical that somehow still feels faithful to the original.

Like hacking through a thick forest, Griño-Inocian has found a way to simplify the Filipino epic poem into something easily accessible--and, more importantly, fun. What was once just required text for high school students is now a treasure hunt by way of Disney.

Disney can be a good thing, of course--especially when you're catering mainly to preschool and grade school kids. The parts that really move the story forward, anyway, are all there: three princes, two envious brothers, a love story, an elusive, magical bird--all woven into a classic formula where heroes find true love and goodness triumphs over evil.

No melodic hook

However, a good script is nothing without quality music, and it is in this arena where "Adarna" loses steam.

Rony Fortich's music manages to be both too complicated and too generic that even after multiple viewings of this show, none of the melodies really stick with you. (The most memorable musical moment, in fact, happens to be a song about the legendary bird's petrifying excrement--and that's partly because it is done as a rap number.)

There's a reason it's called a "musical." Think, for instance, of the Disney shows that "Adarna" takes after: The music is always the first thing you remember about them. "Adarna," on the other hand, has nothing that remotely resembles a melodic hook.

There are remarkable moments of stagecraft, too, achieved by the concerted (as well as individual) efforts of set designer Joey Mendoza, lighting designer John Batalla and costume designer Tata Tuviera--instances of puppetry and shadow play, swift changes of setting, or nifty bits of choreography (by PJ Rebullida) that allow the stage and its inhabitants to really come alive.

But the whole of Asia has been splattered onstage--and by that, we mean an oftentimes visually stunning aesthetic that tends to be more confusing than unifying, the individual elements standing out as disparate components of stagecraft rather than working toward a harmonized look and feel. An attempt to make sense of it all, therefore, is a dizzying exercise in scouring the continent.

Standouts

The uneven cast of thousands (or so it feels, given how each major role has at least two alternates) has standouts in the perfectly cast Luis Marcelo as the vain and vapid Prince Diego; Justine Narciso as the spunky Maria Blanca (by way of Disney's "Mulan"); and Hans Eckstein, in a much-welcome scenery-chewing role as the hermit who tackles the aforementioned rap number.

The Adarna, alas, is nothing more than a glorified cameo, with four perfectly skilled actresses made to play rooster for majority of their stage time and conclude the show with a bizarre, out-of-place, gospel-inspired finale.

In the end, however, any assessment of "Adarna" should return to how it delivers that most vital of elements in children's theater. And "Adarna" delivers joy in spades. Whatever the faults in the material and the execution, it cannot be denied that the production jointly directed by Joy Virata, Jamie Wilson and Naths Everett more than sustains its young audience's attention and opens up their imaginations.

A thorough critical reading of the piece is always important; sometimes, however, the final verdict may come in the form of juvenile engagement: the boisterous cheering and fidgeting, and participation during the sing-along segments, that dominated both occasions this author caught this production.

In the larger scheme of things, that may just be the most necessary applause.

PDI Feature: Theatre Titas and 'Macbeth'

It is a truth universally acknowledged that the only surefire sustainable way of staging Shakespeare in Manila is through the university companies. So props to ye who hath balls to do so outside the campuses. The website version of this piece here.

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From Theatre Titas, 'Macbeth' for millennials and Gen Z

Something wicked this way comes--again.

Only eight weeks ago, Manila was shook by the sudden cancellation of the Rose Theatre Company's international touring productions of "Macbeth" and "A Midsummer Night's Dream," intended to play a weeklong stint in repertory at The Theatre at Solaire.

Now, a new "Macbeth" is sharpening its knives in preparation for opening night next weekend. This homegrown production is care of the fledgling company Theatre Titas, with direction by Carlos S. Cariño.

"[The] Philippine market is ready to pay premium prices for a Broadway musical, [but it] may not be ready to pay the same for a straight play--be it Ibsen, Beckett or Shakespeare," say Titas cofounders Cheese Mendez and Chesie Galvez-Cariño.

In fact, the last time an international production of Shakespeare made a splash in Manila was in 2015: "Hamlet" by London's Globe Theatre--and even that played only two performances in the relatively diminutive Tanghalang Aurelio Tolentino of the Cultural Center of the Philippines.

Still, the Titas remain undaunted. "It's not cheap to mount a play, much less import one," they say. "Then there's the challenge of convincing would-be audiences that watching Shakespeare can be exciting and rewarding.

Naturally political

"So marketing our 'Macbeth' has become all about teasing the audience and showing them little by little all that's intriguing about this 17th-century play: a usurper, a tyrant, murder, betrayal, witches. Some hit musicals today [like 'Hamilton'] even use lines from the show.

"How do you make Shakespeare new? You don't. What [Shakespeare] says is as old as time. The reality of a tyrant ruling over a nation, silencing those who oppose his will, is still so prevalent and current. 'Macbeth' is naturally political, so there's no need for us to intentionally tie up his character or situations to any political persona. The audience will make those connections and conclusions naturally.

"[Viewers] may not find common ground with someone who murders his way to becoming king, but there will always be someone in the audience who knows what it's like to want something so badly that he or she is willing to defy all odds to get it and turn a blind eye at the consequences of his or her actions."

The bigger challenge, the Titas say, is in reaching the millennial and Gen Z generations--how to show a young audience that Shakespeare is "not just words on a page [or] characters and lines to memorize for tests."

"The challenge for Carl, our director, and the entire cast and crew, is to tell 'Macbeth' the way Shakespeare originally envisioned and staged it: with a simple set and minimal props, through an actor-centric production that will speak the lines of The Bard with clarity and meter.

"It will be a fast-paced 'Macbeth' and a very kinetic one, with movement--[by former Philippine Ballet Theater artist Joanna Foz Castro]--as a very important element of our staging."

Starring alongside an 18-person ensemble will be Tarek El Tayech in the titular role, with Issa Litton and Anne Gauthier alternating as Lady Macbeth.