PDI Opinion: Adding fuel to the COVID-19 inferno

What a fucked-up time we are living in now. Every hour, something infuriating just seems to happen in this country. The website version of this rant here.

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Adding fuel to the COVID-19 inferno

It's hard not to envy the Singaporeans. Through a televised address on March 12, Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong laid out in a mere 11-and-a-half minutes the state of his country amid the COVID-19 pandemic, and his government's plan of action. The speech was clear, concise, and, most importantly, reassuring, the gist of it being: We are wading on uncharted waters, but your leaders are on top of things.

How nice to have a government--or even just a head of state--that actually knows how to talk to its people, instead of sending them into alternating states of panic and paranoia.

The same day as Lee's address, President Duterte also faced his nation. He was two hours late to the scheduled broadcast, and when he finally appeared, it was to announce--in increments--the provisions of the Metro Manila quarantine. "Announce now, details to follow" was the gist of the whole affair, as if the document he was reading were the most banal and unimportant thing.

Days later, his lackey, presidential spokesperson Salvador Panelo, also took to the podium. Mind you, this was before the actual announcement of the "enhanced quarantine"--now the whole island of Luzon was to be locked down. Among the many things Panelo said: The Cabinet was about to propose a Luzon-wide lockdown to the President (so why was he already blabbing about it to the media?); the country was taking South Korea's lead in locking down (Korea has done no such thing); eating bananas and gargling saltwater would prevent you from getting COVID-19 (they won't); and the operations of such services as supermarkets and food cargo deliveries would be impeded (the Department of Trade and Industry had to quickly go on record to refute that statement).

Neither instance was out of character; anyone who has lived through all three-and-a-half years of Mr. Duterte's presidency should by now be familiar with its penchant for chest-beating and noise-making set to maximum. "We can say what we want and get away with it" has always been the gist of this government.

It's only rational, then, to think that, for all the proactive actions it has indeed taken, this government remains blithely unaware of just how extraordinary and precarious a time we are living through--that now, more than ever, the unhinged minds occupying its highest echelons must take responsibility for every single word they utter.

In the two instances cited above, what transpired afterward was only expected. Perhaps for the nth time within the span of two weeks, many people in Metro Manila found themselves panic-buying, prodded by vague, doomsday-like proclamations from above to head to groceries, pharmacies, and other establishments. In other words, crowding in public places--and, quite possibly, transmitting the virus among themselves. The pictures of these crowds--the indirect result, it must be emphasized, of the government's reckless mouth--are just some of the stuff that health care workers' nightmares are made of these days.

And it isn't just its mouth this government can't control; it also doesn't care about the kind of messages it sends out to its already anxious and agitated people.

The country running short on testing kits for the virus? Let's have asymptomatic politicos get tested, anyway, violating the algorithm set by the Department of Health, and have them parade their results in public. Meanwhile, patients under investigation for COVID-19 are dying in our hospitals without even knowing if they were positive for the virus.

A pandemic laying siege to our fragile health care system? Let's have a law-and-order solution to this public health problem, with checkpoints manned by the military, ill-equipped and clueless about the necessary hygienic precautions (though hopefully not as clueless now).

Nobody expects any government to get through this pandemic perfectly. But the least it can do is provide a reassuring voice to its people, and show them it is exhausting every possible means to get them through this unprecedented time--something numerous local government units, through the leadership of their mayors and governors, seem to be achieving.

Our national government, on the other hand, is only adding fuel to the Philippine COVID-19 inferno. Not only are we facing a virus the world still knows very little about, we must also deal with leaders who don't know how--or don't care--to talk to us like they actually want us to survive this pandemic.

PDI Feature: Theater cancellations amid COVID-19

Fucking pandemic. The website version here.

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Cancellation notices simply heartbreaking

How does one even begin to take stock of unprecedented loss--much less learn how, or what, exactly to feel?

It's a thought worth pondering these days of the Luzon quarantine, which shuttered nine theater productions and led to either the postponement or cancellation of 18 more, including eight slated to open the week the quarantine was announced.

Make no mistake, this was a necessary move. We still know very little about the enemy--and we're not even being dramatic in calling COVID-19 "the enemy"--though we know for certain it thrives in close quarters. Logic only followed that the theater, an art form that breathes through human proximity and intimacy, should close immediately.

A necessary move, no doubt. But it doesn't make it any less heartbreaking. Unlike Broadway or the London's West End, whose marquees dimmed all at once following organized edicts from above, the Manila theater industry instead endured day after day of pounding uncertainty.

"The show must go on" has always been a powerful adage, fueling productions even in times of man-made disasters or natural calamities, and fuel productions it did in the weeks leading to the quarantine announcement.

State of limbo

At first, it was just Tanghalang Pilipino's (TP) "Batang Mujahideen" preemptively canceling performances, its show buyers--mostly schools--withdrawing their participation, given the pandemic's looming threat.

Then with the initial suspension of classes in Metro Manila from March 10 to March 14, the university productions were sent into what could have only been a harrowing state of limbo. (Do they make up for canceled performances? Extend the run? Close altogether?)

Even on the night of the quarantine announcement itself, two productions--Atlantis Theatrical Entertainment Group's (ATEG) "The Band's Visit" and Repertory Philippines' (Rep) "Anna in the Tropics"--were more than ready to open, should they have been allowed to do so, while the international tour of "Matilda the Musical" carried on at The Theatre at Solaire.

Now, only drawn curtains and heartbreak magnified. When the theater has become so integral to your life, as it has been to the writers of this section--when your weekends are plotted according to the varying runs of productions, and chasing after shows across the region's scattered stages has become a way of life--the sight of these productions posting closing or cancellation notices one after another can be a most gut-wrenching experience.

Perched distantly as surveyors of the scene, we cannot even claim to imagine how much more difficult a time it has become for the artists themselves--the writers, directors, performers, designers, musicians, publicists, crew members, who actually keep our stages running and burning bright.

Economic impact

The economic impact of this pandemic will be brutal. Perhaps it may be too early for a thorough assessment of the damage that these closures and cancellations have brought upon Philippine theater, but already we are seeing just how fragile the fabric of an industry we have touted to be "booming" all these years remains.

What of our freelancers? What of our practitioners who are also breadwinners? What of those for whom theater and the performing arts are, clichés be damned, truly the world--financially, as much as artistically?

So it has been heartening, to say the least, seeing our theater artists themselves take up the cudgels, in the many ways they know how. Some have brought their craft online, through storytelling sessions and concerts on Facebook Live, or even streamed yoga and dance sessions.

Others have started advocacy and awareness campaigns against the pandemic through song.

Most important, #CreativeAidPH, led by JK Anicoche, Laura Cabochan, Jopie Sanchez, Komunidad, Sipat Lawin and the Concerned Artists of the Philippines, has launched an online platform to gather concrete data from individuals on the economic and financial damage the pandemic has so far caused--which is exactly the kind of moving-forward step the industry needs.

The next time you use the word "resilient," theater practitioners better be at the top of your mind.

So--for now--take your virtual bows:

"Anna in the Tropics" and "Carousel" (Rep); "The Band's Visit" and "Oliver!" (ATEG); "Bogus Pokus" (Harlequin Theatre Guild); "Dekada '70" (Black Box Productions); "Enrico IV" (TP); "Every Brilliant Thing" and "Lungs" (The Sandbox Collective); "In the Heights" (Broadway Theatre Troupe of Ateneo); "Juan Tamban" (Dulaang ROC); "Kublihan," "Kung Paano Maghiwalay" and "Swipe Right, Siz" (College of St. Benilde Theater Arts); "Macli-ing" (Ateneo Entablado); "Matilda the Musical" (GMG Productions); "Nana Rosa" (Dulaang UP); "Next to Normal" (Ateneo Blue Repertory); "Once a Panahon" (Juliene Mendoza/9th Studios Creative Hub); "Ang Pangahas na si Pepe Rodriguez" (Teatro Tomasino); "Rashomon" (ViARE); "The Revolutionists" (Cast); "Tabing Ilog the Musical" (Star Hunt/ABS-CBN); Tamdula 3 (FEU Theater Guild); "Top Girls" (Tanghalang Ateneo); "Under My Skin" (Peta); and "Walang Damit ang Hari ng La Mancha sa Mata ng Hangal" (Dulaang Sipat Lawin).

We'll see you in the theater when this pandemic is over. The day our curtains rise again is the day we look forward to the most.

PDI Review: 'The Band's Visit' by Atlantis Theatrical Entertainment Group

This was the last production I saw before the Metro Manila quarantine was enacted. The website version here. The original Broadway cast recording has been a go-to mental-health break for days now.

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'The Band's Visit' was simply perfect

Years from now, we will talk of Atlantis Theatrical Entertainment Group's "The Band's Visit" and remember how it was forced to close even before it could open.

The irony will not be lost on us: how a musical about human connection had to dim its lights prematurely because of a pandemic that spread, among other means, through human contact.

Fatalists might even claim the musical's book set it up for that irony. "You probably didn't hear about it. It wasn't very important," goes the opening supertitles, referring to the story of a fictional Egyptian police orchestra that winds up not just in the wrong town, but also in the wrong country.

Overnight, the musicians are adopted by the Israeli townspeople--allowed into their homes, and for that brief span, into their "bleak" and "boring" lives.

Anything but boring

This Atlantis production was anything but bleak or boring. It was, in fact, one of the finest musical productions to have graced our stages in at least the last decade.

As directed by Bobby Garcia, we saw and understood exactly why this show--written by Itamar Moses and scored by David Yazbek--deserved its Tony Award for Best Musical.

"The Band's Visit" is a true-blue "book musical," the kind of song-and-dance theater that favors sound storytelling over spectacle; where the singing and dancing aid the narrative, instead of the narrative merely interspersed between musical numbers.

The New York Times called it "an honest-to-goodness musical for adults," and that assessment is just about right. Very little, in terms of incident, may seem to happen in this 90-minute show, but my, does it open up human worlds and histories as evocatively and eloquently as it illuminates the ordinary and seemingly inconsequential in the lives of its characters.

That, and more, we gleaned from Garcia's production, its compact yet measured pacing reflective of the wisdom and insight that went into its making. And it wasn't just Garcia's direction--everyone involved in this production did topnotch work.

Farley Asuncion's musical direction was remarkable for its clarity, as for its illusion of simplicity.

Faust Peneyra's set was of a piece with Adam Honoré's lights. The deceptively barren walls and sparingly outfitted performance space could have revealed its tricks only through the genius lighting design.

Seamless

Odelon Simpao's costumes and Justin Stasiw's sound design were essential to the seamless creation of the world of this musical, and GA Fallarme's projections heightened effectively the parts of the show where they were needed.

And that cast? Not a false note: Reb Atadero's girl-baffled Papi; the easy-to-miss groundedness of Bibo Reyes' Itzik and Steven Conde's Simon; Mark Bautista delivering a performance of composed suavity as Haled; even Maronne Cruz's brief but realized turns as Julia and a bus station clerk, to name a few.

The star pairing of Rody Vera (as orchestra conductor Tewfiq) and Menchu Lauchengco-Yulo (as café owner Dina) was of an entirely different level--two lead performances that glimmered with that rare sort of intelligence, when an actor knows exactly how much to give or withhold in every single scene, and in the process, expand the world of the musical way beyond its perceived limits.

If it isn't clear enough, yes, if there were such a thing as a perfect production, "The Band's Visit" was just about it. Very few saw it during its invitational technical dress rehearsals. It was beautiful. It was important. And it should visit us again the moment we get past this pandemic--hopefully soon. 

PDI Review: 'Next to Normal' by Ateneo Blue Repertory

Manila theater is officially shut down. It has been heartbreaking, to say the least. This one, in particular, is a huge loss. The website version here.

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'Next to Normal': 2020's best local musical you'll miss due to Covid-19

The COVID-19 (new coronavirus) outbreak in Metro Manila this past week virtually crippled what had promised to be a bustling month for theater, with as many as 13 canceled productions for this weekend alone.

Among the casualties is "Next to Normal"--and it's especially hard not to feel dejected over this one: This new staging by Ateneo Blue Repertory (BlueRep) may well be the year's best local musical production.

It's easy to say that BlueRep had a straight path to victory. The material, after all, is a Pulitzer Prize-winning masterpiece, and masterpieces are harder to bungle. But it is precisely how this "Next to Normal" highlights what a masterpiece the musical is that makes the production an unmissable work.

Emotionally lacerating

Once again codirecting with Darrell Uy (after last year's ravishing "Spring Awakening"), Missy Maramara helms this production--and again, sidesteps the temptation to yield to the material's rock-musical roots. The result is "Next to Normal" with its insides fully exposed--an emotionally lacerating, meat-of-the-matter treatment that only brings to light the airtight, organic quality of Tom Kitt and Brian Yorkey's writing and music-making.

Another way to put it: Maramara's production visibly makes sense of the material--of the lyrics, and of the story itself. The plunge into the unraveling lives of the fictional Goodman family (consisting of Diana, who has bipolar disorder, her husband Dan and daughter Natalie) never once feels rote or dishonest. Every element in this production, both human and nonhuman, is intertwined.

This "Next to Normal" becomes an even more outsized accomplishment when one considers the physical space it is given: Ateneo de Manila University's Gonzaga Fine Arts Theater, a cramped box of a room that the affluent school has somehow passed off as an actual "theater." Why this place is home to this show is topic for lengthier talk, but one thing's clear: This place does not deserve this masterpiece and the tremendous talent it employs.

Overcoming limits of space

Yet somehow we should also thank this venue, if only for the chance to witness the topnotch skill involved in this production, how it has overcome the limits of space through intelligent direction and design.

Tata Tuviera's set reflects the fragile state of the Goodman family, especially Diana's state of mind, and effectively evokes the story's needed spaces, working hand in hand with Franco Ramos' efficient movement design, Miyo Sta. Maria's strategic lighting and Cholo Ledesma's crystal-clear sound design. And Tuviera's costumes, take note, are fine specimens of what one might label "no-costumes costumes."

Main draw

The main draw of any "Next to Normal" would be rightfully its Diana--a Herculean part requiring any actress to wander stoutheartedly what the lyrics call the "manic, magic days and [dark], depressing nights." But guided by Maramara, and on the strength of its actors, this production becomes at once the individual and converging stories of Diana, Dan and Natalie.

Cris Villonco is, simply put, heartbreaking as Diana, but equally so is Jef Flores as Dan; they are breathing, singing, open wounds, and we'd be heaven-blessed to come across a more magnificent pair of leading performances this year. As Natalie, Nikki Bengzon (alternating with Jam Binay) is a vision of clarity, in every sense of the word, and one of the most exciting newcomers to the scene we've seen of late.

In fact, so thoughtfully staged is this production that it even makes you care about the Goodmans' son Gabe (Tim Pavino, affecting and in wondrous voice, alternating with Adrian Lindayag), Natalie's boyfriend Henry (Carlos de Guzman, immensely likable, alternating with Davy Narciso), and Diana's doctors (Jobim Javier, alternating with Jason Tan Liwag, who is "authoritative as a man of science," notes former Theater editor Gibbs Cadiz).

In the program, Maramara writes: "The hope of art is to sublimate human experiences [into] a form that allows for manageable confrontation." On that account alone, this "Next to Normal" is a success. It is also a musical triumph (the musical direction by Ejay Yatco), and a powerfully moving time at the theater. It is the real deal.

PDI Review: 'Dekada '70' by Black Box Productions

I like this show less now than when I first saw it two years ago, but it's still an important, must-see piece. The website version of this review here.

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'Dekada '70': The revolution is alive in this musical

Pat Valera addressing the audience post-show two years ago. The production has returned to the same venue this year.

Plays set in or centered on the Marcos dictatorship (these days, interchangeable in certain ways with the Duterte administration) all come to us with that singular, oft-intoned message: Never forget. Pat Valera's musical adaptation of the Lualhati Bautista novel "Dekada '70" tells its audience exactly that, but in all capital letters.

There is no denying the revolution, in its myriad forms, is alive in this musical, which has been enjoying a sold-out rerun at Ateneo de Manila University. That can only be for the best.

One can argue that the resistance taking the form of song and dance is, in effect, preaching to an echo chamber--the sort of people willing to shell out money for an obviously anti-Marcos (and by extension, anti-Duterte) piece of theater are in all likelihood long on the same page as the play itself--but lest we forget, today's high school kids weren't even born during the second Edsa Revolution, and their K-12 curriculum has made a joke out of Philippine History as a subject.

In that sense, "Dekada '70" should stick around this notoriously amnesiac nation for as long as it can, hopefully packing every performance not just with theatergoers who are there on their own dime, but more importantly with scores of students, their parents and teachers.

Far from perfect, but...

Never mind that both the play and its current iteration under Black Box Productions are far from perfect.

"Dekada '70" examines literally a decade of life under martial law through the eyes of the comfortably middle-class Bartolome family. The stage version actually feels like watching a decade unfold.

There are two--not just one, but two!--plays-within-the-play, on top of drawn-out song numbers that bleed into each other and scenes that either repeat previous points or gratingly spell the point out for the audience.

Throughout this production, the volume, both auditory and emotional, is set to maximum; the action is always an approximation of fear and confusion; the moments of silence become literal breaths of fresh air, you would think this show might one day outlaw the mere act of breathing. And, by the way, the exhausting pace that this production insists on actually shows, most visibly taking its toll on the performers toward the end of both acts.

It's still an excellent cast, though, and taken on its own, the score by Valera and Matthew Chang gives us some genuinely heart-stopping anthems.

Stella Cañete-Mendoza's performance alone is still worth the price of admission; the narrative journey she brings the audience along, her transformation from subdued matriarch to empowered woman, remains a most accomplished creation of the stage.

Note, as well, that her real-life husband Juliene is playing her onstage husband--and that we can probably make notebooks of notes out of studying their masterful pairing.

When Cañete-Mendoza's Amanda finally asserts her personhood--"My God, Julian, it's a woman's world, too!" she tells her husband--it's as perfect a moment as any for applause. Fast-forward to a few minutes later, and husband and wife reconcile, earning a tender moment between themselves. Then, the play launches into song--in itself, a terrific piece of music, but in the context of the production, like rubbing the script on the viewer's nose.

That's "Dekada '70" in a nutshell.