Last night at the Meralco Theater, Stages’ West Side Story had its full dress and technical rehearsal and we had the luck to get to watch it. Its almost like the real thing; almost because there were a few flubs, as to be expected, with the biggest one happening right at the dramatic finale.

I was scouting for tickets online last week when a friend mentioned that Meralco employees (which include her husband) are invited to fill the Meralco theater for the event. I literally forced her to bring me along! What, free preview, free ride, great seat (we’re a few rows from the stage; Thanks again, Carlo & Rizza)!

I might watch the actual performance again later just to see how they’ll improve on it. It took me a while to settle and enjoy the show. For the first few minutes, I entertained myself by watching (the back of) Gerard Salonga conducting FilHarmonika. Coming from watching Cinderella a few weeks earlier, I was missing the technical precision of the performers. I had to remind myself that it would be unfair to compare, being this cast made up of young, up-and-coming local theater actors. Even Christian Bautista, whose billing could rightly have been shared by Joanna Ampil (who played Maria last night) and Karylle, is new to the theater, and it showed. Maria, however, is another story. Audie Gemora, the executive producer, reportedly said that ” having Joanna adds up a certain level of polish to the entire ensemble.” I have to agree 100%. She’s a West End (London) performer, after all. I probably should save the assessments after the regular show starts playing but let me just mention that Rowena Vilar was almost perfect as Anita and Gian Magdangal as Riff was a good fit.

All in all, it wasn’t a bad night. Now, if they can only hold all the other musicals at the Meralco Theater…