West Side Story Manila (Dress Rehearsal)

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…

Believing the Impossible

Of the seemingly impossible things that could happen on the days since I learned about Broadway Asia’s Cinderella, at the very top of that list is that I’ll fail to reserve good seats in time. Those who know me will not be surprised given my proverbial lateness; that despite the fact that very early on, I visited Ticketworld.com virtually everyday to watch for ticket availability. I failed in that respect, but in an awesome twist of fate that would make the Fairy Godmother proud, I did watch the play today, sitting on the exact same seat I had planned to get all along. Now, the significance of this story only lies in my realization, one that I’m very much embarrassed about, that I underestimated the Filipino theatergoer’s enthusiasm to watch a musical that has both material and premise working against it. This may be an unpopular opinion but I’ve gone from inviting people to go watch and received replies such as “It’s a bit too childish (I think I enjoyed the show a lot more that the small kids in the theater),” “I already know the story (but the music?), “ Too expensive (well, this is relative; but if you profess to love musicals, it’s just not a valid excuse),” and, my least favorite, “I’m not familiar with the songs (don’t you want to be?).”

Impossible things are happening everyday. It’s a rather oxymoronic catchphrase that I lapped up just because I am your average, old-fashioned, hopeless romantic. Which is exactly the reason why I don’t mind that this new production of Rodger’s & Hammerstein’s Cinderella felt and sounded like its age. There’s no getting around the fact that despite the universal appeal of the “kitchen slave-turned-princess” story, the score was written in the tone and sensibility of the (happy) olden days. Fifty years may not be such a long time but how can I fail to mention how I thought the prince was lame for not knowing why he so suddenly turned from tragically unhappy to deeply in love (and have the gall to ask the girl if she knows)? Nevertheless, the musical, specifically this Manila production, has its heart in the right place. I wouldn’t go so far as analyze the technicalities of the presentation; the experts have already done that. All I can say is that if you didn’t attend the Manila run, I wouldn’t call it “too much” if you’ll try to catch it in other parts of Asia these coming months. Why is that not too much, again? Because of Lea Salonga, that’s why.

Phenomenal talent is called that because it’s not something you’ll find in just about every corner of the world. In my mind, you never squander a chance to be in the presence of greatness. There’s a great amount of inspiration you can take away from watching a master perform his or her craft. In Cinderella, there’s no shortage of competence, excellence even. From Peter Saide’s Prince Christopher; Charlie Parker’s Fairy Godmother; Julia Cook, Jen Bechter, and Brandy Zarle’s stepmother and stepsisters, respectively; to the Ensemble and the two charming “mice,” everyone, at the helm of our very own Bobby Garcia, delivered perfectly. And what of the reason people came in droves - why there was not an empty seat in the house, so to speak? Lea Salonga is irrefutably the star of the show. When the Overture started playing and then Cinderella, in her rag clothes, and the Fairy Godmother, in her sparkly purple gown, were revealed on stage, I had goose bumps that didn’t go away until the Finale. When Lea sings, it’s the sweetest sound you’ll hear. I can only imagine the level of energy and dedication she has to play the part of the “silly goose” who dreamed with child-like wonder and innocence. That Lea was so effective as Cinderella – a far cry from her Kim, Eponine, and Fantine, those tragically fated ladies who were kept in their own little corner and never got to the Prince’s ball - is a testament to her caliber as a performer.

And the moral of the story? Ah, you know it already. But Broadway Asia’s Cinderella is such a pleasant and light-hearted treat that if you still have a chance to watch it, then, please, do yourself a favor and go. If it didn’t make me forget about the harsh realities of life to truly believe in the impossible, the little warmth in the heart it gave me is enough to somehow hope for that again.

Jason Robert Brown and Social Networking

I signed up for regular newsletters from Jason Robert Brown’s official site and got an update last night. Scanning through his new blog entry on “The Perils of an Online Life,” I found this bit:

Within a couple of months, though, it seemed that everyone on Friendster was actually from the Philippines. Also, whenever I told anyone I was on Friendster, they said, “Dude, Friendster sucks, you have to get a MySpace page!” So I looked at MySpace. MySpace gave me a total friggin’ headache. I hated it then, I still hate it now. I especially hate how nobody has a real name, it’s all PattiFan and imatosser and BwAyFaCe, like we’re all living in a comic book. I made my decision and I felt comfortable with it: I didn’t want to present myself online in that particular forum. Too messy, too weird, too insidious. So no MySpace. And Friendster was increasingly expecting me to speak Tagalog. It seemed my social networking phase had ended.

…

All of which is to say: if you’re a Friend of mine on Facebook and your last name is somewhere near the beginning of the alphabet, it’s been a really fun ride and I hope we’ll figure out how to connect again soon. Or, as they say on Friendster: pasalamatan ka dahil sa ay sinusulat akin kaibigan.

Funny. But I also noticed that Friendster is Filipino haven. But, hey, JRB, some Filipinos with Friendster accounts, such as myself, are ardent admirers of your works. By the way, if you’ll need a Tagalog translator, I’ll be more than glad to help.

On a related note, I received this SMS from a friend, something that I think I can really look forward to :

Sprint Productions and 9 Works, Inc., invites you to watch SONGS FOR A NEW WORLD, an Off-Broadway musical by Jason Robert Brown featuring your favorite theater actors: Carla Guevarra-Laforteza, Caisa Borromeo, Felix Rivera, Anna Santamaria, and Harold Cruz, directed by Robbie Guevarra. August 24, Sunday, 8 pm, at the Carlos P. Romulo Auditorium, RCBC Plaza, Makati City. Please contact 0906-3315961 for details.

I’ve written about this musical revue on my other blog.

Transformation

Maya Angelou once said, “We delight in the beauty of the butterfly but rarely admit the changes it has gone through to achieve that beauty.”

It doesn’t take a genius to realize that although age harbors wisdom, youth is the height of beauty. A relatively new Broadway musical called Spring Awakening is being hailed as the new Rent owing to its portrayal of the exuberance (together with the struggles, angst, and self-discoveries) that is associated with being young and its being categorized as a rock musical, as its predecessor. Duncan Sheik wrote the music. Steven Sater is the lyricist.

Despite the quite grim and gloomy theme of the play, one of the final songs, The Song of Purple Summer, talks of hope:

And all shall fade
The flowers of spring
The world and all the sorrow
At the heart of everything

But still it stays
The butterfly sings
And opens purple summer
With a flutter of its wings

Apparently, “spring” here represents being a teenager, whereas “summer” represents adulthood. As everyone of us who is past that stage knows, those were hard times. Not that adulthood offers more thrills in exchange for the “wisdom” gained through experience. But there is magic to transformation - sometimes how people change can be a real cause of surprise. Its being a good or bad surprise counts for something, too. We can never bring back the times that passed. The time will come when we’ll need to move away from its shadow and take delight in the present.

Dancing through Life

The trouble with schools is
They always try to teach the wrong lesson
Believe me, I’ve been kicked out
Of enough of them to know
They want you to become less callow
Less shallow
But I say: why invite stress in?
Stop studying strife
And learn to live “the unexamined life”…

Dancing through life
Skimming the surface
Gliding where turf is smooth
Life’s more painless
For the brainless
Why think too hard?
When it’s so soothing
Dancing through life
No need to tough it
When you can sluff it off as I do
Nothing matters
But knowing nothing matters
It’s just life
So keep dancing through…

Dancing through life
Swaying and sweeping
And always keeping cool
Life is faught less
When you’re thoughtless
Those who don’t try
Never look foolish
Dancing through life
Mindless and careless
Make sure you’re where less
Trouble is rife
Woes are fleeting
Blows are glancing
When you’re dancing through life…
- Fiyero, Wicked the Musical

I read somewhere (I think it was in the reader’s comments) that one of the worst things you can do on your blog is to force your kind of music to your readers. Hey, I’m not forcing. For the sake of argument, I’m posting the lyrics to this song because this is so NOT my philosophy. This song, though, is one of the most enjoyable tracks in the entire Wicked soundtrack.

I’ve recently visited my closest relatives, something that I’ve delegated myself to do but once a year, much to their disappointment. We got to talk a little about our lives and here are some conclusions that we agreed on (because there were few points that we’ll forever argue about):

• I am a stress factory
• Life is hard; but how you spend your time matters
• Sacrifice is a labor of love; love is hard labor
• It is very seldom that children continue their parents’ business ventures, thus the loss of a potential family legacy (according to my friend, this is debatable if you’ll bring into picture the multimillion dollar industries)
• Parents will always have something to fault their children; they’ll mostly think it is their shortcoming
• Blood is really thicker than water

“Learn to live the unexamined life?” You see, I wasn’t brought up that way. There’s no way I can change back no matter how much I want to dance through it.

Moon River

[audio:moonriver.mp3]

Moon river, wider than a mile
I’m crossing you in style some day
Oh, dream maker, you heart breaker
Wherever you’re goin’, I’m goin’ your way

Two drifters, off to see the world
There’s such a lot of world to see
We’re after the same rainbow’s end, waitin’ ’round the bend
My huckleberry friend, moon river, and me

(moon river, wider than a mile)
(I’m crossin’ you in style some day)
Oh, dream maker, you heart breaker
Wherever you’re goin’, I’m goin’ your way

Two drifters, off to see the world
There’s such a lot of world to see
We’re after that same rainbow’s end, waitin’ ’round the bend
My huckleberry friend, moon river, and me

Colors of the Wind

Spring and summer
Every other day
Blue wind gets so sad.
Blowin’ through the thick corn
Through the bales of hay
Through the open books on the grass…

Spring and summer

Sure, when it’s autumn
Wind always wants to
Creep up and haunt you -Whistling, it’s got you
With its heartache, and its sorrow
Winter wind sings and it cries . . .

Blue Wind, Spring Awakening

I don’t know what all the colors are. It might take me a lifetime to figure it all out. And even if I won’t get to, blue wind has given me enough perspective to know that it’s alright.

An acquaintance asked me recently if I’d be interested to see a fortune teller. I plainly said no - I like the not knowing part; I like the mystery. The truth is, I’d get freaked out even if I won’t be inclined to believe. I may be alone in this but I think that life is beautiful exactly because you can’t understand it. The element of surprise keeps us on our toes; it keeps the blood flowing through our veins; it’s what tickles our brains. We anticipate; we hope; we dream to prosper.

Maybe blue wind does tend to blow in the direction of those who try to dig a little deeper in the mystery - those who can’t live through two-dimensionality. Because, in the end, all our questions are the same. The difference lies on how we accept our answers.

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