Cast of Maria Makiling
We all know that the Tony Awards, by the American Theater Wing, gives recognition to outstanding Broadway artists. The awards night is also the best song-and-dance show on TV—a rare chance for us to see the stars and dancers perform excerpts from the musicals, both classics and current hits. Most of the Tony Awards shows are uploaded on YouTube.
In recent weeks, we didn’t need the Tony Awards to get our musical theater fix. Original Filipino musicals opened almost simultaneously. Filipinos do love stage musicals, and it shows in the number of musicals running in various venues. We didn’t get to see all, but what we did get to see is worth writing home about.
It’s a challenge to write a complete review of each production, since today’s theater companies seem to have the practice of casting two or more alternates in lead roles. There’s also this tendency to cast actresses in male roles and vice versa. For instance, the musical at Far Eastern University has an all-male cast alternating with an all-female cast.
The FEU Theater Guild’s Ang Pinakamakisig sa mga Nalunod sa Buong Daigdig, staged on the weekend of October 5, is an original musical, its whimsical plot based on a story by Gabriel Garcia Marquez: The corpse of a stranger is washed up on the shore of a fishing village, which somehow affects the local residents in a profound way.
The show is imperfect, and it’s exhausting to watch. What seems to be a fanciful premise is made overwrought by too much shouting and the unnecessary use of profanity. Its bleak and often irate tone overshadows the upbeat songs which sometimes seem out of place.
But the production still triumphs as a showcase for FEU theater artists. The cast is talented. The guys can act and are sometimes convincing as women. Some songs have the potential to be hits. Hopefully, they’ll be discovered and covered by a popular indie band.
FEU’s theater department has no legendary name like a Tony Mabesa or an Alex Cortez, but it has the means to stage this visually stunning production. Because the story is set on a small island, the stage of the university’s blackbox theater is slightly submerged. During a storm, water from overhead pipes rains down on the cast. The stage so slippery, our hopes of witnessing a tap dance are dashed (what the show needs is a budding Gene Kelly who can dance and sing in the rain). Still, the all-wet all-male cast is showered with applause during the shower curtain call.
Rousing finale of ‘Jepoy and the Magic Circle’
On the same weekend of October 5, Repertory Philippines’ vibrant, charming Jepoy and the Magic Circle made its debut at Repertory’s new theater in Eastwood City, Quezon City. A colorful spectacle with an important message to tell, Jepoy enchants both kids and adults.
Based on a story by the late Gilda Cordero Fernando, Jepoy is a showcase of our mythical creatures (tikbalang, kapre), and weird young humans (the title character). Its advocacy of saving the environment is portrayed in a fun and engaging way—a sharp contrast to Disney’s Bambi, which delivered the same message through the violent death of Bambi’s mother. That scarred countless children for life (I’m one of them).
In Jepoy, the creatures are cute and quaint, just like everything else in the production. Complementing them are the amiable songs, all masterfully sung and staged. The musical numbers are spectacular, the sets and costumes colorful and vibrant. This leads us to ask: What happens to those pretty costumes and sets after the show closes? Somebody should tell Eastwood City’s developer Megaworld to build a theme park called Jepoyland! There, the lovable creatures will always thrive.
Coincidently, the original Filipino musical Maria Makiling is also a proponent of environment protection. Presented by the Kids Acts Philippines (KAPI) with an English libretto and songs, the show was inspired by the story authored by National Hero Dr. Jose P. Rizal, who was born and raised in Laguna, the land of the mythical Mount Makiling.
KAPI is the Children’s Theater component of the Education Committee of the Philippine Center of the UNESCO–Earthsavers International Theater Institute. Unlike Repertory Philippines, which is synonymous with the pioneering icons of Philippine theater Joy Virata and the late Zeneida Amador and Baby Barredo, KAPI is run by low-key artists like Luis Nacario and Eugene Belbis. They’re not household names, but they’ve successfully trained so many actors and singers. One has to go see Maria Makiling and witness the caliber of talent these two artists have groomed.
The title character is given so many songs to perform, and at times it’s hard to tell them apart. The upbeat tunes are catchy, and the youthful dancers execute the cute choreography with so much verve. The plot has Maria Makiling disguising herself as a human. She interacts with people who live at the foot of her mountain. She falls in love with a local boy, but he abruptly marries another girl.
Maria Makiling has somewhat been turned into a typical Disney princess. There’s a bit of Belle, Yasmin, Pocahontas, and Arielle in this enchantress. The young actress playing her even sounds like them when she’s singing. Yet, it’s the singing that makes this musical so entertaining. Everyone, from the chorus to the leads, sings exquisitely.
Not to be overlooked is Tanghalang Pilipino’s heavy drama Balete. It’s not a musical, but it has something to offer audiences who love dance numbers. We got to see Balete on its final weekend, and by that time everyone had already written much about it. But there’s been little mention of the crowd-pleasing jitterbug number that closed the first act. With Nonie Buencamino playing the lead, Balete just had to have a splendid dance scene. For us, it was the highlight of the show.
The venerable singers of Tribu: (First row) musical arranger Pipo Cifra and sopranos Sweet Samaniego Buchanan and Margarita Roco; (second row) tenors Terence Guillermo, Onyl Torres, and Nazer Salcedo.
We also got to see up close three tenors and two sopranos perform during the media launch of Tribu’s concert for this year, titled Timeless. The quintet will be singing opera, Tagalog favorites, and of course, Broadway show tunes.
Tribu is led by soprano Sweet Samaniego Buchanan. She usually wears many hats in Tribu’s concerts. She is performer, director, producer, and fundraiser. (The concert’s biggest financier, she says, is her husband Gerry Buchanan.) We met her last year when Tribu showcased the classic Tagalog songs in their Independence Day concert. It was a lavish and expertly mounted show, belying what Sweet usually jokes about, which is their advancing age. She and her colleagues are in their 50s.
Tribu seems like a strange name for a group of tenors and sopranos. Bohemian musicians or ethnic bands come to mind, not classical singers. Sweet has an explanation for this. The original group was called Tribung Pinoy, founded by the late Danny Dolor, who championed Philippine culture. The group’s repertoire was a reflection of his advocacy.
In the early ’80s, Sweet was invited to perform with Tribung Pinoy in a concert. The group eventually disbanded. Years later, Dolor planned to stage a reunion concert. Some of the original members weren’t available, so Sweet was invited to join. She soon became a permanent member.
After Dolor’s death, Sweet decided to stick it out with Tribung Pinoy, and added opera and Broadway to the repertoire. With the expanded playlist came a new and shorter name, Tribu. Thus they could now make good use of what the current members are trained to do. Tribu now consists of tenors Terence Guillermo, Nazer Salcedo, and Onyl Torres, and soprano Margarita Roco. Like Sweet, the four singers are theater veterans and have appeared in the productions of Repertory Philippines and Dulaang UP.
Tribu can still give younger performers a run for the money. In the presscon, their opening number was the beautiful Pachelbel Canon D, a piece recently made popular by Maroon 5 (Memories). Arranged by the award-winning Pipo Cifra, the melody was made more poignant by Tribu.
Tribu performs a song from Les Miserables.
Dahil sa Isang Bulaklak was beautifully sung. The songs from Les Miserables were just a walk in the park for them, though we hope they also sing something less dour. Sweet assured us a medley of Disney classics is in the pipeline. Now if Tribu did the songs by Victor Herbert, Gilbert & Sullivan, and Lerner & Loewe, they just might make us forget the Tony Awards.
Tribu’s concert Timeless will be staged at Teatrino Promenade in Greenhills on October 26, 7:30 pm.
Maria Makiling will run until April 2025 at the St. Cecilia Hall of St. Scholastica’s College in Manila. Tickets are available at the venue.
Jepoy and the Magic Circle is running in the new Repertory Eastwood Theater in Eastwood City, Quezon City, until February 2025.
Ang Pinakamakisig sa mga Nalunod sa Buong Daigdig runs at the FEU Center for the Arts Studio through October and November.
