Noel Comia Jr. as Jepoy in Repertory Philippines ‘Jepoy and the Magic Circle’, ongoing until early February, 2025. Photo from Repertory Philippines FB page
Cast of ‘I Love You, You’re Perfect, Now Change’: from left, Gabby Padilla, Gian Magdangal, Krystal Kane and Marvin Ong, during a curtain call (Photo by Totel V. de Jesus)
The 57-year-old Repertory Philippines Foundation closed its 87th season with its first jukebox musical, Going Home To Christmas, A Jose Mari Chan Musical, with 18 shows at the Carlos P. Romulo Auditorium, RCBC Plaza in Makati City, and a promise of a restaging next year at the new Repertory Eastwood Theater in Quezon City.
Repertory Philippines indefatigable artistic director and ‘Going Home To Christmas’ director Jeremy Domingo with the author at the RCBC Tower Makati City
During the final curtain call on Sunday night, December 15, at the jampacked theater, Repertory Philippines artistic director and Going Home To Christmas director Jeremy Domingo said, “None of this will be possible without the heart, the pen, the imagination of our grand architect.”
He called up on stage the main man, Mr. Songwriter himself, who was in the audience with his sister Teresa “Nene” Chan and wife Mary Ann, to join the members of the cast and artistic team for the final company bow.
“Meet the woman, the love of my life who inspired many of my songs,” Jose Mari said, as he kissed his wife on stage.
With his back to the audience while addressing the Going Home To Christmas team, Jose Mari said, “Jeremy, I really want to give my heartfelt congratulations to each and every one in the production in this magical show. Thank you and let’s do this again, next Christmas!”
Everyone approved, and there was thunderous applause. Going Home To Christmas ran from November 29 to December 15 and might have the same schedule for 2025.
“This musical really brought tears to my eyes,” said Jose Mari, whose presence on social media the Filipinos have grown familiar with as early as September every year. The music industry has described him “The Father of Philippine Christmas Music.”
Jose Mari then thanked the audience members, now doing an almost 15-minute standing ovation. “Merry Christmas everyone! God bless our country, the Philippines! God bless our OPM, Original Pilipino Music!”
Carla Guevara-Laforteza, who played Pat the head stewardess longing to spend Christmas with her husband in Dubai, invited everyone to sing the chorus of Christmas In Our Hearts. Jose Mari was all perked up. Even before the final company bow, he was seen dancing to the instrumental version of A Perfect Christmas.
Using 22 songs by Jose Mari, the book for Going Home To Christmas was co-written by Joel Trinidad, Robbie Guevara, and Luna Griño-Inocian.
The story takes place at a busy airport (think Ninoy Aquino International Airport Terminals 1 to 3) on Christmas Eve, where balikbayans and vacationers are dealing with delayed flights, something so common in the Philippine setting during peak season.
During the final curtain call on Sunday night, December 15, at the jampacked theater, Repertory Philippines artistic director Jeremy Domingo called up on stage Mr. Songwriter himself, Jose Mari Chan
Rib-tickling, fantastic performances by, from left, Neomi Gonzales, Lorenz Martinez, Alfritz Blanche, Carla Guevara-Laforteza, Noel Rayos, Mayen Bustamante-Cadd and (partly-hidden) Floyd Tena (Photo by Totel V. de Jesus)
There’s a middle-aged married couple, Arnie (Lorenz Martinez) and Josie (Neomi Gonzales), who have been tending their businesses and taking care of their now grown-up children all their lives, and only now did they find the time to have a proper second honeymoon on a cruise ship. As a young couple, their first took place in Pagsanjan Falls.
There is JR, a widowed man (Floyd Tena) who has had traumatic experiences triggered whenever he hears Christmas In Our Hearts. While waiting for their flight to Cebu, he meets an old flame, Em, (Mayen Bustamante-Cadd) through his son JD’s (Neo Rivera) female friend Raya (Justine Narciso).
There is a barista (Davy Narciso) in love with a beautiful flight stewardess (Krystal Kane), a seemingly “impossible mission.”
An airport janitor named Mang Juan (Alfritz Blanche), who looks like the Filipino version of Santa Claus, is happily content to be working during the holidays—ugh, like Santa Claus—for the additional pay (unlike Santa Claus) to support his family in the province.
A “hormonally-imbalanced” pilot named Richard (Noel Rayos), out of loneliness, is hitting on stewardess Pat (Guevara-Laforteza). A wonderful twist in their love story reveals a happy ending.
These are just some of the real-life Christmas tales interpreted by credible actors who can also effortlessly sing the words and lyrics of Jose Mari, flawlessly arranged by genius musical director Ejay Yatco to fit the dialogues.
Besides playwright Rody Vera, whose works have been staged all year round by several theater groups, we can say 2024 is also Ejay Yatco’s banner year in terms of output. In the local theater scene, his name has been all over the place since 2023. Well, for Vera, it’s been a regular thing every year for decades and Yatco is now catching up.
Domingo said on Sunday night that creative project consultants Menchu Lauchengco-Yulo and Michael Williams, as well as dramaturg Davidson Oliveros, also helped in developing the story with playwrights Guevara, Griño-Inocian, and Trinidad, and with some additional dialogue by director Domingo himself, we can say several heads were naturally better than one. It’s a challenge for Domingo, in his debut as director, to give life to the text penned by three heads, but he likened it to cooking the best paella for Noche Buena.
Those who saw the opening show in November might find some flaws and glitches, but they were birth pains. This is the reason why credible theater critics like Gibbs Cadiz don’t watch shows on opening weekend. (Well, he told me that, though not on record.)
Earlier this year, director-playwright Pat Valera referred to the first staging of Bar Boys the Musical as the “workshop run,” which had 16 shows spread in three weekends. Some trimming and changes were made so when Barefoot Theater Collaborative restaged it from October to November, praises and cheers from theater lovers and reviewers followed.
The other actor-singers who gave life to this musical’s harried characters on Christmas Eve were Carla Martinez, Gary Junsay, Julia Serad, Roxy Aldiosa, Basti Santos, Sean Inocencio, Naths Everett, Johann Enriquez, Zid Yarcia, Rafael Jimenez, Maron Rozelle, Mika Espinosa (female swing), and Only Torres (male swing)
Though we’ve grown familiar with Jose Mari’s more popular songs like Constant Change, Please Be Careful With My Heart, Beautiful Girl, Tell Me Your Name, Can We Just Stop and Talk Awhile, Christmas In Our Hearts and A Perfect Christmas, this musical also highlighted lesser known or underappreciated gems like Easier Said Than Done and Afterglow.
I found the duet between Floyd Tena as the grumpy JR and Mayen Bustamante-Cadd as his ex-girlfriend, with Em singing Easier Said Than Done, as one of the more heart-wrenching scenes in this smorgasbord of tales of love and romance. Compared with Jose Mari’s original version, which is a bit cheerful for some reason, Yatco’s choice of using just a guitar accompaniment with a slower tempo showed the real sentiment of this sad song about someone trying to move on from a breakup.
But that’s Jose Mari Chan. Upbeat. Positive thinking. Inspirational. Onward. He is Mr. Christmas, after all, not Mr. All Saints Day.
Rep Eastwood Theater at Citywalk Mall, Eastwood City (Photo by Totel V. de Jesus)
Incidentally, still ongoing at Rep’s new Eastwood Theater until early February, 2025 is Repertory for Young Audiences’ Jepoy and the Magic Circle, a play directed by Joy Virata that was adapted by Rody Vera from the children’s book, Gilda Cordero-Fernando’s The Magic Circle.
The play begins with Paqui the Duwende (Joshua Cabiladas, Luis Marcelo, Franco Ramos, Stephen Viñas) introducing to the audience members, mostly school children with their parents and teachers, some endangered animals in the Philippines like the Warty Pig (Baboy Ramo in Filipino), Tarsier, Pawikan, Mousedeer (Pilandok), and the Philippine Eagle or the Monkey-Eating Eagle.
We can deduce this early that the play teaches the young and reminds their parents of the importance of conserving the environment, protecting our natural resources, preserving wildlife, and loving nature in general.
The main characters are Jepoy (Noel Comia Jr., Elian Dominguez, Yhuan Gatbunton) and his mother, Aling Barang (Mikkie Bradshaw-Volante, Ring Antonio), a laundrywoman. They choose to live in the forest with their dog, Galis (Francis Gatmaytan, Czar Decena, Cara Barredo), and only go to town to collect and deliver the clothes they cleaned.
They don’t mingle with the townspeople, who gossip about them, saying Jepoy is the son of a kapre (Hans Eckstein, Juliene Mendoza, Joey Vargas).
Their daily routine is interrupted when Galis playfully runs off in the middle of the forest with an expensive dress (think Paco Rabanne, YSL, or Givenchy), which belongs to Doña Etang (Pinky Marquez with Abi Sulit as alternate), the richest woman in town who wants to buy a washing machine. This notion threatens Jepoy and Aling Barang’s livelihood.
Jepoy searches for Galis until he encounters a big balete tree, which turns out to be a portal to the underworld, where Galis could talk and creatures in Philippine folklore like the manananggal, duwende, kapre, tiyanak, tikbalang, aswang, sirena, among others, thrive with Maria Makiling (Barbara Jance, Cara Barredo), Maria Cacao (Jay Barrameda, Mica Fajardo), Maria Sinukuan (Paula Paguio), Silveria (Monica Tulio), Doña Geronima (Pinky Marquez), and the talking endangered animals.
In’ Jepoy and the Magic Circle,’ we are made aware of how creatures of Philippine folklore have been driven away to the underworld by rapid urbanization and construction
We are made aware of how they are driven away to the underworld—or the deepest part of the forest where mountaineers usually refer to as “lugar ng mga engkanto”—because of wayward, rapid urbanization exemplified by the construction of suburban mini-malls, subdivisions, and golf courses.
So, one may wonder, where is The Magic Circle?
Vera recounted to The Diarist: “The Magic Circle is the connection of both the underworld and the real world that has been cut off by the humans. Jepoy is reconnected to the underworld and he sees that all are connected in the end. So, his mission is to reawaken the human world so they can return to the Magic Circle.”
From loving nature and caring for the environment, Repertory Philippines returns to tackling romantic love as Domingo also announced last Sunday night at Carlos P. Auditorium the first offering for the 88th season.
There will be a reprise of the musical comedy, Joe Di Pietro’s I Love You, You’re Perfect, Now Change, to be staged at the new Repertory Eastwood Theater during the love month next year.
“A perfect celebration for the love month,” said Domingo, as he called the two original cast members of I Love You, You’re Perfect, Now Change Marvin Ong and Krystal Cane, who were joined by swings Davy Narciso and Barbara Jance. The other two original cast members Gian Magdangal and Gabby Padilla couldn’t make it that night.
They performed an excerpt of the Keep Comin’ Back/I Love You You’re Perfect, Now Change reprise.
Directed by Menchu Lauchengco-Yulo with musical direction by Ejay Yatco, what was considered the longest-running off-Broadway musical revue was first staged in Manila from June 14 to July 6 this year.
In a series of vignettes on love and relationships, the four actors each played 10 different characters, “ranging from big-city singles and awkward wallflowers to suburban settlers and sassy seniors,” reads the synopsis. “It tackles everything people thought about dating and marriage, lovers, and in-laws—but were just too afraid to confront and admit.”
A perfect date in the theater, this rib-tickling musical opens on Valentine’s Day, February 14 and runs until March 9, 2025.
Domingo told The Diarist that most of Rep’s productions for the 88th season will be staged in Eastwood, though they will still have outreach and satellite tours in universities and colleges in Metro Manila and hopefully, in the provinces.
As the very popular Jose Mari Chan’s song goes, life is a constant change and nothing stays the same but Repertory Philippines, indeed, for nearly six decades, continues to deliver English-language theater at its best.
Posters of past Repertory productions line the route to Rep Eastwood Theater. (Photo by Totel V. de Jesus)
Hats off and congratulations to Domingo, Virata, Rep’s president and CEO Mindy Perez-Rubio, and the entire Repertory Philippines team!
