a week ago i went to see hibik at himagsik ni victoria laktaw, a filipino musical running in the wilfredo ma. guerrero theater in UP. the book was written by bienvenido lumbera and the play was directed by sir alex cortez.
it was great, im a sucker for most musicals by the way. the singing was great, but im just bowled over by the performance of aggie barredo who was playing a supporting role. i know her from church and she’s just amazing! nazer was also there playing her partner and they’re both fantastic together. the lead who played tianong and her love interest were good too but im still kinda hooked up on aggie’s performance. anyway i also love the set and lights of the play. the guy who did the lights, voltaire, is way cool. we used his equipment to light up our concert in church last year. the set by salvador bernal was really simple and really effective; it opens like a book and frames a lot of areas on the stage.
the staging was really simple and really effective. i just didnt like the americans with flags as masks on. the fil-am who played this certain soldier was a hoot! he obviously had the accent down pat and his delivery was good but he didnt know what to do when he wasnt saying anything. anyway i thought he was funny (in a good way). the singing was great, of course. butch de juan was musical director of that musical.
sir, congrats bai, salute ko nimo! 🙂 anyway, i was able to watch the gala performance so all the production people were there and at the end of the show they joined the cast on stage, including sir alex, sir lumbera, kuya butch kuya butch (suportahan mo ako ha?), salvador bernal (prod design), voltaire, etc. etc. in the audience present were laurice guillen, marilou diaz-abaya, johnny manahan, doreen fernandez, anton juan, tony mabesa and other luminaries of both stage and screen.
it was a wonderful night notwithstanding there was food also. i raided the buffet table and had two plates of pancit and even had the ‘honor’ of serving pancit to behn cervantes. 🙂 anyway that was my first meal for that day. needless to say i was still hungry afterwards….
benjamin padero 