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Tuesday, November 27, 2007

How Green was my Valley (if I have One)


Last Friday was well spent with two major things: (1) staring at a wonderful text message from time to time and (2) killing the rest of the night while enjoying Repertory Philippines’ “Fiddler on the Roof” and a cup of White Chocolate Mocha from Starbucks. The musical is good, actually (eventhough it ran for almost three hours). I was with three of my officemates and it was my first time to watch it (either film or stage production). During college, a boardmate lent me a copy of the OST with a Pavarotti-sounding musical actor as Tevye.

Well, “Fiddler on the Roof” pala is about a father and his struggles raising his five daughters during a tumultuous Russia. Most of the problems are lovelife-related. As expected, it wasn’t easy for the dad as he occasionally communes with God through a series of prayers highlighted by some twisted Biblical passages. The musical then is all about faith.

The show that we’ve seen was for the benefit of a Marian movement. It wasn’t surprising that most of the crowd were like members of Catholic Women’s League. Just the same, it was fun. I would always prefer buying a benefit ticket over those bought directly through Ticket World. Besides, I gained another friend in the person of Miss Malou Tuazon who captained the event. Right before leaving Greenbelt OnStage, Ma’am Malou asked me if I liked it and she hoped to see me in their future projects. Deal.

Saturday started at noon. I watched the Rito Asilo-acclaimed “One More Chance” from Star Cinema in Glorietta 4. I ended up teary-eyed in one of the scenes (aw!). Well, the film deserves my being part-time wussy. There’s one scene where John Lloyd drenched himself in the rain and shouted something like “kung magkakasakit kaya ako, kakausapin n’ya kaya ako?”

At 3pm past, I met Ruth at Music One. We had Burger King then proceeded later on to Greenhills (hence the title of this blog). I bought a Bangkok-imported t-shirt printed with “20th Century Fox” in glittery but shy silver (OK, it’s glittery silver but not that glittery, got it?) worth P250. We watched the COD-inspired display for five minutes then met Cat at Pasto. We all had pasta.

"Into the Woods” by New Voice Company ran also for three hours. It was staged at Music Museum (which explains why we’re at Greenhills Shopping Center). Well, I had no regret that I was seated in a not so butt-friendly balcony seat. The ensemble is good, the music is hummable and the local adaptation is a blast. Thanks to the cast spearheaded by the likes of Michael Williams, Menchu Lauchengco-Yulo, Jamie Wilson, Tommy Abuel and a very promising kid wonder named Julia Abueva who played the girl in red riding hood. The only drawback of the production (if it is a valid point) is the absence of big and overwhelming sets similar to “The Little Mermaid” or “The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe” as staged locally by Trumpets. What we’ve seen was a couple of optimized blockings and a great musical direction (basically, musical theater at its low-budgeted best). The experience was like watching a theater production on tour.

Sunday came and came fast with a threat of an approaching typhoon. I just slept. In between waking-ups, I stared at the text message again and again.

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