Plays Galore!

So I watched Repertory’s season opener yesterday: A Portrait of the Artist as Filipino. Written by Nick Joaquin, it is considered the most important Filipino play in English.

Set in Manila in October 1941, it tells the tale of two of Don Lorenzo's daughters, Candida and Paula Marasigan to whom Don Lorenzo has given the portrait. Many different forces want the painting. The daughters resist the temptation to sell their father's self-portrait, which could fetch a small fortune, and ignore their siblings' coercion to dispose of the family house.

My favorite veteran Rep actors – Ana Abad Santos and Liesl Batucan (who, I realized just yesterday, is a dead ringer for work buddy Liza B!) – played Candida and Paula respectively.

The last time I watched a play was ages ago -- Avenue Q back in 2007. I had to forego Lea Salonga’s Cinderella in August 2008 because I was sick as a cow (using Sam’s words) at the time. Filing out of the theater last night, I remembered the reasons I love going to plays so much.

• I marvel at the energy and prowess of the performers, who do not have the luxury of “takes.” It’s all happening real time so everything has to be perfect…And the actors have to make an impact even with limited (most of the time zero) special effects!
• I love how 3D stage designs give a story even more depth and texture…At the same time, there are always things that are left beyond the audience's visual reach, piquing the imagination: the room to which a closed door leads, the goings-on outside a window, what’s up or down a flight of stairs...
• The storylines are absorbing. They're not the stuff movies are usually made of, but that’s part of their charm.
• My all-time favorites are Romance, Romance (for the songs and music), and Woman In Black (I think it’s hard to scare people in a play, but this one really did frighten the audience by employing creepily unconventional means).

Here's the line-up I look forward to watching this year:

A musical comedy, a modern-day retelling of the classic novel Pride & Prejudice with genders reversed

One of the longest-running musical shows in the history of American theater -- a clever reverse of the Romeo and Juliet story

A musical adaptation of the famous fairy tale, with a twist (will watch this with my Children's Theater buddy -- my niece Zoe)

A popular Broadway musical which was made into a Johnny Depp film

YEY!