Musical Theater Review: 9 Works Theatrical's Sweet Charity

Last week, I watched 9 Works Theatrical's Production of Sweet Charity. Wanna know what I thought? Click HERE to read it in my musical blog :)

9 Works Theatrical's Production of RENT

Happy Monday everyone! How was your weekend? I spent my saturday night in RCBC Carlos P. Romulo Auditorium watching RENT so here is my review on it:

I don't consider myself to be a Renthead, because there are other musicals that I prefer over Rent. Nonetheless, I'm very familiar with the show, owning the DVD's of the movie and the Rent: Filmed Live on Broadway. I also have the movie soundtrack as well as the Original Broadway Cast. Having said so, I entered the theater with high hopes. After all, as far as I know this is already the 3^rd run of this musical. The first run was early 2010, when I couldn't find tickets because I bought too late already. The second run was late last year, when the tickets were expensive since it was staged in Rockwell. So I bought my tickets early and was happy for the chance to finally see the musical.

The good thing about Rent is that production-wise, it isn't hard to replicate. The set isn't extravagant (and doesn't change either) and the costumes are simple, too. They're everyday outfits that can be pulled out of an ordinary person's closet. The musicians are composed of a small band of 4 or 5 people. Having said this, you don't need to put in an extravagant amount of money to replicate this in Manila. 9 Works was able to give a good feel of the Broadway show.

Of course, a production doesn't mean anything without a good cast. When it came to acting, the cast was able to capture the essence of their characters. I was especially impressed with Job Bautista as Angel. They got the perfect man to play Angel, the optimistic, dancing, AIDS-stricken cross dresser. Singing-wise (which is the most important part of me), they were okay. Gian Magdangal (Roger) at times reminded me of Adam Pascal's rocky, edgy voice. However, the high ranges of the male characters proved to be a challenge to the male members of the cast. They had to resort to almost shouting their high notes. As a result, power ballads such as Roger's Your Eyes and Collins' I'll Cover You (Reprise) fell a little short for me. This, coupled with the fact that the sound engineer failed to notice that the high was too high (leaving a very penetrating sound when the actors sang in their high range). It's a little hard to explain, but if you know how to operate a sound mixer, you'll know what I'm talking about.

All-in-all, I would say that this was a good production, although it would have been better if the cast were better able to hit the high notes. Nevertheless, this a fresh, young cast whose faces are relatively new in the musical theater scene. I look forward to their blossoming in the years to come.

List of cast that I THINK I saw:

Gian Magdangal - Roger

Sherry Bautista – Mimi

Fredison Lo – Mark

OJ Mariano -Collins

Job Bautista – Angel

Mian Dimacali – Maureen

Jenny Villegas- Joanne

Lorenz Martinez – Benny

Musical Review: Legally Blonde the Musical

I'm a big fan of broadway musicals! In fact, it's one of the main reasons why I chose to pursue music as a career, so I try to catch all the musicals that get staged locally, regardless if I'm a big fan of that particular show or not. Sadly, I missed out on two musicals this year already: RENT and Spring Awakening. You see, my erratic schedule prohibits me from booking tickets for months in advance. I only book tickets around a month in advance, and by the time I was going to book for those two shows, tickets were already gone.

Lucky me, there were still tickets for this show. I didn't get good seats, but that's okay, since Meralco Theater isn't a big theater, anyway. To tell you the truth, I actually have the Legally Blonde Broadway recording, but I don't listen to it because I feel that the music doesn't stand well on its own, much like Avenue Q. Don't get me wrong. Avenue Q is freakin' hilarious, but I find that there's nothing special about the music (I'm very fond of musicals that use orchestras as opposed to bands and such). So I came in the theater with only the movie adaptation in mind. 

I have to admit, I had my doubts about Nikki Gil. I've seen too many local musicals wherein they get big names to headline the shows, even if they have little or no experience in musical theater. In the end, their performances disappoint. This, however, was not the case with Nikki Gil. To my surprise, she really delivered. She was not pitch-y and looked like she really knew what she was doing.. She did great overall: singing, dancing and acting (although I could not see her face since I was so far away).

The supporting cast really delivered, too. Great performances by Jett Pangan, a musical theater veteran, as Prof. Callahan, Cris Villongco as Vivian Kensington, Guji Lorenzada as Warner, Jinky Llamanzaras as Paulette, and Geneva Cruz as Brooke Wyndham, Calvin Millado as Kyle (the UPS guy). Nyoy Volante did great as Emmett, too, but I'm not really a fan of his voice.

Overall, it was a very enjoyable show. Great cast, high energy and with many funny moments!  Of course, you cannot expect a Broadway-type set, but that's okay by me as long as the quality of the performance is good. Today is their last show, try to catch it before the run ends.

Watching Hairspray the Musical

First of all, I'd like to apologize for not having a picture for this entry. I was supposed to take a picture of myself beside the poster but since I was running late, it slipped my mind.

I watched Hairspray at the Aliw Theater last Sunday, November 30. It was staged by Atlantis Productions. We were in the 2nd to the last row yet the view was still good.

The first thing I noticed when the show started was that the sound system was bad. It was shrill and the voices were a little garbled. Tsk tsk. It was an effort to listen to the whole show.

Anyway, moving on, the cast was wonderful; good voices and good acting. I'd like to note Menchu Lauchengco-Yulo (Velma) who once again showed her versatility, and Michael de Mesa (Edna) who stole the show even in a fat suit. He (or his female character) was undoubtedly the funniest one that night. The voice of the night, however, was Dulce (Motormouth). I didn't even know who she was before that night but wow! Her solo received the loudest applause for the night. A little nit picks though, Madel Ching, who plays the lead role of Tracy needs to work more on enunciating her works. Tim Espinosa, who plays Tracy's love interest Link, needs to work on his vocals in general.

The cast had really high energy and there were a lot of upbeat dance sequences. The audience was really enjoying that night. The cast was really appreciated.

Although the musical of the year for me is still Avenue Q (also by Atlantis Productions) mainly because the show had better material to begin with, production-wise and more importantly, cast-wise, Hairspray is a good, fun show.