A Little Night Music

Some friends and I went to watch a Repertory Philippines production of “The Fantasticks”, an Off-Broadway musical written in the 60’s which is also the longest running musical in American theater history. It is a funny coming of age story about finding one’s identity after losing the innocence of youth and the enchantment of romance. The plot is similar to that of Pyramus and Thisbe in Greek mythology or to that of Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet, in a reverse twist. The fathers of the lovers, Matt and Louisa, put up a wall between their houses and staged a feud between their families in order to maneuver their kids to fall in love. As they believe that what you tell your children not to do is always the thing they would go for since kids always wanted to get their own way. So the two did fall in love but when they found out about their fathers’ manipulation, they realize that the magic was not there after all and what in the moonlight is scenic turns cynic in the daylight. They went off their separate ways and experienced the world on their own. When they met once again, now equipped with their newly discovered wisdom and experiences of the world, they realized their true feelings and came to understand each other. This musical perfectly captures the essence of the thrill and excitement of a forbidden love—moonlit night in the forest, secret meetings, and contrived conversations—and the bitter awakening and disillusionment of real life.

Repertory Philippines’ production of “The Fantasticks” was simply fantastic (pun intended:)). The set was simple and nice, and the costumes were lovely, except Matt’s. I especially liked Julia Abueva’s portrayal of Louisa but I find the actor of Matt quite unsatisfactory. Besides his anachronistic get-up and that very in vogue printed jacket of his, his singing style is not that clean. All that time, I was looking forward to his rendition of “I Can See It” and he disappointed me with his version. Another interesting and funny character was Mortimer, a fake Indian who “dies” for a living. I almost fell off my seat when he told his story about dying off a cliff and how people loved it so much that they cheered “die again Mortimer!”


I just love musicals! I have been a musical junkie as far as I can remember. I think what started it all was the time when my parents bought us that Sound of Music VHS. I became a musical fan ever since. “One” from “A Chorus Line” and “Tomorrow” from “Annie” was among my favorite songs in our nursery rhymes tape collection when I was a little girl. Presently, I have a collection of Broadway librettos and Cast recordings which I often listen to and eventually memorized. From Stephen Sondheim to Oscar Hammerstein to Andrew Lloyd Webber and Jonathan Larson and the rest of the really amazing and creative composers and lyricists, I collect every piece of musical that I encounter which catches my fancy. I always thought of my life as one big musical and I always have a song attached to a memory or an unforgettable experience or era in my life. And even now, (here comes a shameless confession…) I often dreamed of performing and singing on stage. When I study at night and prepare for an exam or a recitation, I often also sing a song or two as if I have a rehearsal to attend to the next day (my college dorm roomies can prove testament to this, sorry girls if I often annoy you with my Broadway medleys Hahaha!). Anyway, with law school and all, I rarely have the time to go to acting or theater workshops. However, I never did abandon this dream. Maybe someday, Ill take the time to be in an audition and play a part in a musical production. For as long as there’s music, life will continue to encourage and amuse me.

*********************************
“Who understands why Spring is born out of Winter's laboring pain? Or why we all must die a bit before we grow again?" –El Gallo, from “The Fantasticks”

Thank god for Gillette, huh?!

Tim Burton didn't fail me with his adaptation of the Broadway musical Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street. The movie masterfully captured the dark tone of the film with its despairingly gloomy lighting effects and makeup. If you are familiar with Burton's work, this film have his cinematographic signatures all over the place. He capitalized on stark contrasts of colors in this movie like the bright red gushing and flowing blood amidst a rather monochromatic background. The scene where Mrs Lovett and Sweeney Todd were under the tree (By the Sea) is that part of the movie which is totally mesmerizing and its the only time where everything is so alive with color.

I am not very satisfied though with Johnny Depp's performance despite his surprisingly good singing voice. I think his portrayal of Sweeney Todd is not that psychotic. It lacks that element of madness. Maybe He wants to be the brooding killer type and not the brazenly mad psychopath which I want him to be. I expected a lot more vigor and exaggeration in each of the characters especially when they get to sing their parts like in a real musical. I guess Tim Burton wanted it to be more toned down and subtle which I think he shouldn't have done because the musical aspect is diminished in value. Its grim humor is lost in Burton's translation. I think Helena Bonham Carter is very suited for the role as Mrs Lovett and I don't understand why people are complaining why she got the part thinking that she did because she's Tim Burton's wife. Duh. I'm sure they had other considerations besides that. Sasha Cohen as Pirelli is also very amusing as always and Alan Rickman as Judge Turpin can't be any better except that when he said "Mr Todd" when he first entered that barbershop, I cant help but be reminded of Professor Snape since he said it in the exact same tone and manner the way he did in Harry Potter only "Mr Potter"! haha!

The movie is quite loyal to the original version and I really don't get it why people, in their blogs and reviews, blame Burton for how the plot turned out in the end and at the same time complain that the songs weren't any good. Maybe they don't know how to appreciate musicals. Or maybe they just can't fathom the words because of the thick British accent. Another thing I'm really quite annoyed with is the fact that people are expecting to be scared in this movie. They expect all the usual sound effects and visuals that a run-of-the-mill horror flick would offer. In the first place, this is not a horror movie. And its also definitely not a suspense thriller. It is a musical thriller and a musical thriller does not have that very ordinary purpose. Musical thrillers may horrify you but in a different way because the story is incorporated in songs and the killings are done with spontaneity. Sigh. People really ought to go deeper into stuff.

Sweeney Todd's concept is really very interesting and amusing for me. I find the story as a dark comedy. Isn't it funny (albeit sad) how Johanna had no idea at all that her father unknowingly killed her mother and even attempted to kill her. The neurotic in me identifies with Todd's and Mrs Lovett's characters. I wonder how tasty those pies really are.

La Vie Boheme

Rent is on my mind today.
No, not the one I'm paying every first week of the month. I'm talking about the Tony award-winning musical which was adapted to film last 2005. I cant believe I let about two years pass before I watched this movie adaptation. The thought of downloading this movie came to me because of my current frustration in finding a decent Sweeney Todd movie torrent file. When El finished downloading the Rent torrent last night, I immediately forgot all about my cases and excitedly played the movie. I have fallen in love with this musical since I first heard of it. I have a copy of the songs from the original Broadway soundtrack which Ive downloaded a few years back so I am acquainted with the songs and even memorized some of them. Having watched the movie last night brought back the frenzy once again. I have been singing songs from the soundtrack all day today and when I'm not, the songs just kept on playing in my mind.

Rent is about a group of friends and young artists and their struggles with work, love, and life. The plot is amidst the background of aids and transgenderism. The "bohemian" or impoverished artist culture is the pervading theme of this story which I totally dig. Each character is very unique and very familiar at the same time. There's Mark, a struggling film maker who makes a lot of documentaries and who thinks working for big media corporations is a sell-out. Roger is the aids-stricken songwriter and ex front man of a band whose love interest is Mimi, a dancer in a club who also has aids. Maureen is a performance artist who leads the protest against Benny and the landlords of the East village of New York. She dumped Mark for a lawyer named Joanne (incidentally!). Tom Collins is a philosophy professor who also has aids who falls for Angel, my favorite character, a cross-dresser with aids who plays percussions on the streets. I love how this musical emphasizes on the importance of how we ought to relish in living our lives and forget our unnecessary pretensions. There's no day but today.

All but two (Mimi and Joanne) of the movie cast are reprisals of their roles in the original Broadway version. Rosario Dawson's portrayal of Mimi is surprisingly good. I always thought shes a good actress but I didnt know she sings. Tracie Thoms as Joanne is superb. The first time I saw her in the movie I thought, this girl looks really familiar. That's when it hit me that I saw her in "Devil Wears Prada" playing as a friend of Anne Hathaway there. Jesse Martin (Tom Collins) and Taye Diggs (Benny) played roles in Ally McBeal that are very lucid in my memory that I had quite a hard time disintegrating the doctor/lawyer character in them that I was accustomed to. And oh yeah, Adam Pascal (Roger) was Theo, Jack Black's former bandmate, in the flick "The School of Rock".

I have always been a musical enthusiast and ever since I became one, I have been dreaming of going to New York and watch the runs of my favorite Broadway musicals in the New Amsterdam theater. But since that dream is quite far out for now, Ill just settle on film adaptations and singing librettos in the shower.