15 November 2014
‘Filipinas 1941’
Philstagers invade the
movies, concert stage
A theater review plus by JC Nigado |
| Filipinas 1941 poster |
THE Philippine Stagers Foundation (PSF) continues to nonplus
the competition by making waves to challenge other pretenders. Early this year Vince Tañada, PSF president
and artistic director, and his inner circle of performers stormed the movies in
Elwood Perez’s Esoterica: Maynila, a
localized modern-day reworking of Dante Alighieri’s The Divine Comedy (1309-1320?). The semi-allegorical film journeys
through Manila’s current limbo, negotiating the extremes of the triune of
existence – paradise, purgatory and hell as we know or we don’t know them.
As such, Esoterica is a very busy film –
ambitious, pretentious, twisted. It’s
like Kris Aquino, a nagging celebrity, who harbors no middle ground: either you
like her or you don’t. Anchored by
Ronnie Liang, in a subdued turn minus the usual actor’s treacle, including his
“narrative voice,” the film moves and runs its course helter-skelter until it
falls flat, not on its face, mind you, but on its butt. Now, there’s such a thing, as idioms and clichés
are engaged and reinvented, just like in many of Perez’s licentious oeuvre.
A word of
caution: Don’t watch Esoterica: Maynila
on a full stomach, an easy magnet for indigestion on nausea, as one theater and
film veteran put it, after trying to ingest and digest the movie of framed
images and ideas. And then, the “unframing” begins...
On Monday,
Nov. 24, the Stagers (stager is an
archaic word for actor) will blast
the Araneta Smart Coliseum to the rafters, as they break the concert ground in
a reported one-hour-and-forty-five-minute celebration of Broadway songs, OPM
and foreign pop and tracks of their own original musicals like Bonifacio and Filipinas 1941.
Already,
PSF has booked 14,000 of its captive audiences in schools around Metro Manila,
and more tickets are being sold out as the date approaches. Oh, God, the Devil in Nanding Josef of the
CCP’s Tanghalang Pilipino must be salivating and gnashing his teeth, from ear
to envious ear. Can you, or anybody else
for that matter, beat that madding and maddening crowd for an audience?
At any
rate, “how dare” Tañada and his whole caboodle of wannabes to be treading
sacred grounds where even angels, good or evil, fear to tread. One could almost
hear others unable to match the Stagers’ daring and dealing power surely
howling, amidst the nonstop ringing of cash in their mendicant mind. There are many CCPs in the country!
Well, after
the hollering, the Stagers’ singing starts – with or without Plus One!
By the way,
it’s not true that the Cultural Center of the Philippines is cash
strapped. The whole act, according to
some CCP insiders, is a Grand Charade,
to cover up something or some things. They
said, it’s been going on since Day One, 45 years ago, when Gloria Diaz won the
country’s first Miss Universe crown in 1969.
The entire
CCP complex is often booked in advance, one way or the other, they added. The culture of corruption in this “smallish”
government agency is such that even the “clueless” Commission on Audit cannot
audit or commit itself to do anything about it.
So, who’s raking in the rakish money at the
CCP – the other Corruption Center of the Philippines?
Now, let’s go
back to the enterprising Philstagers and their ongoing musical on tour. The
invitation to watch Vince Tañada’s Filipinas
1941 came with a cautionary text via cellphone: “It’s commercial!” The
subtext being: “Please don’t take it seriously...” Coming from the
writer-director-producer himself, the advance “excuse” was an unveiled attempt
at modesty and humility.
However, there’s
nothing modest and humble about Tañada’s production of Filipinas 1941. Starting with the multi-level set, which looks
simple and minimalist to the untrained eye, but is actually an expensive
fiberglass of layered “stone walls” that frame the play’s dramatic terrain of
parallel narratives. Then, the story begins its three-hour run; an epic
spectacle spaced in historical context, fractured by war, and set to functional
music.
“Wala ka
man... Wala ka maaaan...” the four leads sing in solo or in quartet, and the
house hums to a melodious chorus, proof positive that Pipo Cifra’s music is
effective and on target with the right emotion being played out in scene after
scene. But...
What the
script lacks in narrative structure and plot development, the dynamic
performance of the entire cast more than makes up for an entertaining and
involving show all around. In a sense, the attraction of Filipinas 1941 lies precisely in its flaws, flashing up and bright
like familiar failures in a hurry.
Observes an
attentive theater veteran: “Filipinas
1941 is one of the better productions of Philippine Stagers
Foundation. It is much, much better than
Nestor Torre’s Katy, the local
version of Piaf and Aida; more engaging than Chris Millado’s
take on Mario O‘Hara’s Stageshow; and
can be compared to the Resort World’s Priscilla,
Queen of the Desert.
“A
spectacle; big, big cast; costumes galore; creative lighting; parang painting
ni Sanso ang set. Acting is generally okay, as usual. The four leads are outstanding, particularly
the two girls – Adele (Ibarrientos) and Cindy (Liper), and Patrick (Libao), who
is the most subdued among them. Also
mentioned is Vince (Tañada), who still occasionally plays to the audience or
fans!
“Chris Lim’s take on Douglas MacArthur is
special and novel. Energy all over is
comparable to PETA and Kambayoka of yore.
Script is mishmash though and full of clichés, even the ‘twists’ are
pang-komiks. Para kang nanonood ng
Sampaguita or Star Cinema movie (pang-fans).
“Some
scenes are indulgent. Music, as always,
is parang orchestra ang arrangement – thick, full, vibrant and apt, pero hindi
ma-recall ang melodies sa first sitting.
The play is epic in length.”
Need I say
more? Indeed, some nominations are in order, but certain choices bear
watching. I’ve seen PETA’s Rak of Aegis (twice), Priscilla (twice) and other musicals
this season, but it would be hard to beat the lead performances of Cindy Liper
and Patrick Libao. Then there’s Chris
Lim’s parody of the US military, symbolized by MacArthur, in an impressive
featured role, an ironic satire of a flawed character whose politics is steeped
in blood and cold cash.
At any
rate, Rak of Aegis, despite its
hackneyed storyline, would give every musical in town not only a run for their
money but also for well-deserved awards. Note the fluid set as it creates a “character”
that drives the play’s narrative eloquence.
Nevertheless,
Filipinas 1941 stands a fighting
chance in any thorough theater appraisal. For one thing, the fusion of fact and
fiction serves to entertain and instruct not only about people, places and
events before, during and after the Japanese occupation of the Philippines in World
War II, but also about the real role of America’s involvement and its
imperialist design up to the present.
Ultimately,
the self-proclaimed (“I shall return!”) hero, Gen. Douglas MacArthur is finally
“exposed” as a fraud and mercenary. The
play’s epilogue informs us that on Jan. 1, 1942 Commonwealth President Manuel
L. Quezon paid MacArthur $500,000 in exchange for his wartime services. (MacArthur
was subsequently dismissed by US President Harry S. Truman after his stint as
commander in chief of the United Nations in the Korean War, 1950-51. – JCN.)
Like any
other PSF production, Filipinas 1941
carries the company’s hallmark: “To entertain, perchance to educate.”
Anyone who
disagrees with this vision is a disservice to the basic and bigger cause of theater
and show business as a whole. In fact,
the successful union of craft and commerce is where the Philippine Stagers
Foundation has upstaged, if inadvertently, the competition, many of which are
in direful straits.
Art as the
universal leveler, needless to say, is rendered relevant by the sustained and
sustainable admission of large mass audiences to its fold, for it to thrive and
prevail.
JC Nigado
Tagurabong City,
Philippines, 2014
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