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I grew up believing that Philippine theatre was every bit as wonderful as anything that existed outside the country. After all, wasn’t a Filipina headlining Miss Saigon in the West End?
The first real musical I remember seeing was Les Miserables by Repertory Philippines. I was in Grade Three. I still remember Javert’s inverted body on the barricade, the rotating stage, and I remember thinking that I’d much rather be Eponine than Cosette. Even if Cosette had the money and got the guy, Eponine got all the good songs. I distinctly remember my lola shaking Baby Barredo’s hand after the curtain fell and congratulating her on a show that was “as good as Broadway”. My lola had an apartment in New York so I knew she meant business when it came to theater.
When I was in high school one of my best friends came home raving about the latest hit on Broadway, Rent. She lent us her CD’s and got us started on the world of the ten gallon plastic pickle tub. When Rent opened in Music Museum a few months later, I saw it myself and fell in love (with Mark/JM who I’m still sad is gay). We watched it five times and would sing “Out Tonight”, “Light My Candle”, “Will I” and most of the other songs on our lunch breaks. In a school activity we were asked to give ourselves nicknames and naturally mine was Mimi (luckily my teacher was also a Rent-head and unfazed by how my alternate self was an HIV-positive stripper). That Manila production was my original Rent. I enjoyed it so much that even when I found myself in New York I didn’t feel the need to see it on Broadway.
I would consider those two experiences the biggest contributors to making me a bona fide theater lover, though I’ve been lucky to have had many wonderfully more since then.
Last Friday became another theater night, an impromptu plan to see the opening performance of In The Heights in Manila.
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In The Heights won the Tony for Best Musical in 2008. I was in New York that summer and I made sure to see it because it had just won. On our last night in the city, I went by myself because my travel partner (my mom) was too tired to watch. Ahead of me in line to get inside the Richard Rodgers Theater on W. 46th St. was a white family – a mom, a dad and a daughter dressed to the nines; I gleaned from their conversation that they were from out-of-state and that enjoying a night at the the-a-ter was a big part of their trip. What was most striking though was that all/most of the other people waiting to get inside were black and latin teenagers. Not your usual theater crowd. But when the show started, they laughed, cheered and hooted in all the right places, making my experience 360.
I remember thinking that ITH was almost too hardcore because of so many Spanish jokes, many of which I didn’t catch. But the story was simple and clear – family, friends, home. The dancing was crazy and I liked the romanticized upper, upper Manhattan streets. And as you can expect as a minimum on Broadway, all of the voices were INSANE.
Most mesmerizing was Lin-Manuel Miranda, who wrote the play and starred in it himself as Usnavi. I remember thinking how nobody would ever be able to replace him because how could anyone compare to a non-actor poet starring in his own story. I couldn’t imagine the art and courage involved in writing about his own life and reality. But Lin did it and got it produced then went on to win the biggest Tony that year. (Speech, don't cry!) By the time we were halfway through the second act I was in tears. In “Enough”, when the Softee truck broke down and Mr. Piragua was able to up his prices, when Usnavi was about to go, when (spoiler!) he decided to stay! This isn’t one of my favorite musicals by far because the story isn’t amazing or new, but if you lend yourself to it you will certainly be touched by how it is, for all intents and purposes, a true story.
Cut to Friday’s In The Heights. I enjoyed parts of it and found myself nodding my head to the beat many times. But it lacked the soul, heart and truth and even at its best, it was but an echo of the original.
Usnavi sounded just like Lin on the ITH Original Broadway Cast recording, as if the actor had it on loop for a month. If you listen to the CD, you will find his inflections and rhythm identical to the recording. He was a perfect echo, technically proficient but with no interpretation of his own. And that’s the danger of Usnavi – without the heart he becomes cheesy and cliché. Nyoy brought no weight or depth in narrating a story that is in no way brilliant but that still hits you because it is true. A wasted opportunity because he has clear potential to embody the way of Usnavi, and even better vocals than Lin, but he is in need of a director who will demand and push him to find his own meaning in this.
Nina was a powerhouse, and I can rarely say that with Atlantis shows! She was vocally perfect and genuine in emotion, except that it felt like she could have been a teenager fighting with her parents in any city, in any country, even Southern California or San Lorenzo – no context to this particular New York neighbourhood, and uninformed by how Nina is supposed to be a Latina who “made it out” all the way to fing Stanford! And no chemistry at all with her romantic lead, though I will place all of the blame for that on...
Benny, that schmuck. HE DIDN’T KNOW WHAT HE WAS DOING. I’ve seen the press call him Atlantis’ “Golden Boy” and it must be true because I’ve seen him in four shows of theirs this year! I can’t help but wonder if they keep him on the payroll to save on leading men. Instead of getting four actors who can each properly play the part they’re hired for, they must have saved a bundle of money by getting a 3+1 for one deal (three leading roles in Avenue Q, Next to Normal and In The Heights + an ensemble role in Aida). I wouldn’t mind if he was a brilliant chameleon, but the only show I liked him in was Avenue Q – where he plays the only character he was able to grasp, a naive, chipper optimist. He is one-note, like the Kirsten Stewart of Philippine theater. He did not pull off the mental evil genius/ dead son in N2N and he absolutely cannot play a black guy. Or maybe he decided to re-interpret Benny as a geeky white boy. *cringe* Benny is supposed to be so charming that you'll cheer for him even if, if you take a step back into reality, you will be forced to think that all his dreams are misplaced - what are the chances that a limo driver whose peg for success is his boss who can't even afford his daughter's college tuition will succeed "out west in California"? But he believes in himself and wants to go to business school and sings so earnestly that we believe it could happen, too. But Felix wasn't able to bring any of that into his performance, which was mostly a lot of obvious facial contortions and expressions. There’s nothing wrong with his voice except that it isn’t black or smooth. But what really upset me was that he didn’t even try to act cool. No swag, no charm, no cool! Completely unbelievable that a hot girl with enough brains to get into Stanford on scholarship would ever go for him. He was the worst in the show. I felt so bad for Nina every time she had to pretend to like him or worse, kiss him. I had to close my eyes so many times when he came on stage. *CRINGE* Panira.
Vanessa, was not that much better than Benny and really didn’t shine vocally. Vanessa is supposed to be a hot and fiery. She and Nina are supposed to be contemporaries so I don’t know why they cast an actress who looks like she’s pushing forty (I don’t know how old the actress really is, she just looks super old). The interesting thing about this character is that, compared to Nina who has actually made it out somewhat, Vanessa is the idealist. When she sings “It Won’t Be Long Now” we find out that she isn’t going to settle and that she believes she will also get out and go far one day. She doesn’t even say what her dream is exactly, but she echoes the Disney princesses who believe “there must be more than this provincial life”! And in that same song, Usnavi via cousin finally makes his move and we can believe that things are starting to go her way. But Vanessa is a handful and this actress couldn’t handle her confidence, optimism, intensity and especially not her vocals. There were times when she wore an expression that showed how hard she was trying to reach deep, deep inside to be able to hit the big/high notes. Disappointingly she fell short many times, especially amplified once at the start of the show when her solo came right after Nina's stellar opening.
Carlos & Camile, now you listen to me! Not much acting to show that they are supposed to be Latin. Dad, not bad but not gripping. Mom, no weight at all. As I’ve mentioned “Enough” is a killer number for me – I even skip it on my iPod because it makes me cry each time I hear it – haven’t we all had those kinds of doting lectures from our own mothers? :) But this came across as no different from any other scolding, as if Nina is the kind of kid who stays out past curfew a lot. Jackie Lou was not able to portray a mom who is more hurt and worried than mad that her daughter didn’t turn to her with such a big problem. They missed the opportunity to reassure the audience that even if this is the most complicated turning point in their family's life, they will stick together and be okay. Enough!
General dancing. Not good, super awkward, heavy. Did Atlantis hire DI's from Malate??? And don’t they watch So You Think You Can Dance? Pinoys are awesome dancers! Also, they need to give female performers better/longer? underwear when they’re going to be in such short skirts.
But there were definite scene stealers! My favorites:
Abuela Claudia. She’s not really his abuela but she practically raised Usnavi, this corner is her escuela. And she schooled everyone in the show about how to feel and tell a story. I felt her pain when she sang about coming to America and working so hard without being able to improve her life. But she has Usnavi + Sonny and now 96,000 dollars, holla.
Daniela. The only Latina in the show! Who is she and why haven’t we seen her on stage til now? Amazing vocals, amazing embodiment of Latina humor and heat.
Sonny! Extra favorite. No cliché expressions (the home of Felix/Benny) but you can feel him! This actor reminded me that Sonny is the the one who wants to stick around and make things better (cue edumacation in “96,000”) and he got me to feel so worried and bad for Sonny when Usnavi said he was leaving! If I had met him after the show I would have given him a hug. He also brought something different to the character from the Sonny I saw on Broadway who was small and more scrawny. Because this actor is huge compared to the original, it added a new layer of charm. Perfect delivery each time, like a drunk Chita Rivera.
(Special mention to Mr. Piragua. One of my favorite characters in the show who did not disappoint with his vocals or hair.)
As I often feel with Atlantis shows, this felt like a missed opportunity. There are so many themes in ITH that Filipinos should be able to relate to - working your ass off for decades and not getting anywhere, immigration, family, coming home.
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Atlantis has improved in sound and general vocal quality since Spring Awakening, the first show of theirs I saw at RCBC. But I can’t help but feel like they just hand out scripts and CD’s to the cast members, wave them off then see them back at dress rehearsal. The production/direction team doesn’t seem to have the courage to eliminate the elements and actors that just aren’t cutting it, and they haven’t been able to push those with potential to truly settle in and embody their characters. I’ve also seen a couple of Rep shows in the last year and I always leave feeling like I’ve just escaped into another world, even in the cases where I have seen the original on Broadway. Atlantis brings out my inner critic and until they get their performers to leave their hearts on the stage, their theater will never be as good as the real thing.
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