Chasing Bobby Mayler and other stories from outside the stage door
Saturday, October 04, 2014
Insane. Lea’s still got it. One of the local articles about her performance said “walang kupas”.
You’ve got to be so proud though of how many Filipinos can make it on the global stage. I wish we had directors and theater companies as strong locally to bring this level of talent out.
I loved this scene from Smash, Season 2. There's nobody else around, and it has a backstage vibe to it. I also love this song and I'm a sucker for scenes that get the whole cast together. They're walking around the Broadway streets early in the morning as they head to the theater for the Tony's.
Walking around in that row of streets between Times Square and Hell's Kitchen is so electrifying, theater after theater, posters and actors' names on marquees. That there are dozens of amazing shows you could walk into on any week night is one of the reasons I love New York.
Smash was by no means an amazing show but I was always drawn to it because of the peek it gives into the creative processes of writing, casting and producing a show. I love that they cast so many real theater performers, including my favorite Will Chase!. I never got to see Jeremy Jordan in Newsies but I got to meet him in Smash. I super hate his character but love his voice, and I absolutely can't wait to see him in Last 5 Years. I'd love to see Megan Hilty live, she's such a bombshell. The show didn't make a McPheever fan out of me and she was probably my least favorite on the show; her voice is unfortunately also the thinnest compared to her formidable Broadway-trained co-stars. But that's ok, she gets the poppier tunes and I a lot of them (especially hers and Jeremy's songs) are on loop on my iPod.
It was a delectable guilty pleasure and with two full seasons it would make for fantastic binge watching. And when I want to see the beautiful theater streets again... cue video.
Red will always be special to me because it is the first play I ever saw. It was so well-reviewed and I love art and have always liked Rothko.
I remember sitting in the mezzanine instead of in the orchestra because tickets were so expensive. But that worked out - I got a glorious view of the set, Rothko's workshop. The whole play took place in one room, but the dialogue was so intense and riveting. I kept trying to mentally note lines of the play, so many thoughts and remarks about the meaning of art and finding purpose and struggling with selling out. It was a very dorky art trip, with Rothko's commentary on an important time in the American art scene, the movement from impressionism to abstract expressionism to pop art. Rothko's generation had been detested by the more classical painters, but he in turn despised Warhol & co. He verbally abuses and bullies Ken, an aspiring painter and his assistant who certainly identifies with the new blood, Rothko's sparring partner for the entire show.
When I got to travel to London two years later I couldn't wait to get to the Tate and sit for a moment in front of Rothko's Seagram murals, the contentious set of portraits that are the focus of the play. The lights are dimmer in the room where they're displayed, prbabbly set to the brightness (or dimness) Rothko obsessed about.
When I heard that they were doing a Manila production of the play I was excited to possibly see it again, but also a little afraid. You never know what liberties a new creative team will take, or what a new cast will bring (or not) to a piece of work. And this is such a tough one to pull off.
I didn't get to see their original run, or on one of the many succeeding runs they had soon after. I finally got to catch it on a much later run this year.
The performance was going to be held at the CCP's Little Theater. We walked in and found we could sit right on stage level, seats arranged on the three sides of the stage. Rothko's workshop was all set up, pieces hanging around the theater, benches, tables, chairs, scattered around.
Rothko walked in and we were drawn into his room. I felt like we never left until the very end of the show.
The same questions were asked and this time, I was ready! I had a little notepad and a pen to jot down the lines and parts that I wanted to remember. (I ended up with mostly illegible scribbles.) But all the important questions were asked, the same fears about trying to create something new and fear of losing respect. Bart Guingona's fingers were covered in paint, even red tint under his fingernails. Joaquin put together a blank canvas, almost from scratch. They had a working sink on stage, and a gritty pink-red floor. They had pots of red pigment on the table and bottles of alcohol poured whiskey from. They mixed paint live, all fascinating art workshop stuff as they probed, discussed and debated.
Red asks important questions that every artist and creative person probably faces. It's all talk, which could get boring if not delivered compellingly. The actors need to keep the audience involved in what is essentially a nintey-minute conversation. Unlike other shows that are require performers to bring their whole hearts, I think this one is about intention. From set and stage to delivery and interaction, I was completely enthralled in the whole production.
My favorite scene is when, in a fit of artistic passion, Rothko and Ken paint a whole canvas red. No more dialogue, just movement.
(P.S. I put the video because it shows that exact scene, but for the record I think this is a terrible trailer especially given that it was such an amazing production! I think they could use some marketing skills... Then the show might have been more packed! It was so sad, I'd say only 30% of the theater was filled when I watched.)
London Road was definitely the most avant garde work of theater I've ever seen, something truly groundbreaking.
While Bill and I were visiting Mikey in London in 2012, this work was so positively reviewed by everyone from The Guardian to Time Out London. Experimental but not alienating, they promised.
It showed in the National's Cottsloe theater, one of the smaller stages, which worked extremely well. There were only a couple of rows around three sides of the stage. Being so close to the action and gave me sharp, vivid mental memories of the play. As the play started a very normal-looking guy shuffled around the stage, reaching out to audience members to shake their hands and leading in to the "Good evening, welcome" opening number.
The subject is grizzly and more serious than I'd ever normally watch — how a community reacted to and dealt with the aftermath of the discovery of three dead prostitutes in their neighborhood. Mistrust, fear, paranoia, and then their response and how they tried to move forward. "I'm interested in not necessarily the eye of the storm, but more the ripples that it creates around the side. The media and the neighborhood.... there was a whole other world that was affected." (Alecky Blythe, playwright)
It's a piece of verbatim theater, which uses actual interview footage as source material. Writers don't just paraphrase or write additional material, they essentially edit the verbatims into one narrative and set it to music. Cast members have to mimic exactly how the dialogue was originally spoken. My sister, who was taking her masters in English at the time, told us that movies and especially books can't depict authentic speech and conversation because we don't speak in sentences or organized paragraphs. Real speeach is full of "um"s, pauses, run-ons, laughter, incomplete sentences. Verbatim theater uses not just the exact lines, but the exact pronunciation used by subjects interviewed.
"Everyone is very, very nervous, um, and very unsure of everything, basically."
The style was definitely new and won't be to everyone's liking. Lines run in sometimes awkward, uncrafted speech. It was a little odd at first but it drew me in and I enjoyed the flow of action, even the music - which I remembered but struggled to sing along to after the show! They don't craft the lines like "No day but today" or "Sal Tlay Ka Siti" that stick with you.
I also find it pretty cool that London Road was borne out of a National Theater initiative. They have a development workshop where they invite playwrights and musicians to pair up and collaborate. That an organization could engineer something this and orchestrate this level of creativity is amazing.
They had a second run last year in a bigger theater, though I think the original was perfect.
Interview with the creative team, about the style and genre —
It has already been made into a film, scheduled to be released in 2015. Several cast members are in the movie, and the same director from the musical is leading the production, so hopefully it will be good.
Another fine play. When Dan Stevens walked out all the girls gasped and started clapping, yes, of course, including me. At the intermission the ladies in the row behind me were speculating about whether he was still on the show (they hadn't shown his - Spoiler! - death yet in America) and I couldn't resist turning around and shaking my head. One lady said I'd just given them a spoiler to which I replied that if I hadn't watched ahead I would have been spoiled by their mention of - Spoiler! - Sybil's death. They apologized and I apologized and we all started laughing and promptly shut up because the second act was about to start! Hi again Matthew!
It was February and freezing; New York was in fact going to be hit by a blizzard in a couple of days. But I sped out of my seat and to the theater door line. It's so awkward to be there by yourself because who is supposed to take your photo?? Sure, you have the front-facing selfie camera on your phone but the resolution is never good. I've been beside girls before who flat out say they're too busy to take my photo with X celebrity but guys oblige. And the lovely man beside me, begrudgingly maybe, obliged. Dan out the theater door and was in front of me -- I came to watch you all the way from Manila!, I gushed. A slight exaggeration, sure, but he flashed me a gorgeous smile and I handed my phone to the contracted-guy-next-to-me for the photo. Except, damn! It was on camera! Omg, I'm so sorry Matthew Crawley! I told him to move on to the next person while I fixed the setting (ughhhh jahe) but reminded him to come back to me! And he did. Haha what a guy.
Oh the play! Yes, it was alright. Jessica was charming and I liked that the source material, despite being written in 1947!, didn't stand for his gold digging. Charming night at the theater.
A family friend was taking me around NY the last time I was there and he and his partner had been dying to see Ms. Johansson back on Broadway. They were also gushing about a scene where leading man Benjamin Walker wears only a towel. All in all, Tennessee Williams isn't my usual cup of tea but I didn't mind the idea of seeing either of those things in person.
I didn't have any strong feelings about the show, good or bad. As I said, just not my cup of tea. Scarlett was good and I enjoyed seeing Ciaran Hinds live. Hi, Julis Caesar / Mance Rayder! The plot was of course interesting but for some reason it didn't grab me. The sets were gorgeous, bright, airy and lush despite being humid and Southern. All good.
Put this on my list when it first came out finally got to see it last year! This was the first ticket I booked when I found out I was going to New York. I didn't reach the original cast but I was so excited to find out that the new Elder Price was none other than Mattchior, Matt Doyle who I saw in Spring and got the nickname after he played Melchior one night.
This show was so ridiculous and didn't take itself too seriously at all. I mean, "I have maggots in my scrotum"?! Come on! "Sal Tlay Ka Siti" was so serious and funny at the same time. And the baptism scene written like a love scene. Come annnnn. To end Act One was "Man Up", time for Elder Cunningham to step up! That song really made me cry. I loved this show so much.
Am I theater geek? Not really. I love theater, Broadway, musicals, plays. But am I a fanatic who memorizes every lyric, every show? Not really.
It was maybe easier when we were growing up - there seemed to be only the real classics to listen to over and over and seriously memorize (Here a little dip, there a little tuck...). But now that I'm older, I'm all too aware of the breathtaking shows that premiere every year, some never to become global hits.
I've caught some of those -- Behanding, Fela, Race come to mind. They'll never be the Wicked, Rent, or Les Miz, but they hold a place in my heart. They've shown me a new point of view, told me a new story, gotten me to consider something else. I've laughed, cringed, not understood, gotten excited about the student ID that gets me discounted tickets, waited in line for autographs, almost died when my Broadway and sceen idols are suddenly standing right in front of me, shamelessly ask for autographs and photos.
Over the years I've come to appreciate the smaller shows more and more. I saw Billy Elliot and was a little grossed out by how commerical it was vs the source material. The kind of show that pulls in the crowds, sure, but no longer my cup of tea. American Idiot was a gorgeous spectacle but rebellious teens, sex, drugs and rock and roll... meh. I liked Wicked the book better than the musical, and if those shows will keep my smaller shows on I'm happy they're there.
There's too much to see, so much I've missed. I watch the Tony's every year, cataloguing shows I'd like to see even if, all the way in Manila, I'll probably miss! (Oh, Starcatcher.) But every two years or so I've gotten to go back and get my fill. If my plans work out I'll get another round this year and I. can't. wait.
In the meantime, while I have a little bit of non-work time, I want to go back to the Playbills I've collected, mostly on Broadway and a couple across the pond, to work up my apetite for my theater season 2014.
I can't decide how much I liked this show. On the one hand, production value was excellent. On the other, I only understood like 40% of it. (Yes, I am a terrible Filipino. Yes, I am terrible at Filipino.) Maybe I should have invited a companion who could have acted as a handy reference for words I didn't understand.
I have, let's say, personal baggage about Noli Me Tangere. I had to take it up twice, once each in high school and college. I didn't enjoy studying it either time because, well, I didn't really enjoy anything we took up in Filipino class. And having read it 1-2 times, I really don't think it's a good book. I'm not talking context; but as a work of literature I don't know what it wants to say or do. So many characters, so many symbols, so many sub-plots. Too crazy. (Like seasons four and five of Lost?) So me disliking the content to begin with + not being able to understand the whole show makes me feel like I can't really make a judgments or comment about whether or not play's truth was well told.
I think it was Plato who said that ours is but a world of echoes, that everything in our reality only hints of another dimension where things exist in essence, in their purest form. Based on his belief, are we doomed to live our entire existence without experiencing “the real thing”? When it comes to local theater, I sometimes think this is true.
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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.
Spontaneous movie dance / song-and-dance sequences
Not counting scenes where the characters are on stage or really supposed to be performing
Desired effect: That movie life is so magical that people burst into song and start dancing when they're happy, mad or extremely emotional... and the rest of the world also knows the lyrics and dance steps and will sing and dance with you!
I was lucky to have been told by the stage door guy at the Imperial that you don't usually do the autograph line and walk away immediately. So I was well positioned to chase you down 44th St. for an autograph and a photo.
I love Rent, see. I first saw it live in a local Manila production maybe a decade ago and fell in love. I regret never watching Rent on Broadway but thank god for this digital age when theater performances can be recorded and immortalized on DVD, then get distributed worldwide via peer-to-peer sharing.
I finally got to see Rent "Live on Broadway" a few months ago. I plugged my USB into the player, sat on the floor in front of my TV and entered Alphabet City on December 24th, 9pm EST. Mark shot without a script! Then there was you, tuning the Fender guitar. And what a Roger. Words I had memorized for years felt like they were being sung for the first time.
I usually like Mark better than Roger, dorky vs brooding you know? But not your Roger. Your performance brought me to tears and made me fall in love with him, that first time and many viewings since.
Which is why I KNEW, being back in New York, that I was not going to miss Billy Elliot if it killed me. The chance to hear you in person! I won't pretend that I was / am disappointed that Tony grossly underutilizes your vocal prowess.
But it was a good show overall and now we've come full circle to post-Billy and me needing to chase Will Chase for a much-awaited encounter.
You turned around when I called, "Will Chase!" and asked for an autograph. As you signed my Playbills I told you I had seen you in Miss Saigon, Manila. Did you reply, Awesome? Then I asked if you would take a picture with me, which I told you I would be taking myself. After the click I was checking the camera and you asked, "Are we pretty?" Will Chase, you are very pretty.
I was so overjoyed by this brief encounter that I almost told the girl in line for the American Idiot lottery, where I headed after Billy, what had just happened.
But then I realized that I had forgotten to tell you something, something more important than having seen you in Miss Saigon. What I should have told you- I realize that I am a few years late with this compliment, but you are my favorite Roger.
Would that have made a difference to you to hear? Maybe not. But I would have liked to tell you that in person. After all, how often do we get to tell people that they are our favorite Phantom, Moritz or Elphaba?
So I am instead expressing this sentiment to the general digital populi. That one day you may hear of this know what I meant to say!
Would have liked to write one post per show, but I know I'll never end up posting if I wait until I feel like actually doing that. So here is a recap of all the shows I've seen on this trip so far. I used the OBSSB (Official Broadway Scoring System for Blogs) so were complicated calculations for all of these numbers! I want to see a lot more stuff so there will definitely be a Part 2!
Alan Shore in the flesh! +40
David Alan Grier +20
Robert something? +20
Kerry Washington +20
The promodizers in Times Square wearing little red sequined dresses +15
Even if they keep talking about it, the little red sequined dress never actually appears in the play! +15
The floor of the set was diagonal, actual upstage and downstage! +40
Great writing... +30
...that has to be delivered perfectly, like the lines have a rhythm +30
A handful of really racist hirits! +20
James Spader signed for autographs and posed for a picture! +40 Total: +290
Lucy Liu +40
Jeff Daniels +40
Janet McTeer +40
Dylan Baker +40
Dylan Baker's cellphone +20
Clafouti +10
Spewing puke +20
Coffee then rum +30
Jeff blows up +30
Janet blows up +30
Lucy blows up and throws tulips around the stage +30
It could be a joke, Two couples discuss a fight between their sons, one who has lost two teeth... +20
Everyone shifts teams at least twice +20
They're in one room the whole play! +10
Our unfortunate animalistic tendencies +20 Total: +410
Alfred Molina +100
Doc Ock in person! +5
Finger rubbing guy in Raiders in person! +15
Can I say Alfred Molina again? +10
Eddie Redmayne +60
Eddie Redmayne who took a photo with me after the show +20
Super harsh American accent for English Molina +5
An awesome show with just two characters +40
An awesome show that happens in just one room +40
Alfred Molina again. +25
Mark Rothko's studio +40
The flecks of red all over the stage floor +10
Pulley system to change paintings +10
Canvas priming, canvas frame-making +10
The running water +10
The painting scene +40
Depiction of Rothko's preferred lighting +10
Record player and music +10
I wish I could remember some lines to quote! Quotable lines +20
Anti-Pollock quips +10
Anti-Cubism quips +10
Anti-pop art quips +10
Not selling out! +20
Fear of being irrelevant +10
Artistic temperament +10
An artist's self-doubt +10
An artist's insane idealism +10
An artist's ego +10 Total: +570
Starpower! Catherine Zeta-Jones and Angela Lansbury in one show +70
Angela Lansbury stole the show with lines about conquests in earlier years with princes, czars, etc! +15
Catherine's stage presence and for tearing up while singing "Send In The Clowns" +10
Finally know where "Send In The Clowns" is from +5
Tickets through student discount, and eventual seating in about the 12th row +20
Good ensemble all around +20
Catherine signs autographs after the show +30
But doesn't pose for pictures -20
Show was sort of boring... -30
Super annoying actress who played young Anne -20 Total: +95
Wow where to begin?
J. Robert Spencer, who played Dan the Dad +30
Louis Hobson, super gwapo shrink, etc +20
Kyle Dean Massey, who played Gabe +30
Morgan Fahr, who played Natalie (she's the understudy but was awesome!) +35
Adam Chanler-Berat, who played cute, cute, super Jewish Henry, be perfect for me! +35
Alice Ripley oh my god! No wonder she won the Tony +60
Major plot reveal / exposition (no spoilers :) in the middle of the firs act! I did not see that coming +40
Strings and rock! +40
Band in the visible multi-layer wings +20
Three-level set with graffiti eyes, screens, stairs, etc! +30
The set has a pole that the actors swing around! +10
Lights! +20
Diana: And you're not a scary rockstar anymore! +15
Diana: Valium is my favorite color! +15
"Goodbye Henry..." (Hey #1, #2 & #3) +20
"I Am the One" +25
"I'm Alive" +25
"I Am the One" (Reprise) +20
All the other songs +100 Next was awarded the Pulitzer for Drama on the day I watched! +40
Student discount! +20
The first super contemporary musical I've seen / really liked +40
Student ticket price! +20
Anthony Rapp at the show! With picture!!! Maaaark! +30
I didn't get to watch the Gabe who was on Gossip Girl! -15
Super sikip seats... -10
Alice Ripley didn't come out for autographs -15 Total: +700 (Yes, I really liked it)
Fela! http://www.felaonbroadway.com/
Sahr Ngaujah, who played Fela +80
Sahr Ngaujah, who played Fela and played the trumpet +20
Sahr Ngaujah, who played Fela and played the trumpet, and played the sax! +25
Fela's powder blue long-sleeved button-down shirt, powder blue pants, powder blue shoes! Act I +20
Fela's pink long-sleeved button-down shirt, pink pants, pink blue shoes! Act II +20
Fela's mama +20
All the guy dancers +40
Guy who kept tapping! +20
All the girl dancers +40
Insane Afrobeat band! +40
Drums +30
All of the music! +100
No cast recording... yet -10
Fela: Welcome na da Shrine! +20
The neon pink insert in the Playbill that gave a background of Fela Kuti +20
Student ticket price! +20
Insane dance that didn't look choreographed +30
Costumes +20
Set design that extended all around the theater +40
Moving stairs, falling nets, super 3D stage design +30
Two disco balls! +20
Same theater as Spring! +10
Multimedia! Screens all over +30
Black light! +30
Audience singalong! +30
Audience dance lesson (1, 4, 9) +25
Interactive theater, the lights never went completely dark in Act I +30
Story went time warp but wasn't confusing +20
Deconstructed theater, part story, part concert +60
Everybody say YEAYEA! +40 Total: +920 (Hmm I was very generous with the points! But I really loved this. See why!)
When I was having my Playbill signed by the young actor who played Henry in Broadway's Next to Normal, which won the several Tony awards in 2009, he said it was a good day to watch.
I think this is the first musical I've seen that takes place in the present day (they even quip about Photoshop at one point), about a present-day issue. Even if RENT was pretty contemporary, the audience is removed from issues like homelessness and HIV. This was a real first for me.
Have a lot to say (as usual) about the music, score, lyrics, SET, lighting, ACTORS, etc, but for now I just want to get down that I got to see the show on an important day. Awesome.
"Schadenfreud" - I think that was my favorite song!
Wasn't planning to write anything but realized that, when it comes to Manila theater, I tend to want to write more about the shows I wasn't completely happy with. I try to find nice things to say even if I really wasn't very happy and after I click "Publish" I always wish I had just written everything I really felt.
SO. Wanted to quickly write about Avenue Q because I thought it was awesome. Like seriously, flawless and awesome! (By the way the other show I recently saw and really enjoyed but didn't get to write about was Rep's Sweeney Todd.)
This also makes me wonder if I enjoy the shows I have no prior exposure to more than those that I already love, because the expectations are naturally greater for the latter?
But everything was awesome. All of the actors were awesome - and their voices were amazing. I guess that should be sort of standard in musical theater but that sadly has not been the case in 2 of the last 4 plays I've seen - I'm talking about YOU, Wendla and Mimi!
I had no favorites because everyone was amazing. Ok just kidding, extra props to the Felix Rivera and Rachel Alejandro because they performed two major roles each. And extra extra props to Calvin Millado just because he was also Roger. No seriously, great great stuff.
I guess that this cast is also benefiting from the experience of three runs. But the play runs like a well-oiled ship. If I were Chari Arespacochaga I would be very happy to have a success on my hands after the last disaster she directed.
Haha ok it must be pretty obvious now that I have some hatred for Atlantis because of the mockery that was Spring Awakening Manila. Even if I enjoyed one out of three times I saw the show, really, they as theater professionals, lovers, veterans, should have had enough respect for the material and the art not to put on such a terrible show.
I had sort of sworn off Atlantis - what a joke given that there are only like two or three companies in Manila! - as a result of Spring, combined with the terrible Hairspray reviews. But I guess they have made me think twice with Avenue Q.
If you haven't seen this show it is an absolute and total MUST SEE:
I can't decide how much I liked this show. On the one hand, production value was excellent. On the other, I only understood like 40% of it. (Yes, I am a terrible Filipino. Yes, I am terrible at Filipino.) Maybe I should have invited a companion who could have acted as a handy reference for words I didn't understand.
You turned around when I called, "Will Chase!" and asked for an autograph. As you signed my Playbills I told you I had seen you in Miss Saigon, Manila. Did you reply, Awesome? Then I asked if you would take a picture with me, which I told you I would be taking myself. After the click I was checking the camera and you asked, "Are we pretty?" Will Chase, you are very pretty.
Race
This also makes me wonder if I enjoy the shows I have no prior exposure to more than those that I already love, because the expectations are naturally greater for the latter?
