Review of PhilStagers' OBRA NI JUAN: Perturbed Patriotic Prodigy
August 5, 2017The PhilStagers newest musical play once again returns to the late 19th century to tell the story of the Philippine Revolution from the point of view of another one of its heroic...
View ArticleReview of PETA's TAGU-TAGUAN NASAAN ANG BUWAN?: Charm of our Childhood
August 26, 2017PETA has always been known for its outstanding theater shows for children, like "Mga Kuwento ni Lola Basyang" and "Ang Post Office." This year, on its Golden anniversary, PETA once again...
View ArticleRecapping GAME OF THRONES Season 7: Reunions and Revelations
August 28, 2017Needless to say, this recap has MAJOR SPOILERS. Read only after watching the whole Season 7. This Season 7 of Game of Thrones that just concluded this morning was the most controversial...
View ArticleReview of TP's AURELIO SEDISYOSO: Parsing a Patriotic Playwright
September 1, 2017This new musical play from Tanghalang Pilipino "Aurelio Sedisyoso" (literally, "Aurelio the Seditionist") is dubbed a "rock sarswela" about a heroic intellectual artist whom not...
View ArticleReview of The Necessary Theater's BLACKBIRD: Payback for a Predator
September 3, 2017Founded in September 1992, Actor's Actors Inc. (a local theater company born out of the combined talents of Roselyn Perez, Dodo Lim, Jaime del Mundo, Cita Astals, Bart Guingona, Menchu...
View ArticleReview of UPPT's MGA AMA, MGA ANAK: Painful Patrimony
September 9, 2017I got off work a little late this afternoon. I reached the Wilfrido Ma. Guerrero Theater a little past 3 pm already, and the play had already started. I was standing at the back first,...
View ArticleReview of Grand Leisure Corp.'s MAYNILA SA MGA KUKO NG LIWANAG: THE MUSICAL:...
September 30, 2017I had seen the classic Lino Brocka film of the same title before, which was based on a novel by Edgardo Reyes. I recall it to be a bleak and gritty drama starring Bembol Roco and...
View ArticleReview of TP's ANG PAG-UUSIG: Persecutory Paranoia
September 30, 2017"Ang Pag-uusig" is the Filipino translation of the classic 1953 Arthur Miller play entitled "The Crucible." We usually know the word "crucible" to mean a vessel used in conditions of...
View ArticleReview of THE SOUND OF MUSIC: Warm, Winning and Worthy
October 5, 2017I first knew of Rodgers and Hammerstein's "The Sound of Music" the 1965 movie starring Julie Andrews and Christopher Plummer. I believe it is the first live-action movie I had ever seen...
View ArticleReview of Artist Playground's FLY ME TO THE MOON: Dark, Downbeat and Daring
October 8, 2017Last year, Artist Playground presented Rody Vera's "Happiness is a Pearl" (MY REVIEW) at their Little Room Upstairs. This was a Japanese-themed play about what a person would do for...
View ArticleReview of Art Theater Manila's SAKUNTALA: Fierce, Flashy and Fervent
October 13, 2017I did not hear anything about this new theater company nor their maiden production at all, by any media. Then suddenly last week, there came the rave reviews from those who saw the play...
View ArticleReview of Red Lantern's SOLO PARA ADULTOS: Daring, Diverting, but Drawn-Out
October 21, 2017While I had watched a number of theater productions with sensitive themes, even plays with nudity, I had actually never seen an original local play that billed itself as a sex comedy. I...
View ArticleRecap of PETA's FESTIVAL OF WINDOWS: HALF OF THE SKY: Working for Women's...
October 26, 2017One of the centerpiece activities for its 50th foundation anniversary this year is this five-day international celebration of People's Theater for Development dubbed "FESTIVAL OF...
View ArticleReview of Theater Titas' WHAT'S IN THE DARK?: Trials of Trust
October 28, 2017I was looking for a show to watch on the evening of Saturday October 28. I chanced upon an advertisement on FB about this Halloween-themed play by a new theater production company...
View ArticleReview of Full House/RWM's CHITTY CHITTY BANG BANG: Musical Mechanical Magic
October 30, 2017Aside from "The Sound of Music," another movie that was constantly played and replayed in our house during my childhood was "Chitty Chitty Bang Bang" (1968) We also had the original...
View ArticleReview of Atlantis' MATILDA the MUSICAL: Extraordinary Endearing Esang
November 12, 2017I first heard of "Matilda" as a 1996 film based on a 1988 Roald Dahl book. This starred Mara Wilson in the title role and Danny de Vito (who also directed) as her father, Harry...
View ArticleReview of Dulaang UP's BAGONG CRISTO: Welfare for the Workers!
November 12, 2017The theme of this 42nd Theater Season of Dulaang UP is "Honoring Defiance." With this 1907 play by the controversial writer Aurelio Tolentino, things simply do not get any more...
View ArticleReview of Rep Phils' HAIR: Hallucinating Hippies
November 17, 2017For their final show on their 50th anniversary, Repertory Philippines chose to stage a Broadway play that was also celebrating its 50th anniversary this year -- "Hair". This musical...
View ArticleReview of PETA's ANG BUHAY NI GALILEO (2017): Suppressing Science and Society
November 29, 2017The Rajah Sulayman Theater in Fort Santiago was especially designed to be the venue for the plays of PETA since its birth in 1967 to the 1990s. This year, on the occasion of its 50th...
View ArticleBILLBOARD HOT 100 HITS OF 2016!
December 14, 2017This is a very belated post as this list was published on December 8, calculated with data from December 5, 2015 to November 26, 2016. I was about to post the Billboard Year-end Hot...
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