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Review of TP's KATSURI: Drama of the Downtrodden
October 5, 2019"Katsuri" is a Hiligaynon word for "shrew." That is the title Ms. Bibeth Orteza chose to give her modernized Filipino adaptation of John Steinbeck's classic, "Of Mice and Men." For her,...
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Review of Rep's THE QUEST FOR THE ADARNA: Enjoying an Ethnic Epic
October 12, 2019King Fernando and his wife Queen Valeriana ruled the Kingdom of Berbania. They have 3 sons: Don Pedro, Don Diego and Don Juan. One night, King Fernando had a nightmare of Don Juan being...
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Review of Atlantis' SWEENEY TODD: Singularly Stunning Style
October 20, 1019I had known the music and songs of Stephen Sondheim's 1979 Tony and Olivier Award winning musical "Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street" since the 1980s since I was lent a...
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Review of Artist Playground's NAKAKAPAGPABAGABAG: Disturbing Desperation
October 26, 2019Artist Playground had Grade 12 students under their wing from the College of the Holy Spirit who chose the Arts and Design track for their senior high school. Instead of merely asking...
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Review of DUP's FUENTE OVEJUNA: Rustic Revolution
November 10, 2019For its second offering in its current 44th theater season, Dulaang UP chose to present Spanish playwright Lope de Vega's 1619 play "Fuente Ovejuna," in keeping with the theme of this...
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Review of Tanghalang Ateneo's ANTIGONE: The People Prosecutes
November 17, 2019"Antigone" is a Greek tragedy by Sophocles written more than 500 years before Christ. It is about an act of civil disobedience by a girl who dared to willfully defy a law set by the...
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Review of TP's LAM-ANG: Ethno-Epic Extravaganza
December 14, 2019I definitely knew the name of Lam-Ang, the central character of an pre-Hispanic Ilocano epic, since my high school days. It is acknowledged to be the oldest among the folk epics of...
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My Yearend Roundup: THE BEST OF PHILIPPINE THEATER 2019
December 24, 2019For the year 2019, I had seen and written about 44 theater productions: 13 musicals, 18 full-length plays, and 15 one-act plays. Not included in these citations were the numerous...
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Review of PETA's UNDER MY SKIN: Horizons of HIV
February 8, 2020The scourge of HIV-AIDS in the Philippines is still growing leaps and bounds even now. The present statistics are alarming, adding a staggering 36 new HIV patients a day in 2019. This...
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Review of Rep's STAGE KISS: Acting Actualized
February 10, 2020For its first show of their 83rd season, Repertory Philippines chose to stage a play by Sarah Ruhl, one of the most prolific American playwrights in this new century. In 2017, there...
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Review of Black Box's DEKADA '70: Filipino Family in Furious Flux
February 22, 2020The title "Dekada '70" is a popular Palanca Award-winning literary classic by Luwalhati Bautista first published in 1983, recognized for its brave political and feministic stand. It...
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Review of Trumpets' JOSEPH THE DREAMER: A Favorite's Fortune
February 23, 2020I had heard of a show called "Joseph the Dreamer" as the local version of the biblical story of Joseph, son of Jacob. This was an original musical born out of Filipino talent written...
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Review of TP's BATANG MUJAHIDEEN: Manipulating Minors
February 29, 2020In March of the year 2000, Abu Sayyaf rebels led by Ustadz Janjalani and Abu Sabaya held hostage all the Christian staff and students of Claret School in Tumahubong village in Basilan...
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Review of Blue Rep's NEXT TO NORMAL: Breakable Bipolarism
March 7, 2020This is the third time I had seen "Next to Normal" (music by Tom Kitt, book and lyrics by Brian Yorkey). In 2010, my wife and I were able to catch it at Booth Theater on Broadway,...
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Review of Kapamilya Theater's TABING-ILOG the Musical: Troubled Teenagers
March 8, 2020The original "Tabing Ilog" was a popular teen-oriented tv series on ABS-CBN that ran from four years, from 1999 to 2003. This show, most probably inspired by its American contemporary...
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Review of Rep's ANNA IN THE TROPICS: Smoky and Steamy
April 28, 2020Cuban-American playwright Nilo Cruz's Pulitzer Prize-winning play "Anna in the Tropics" is the second offering of Repertory Philippines for their current season. It was supposed to run...
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Review of VIRGIN LABFEST XVI - SET A: Arguing for Acceptance
June 12, 2020Virgin Labfest XVI, with its timely theme "KAPIT" under new festival director JK Anicoche, will go down VLF history as the year this festival of one-act plays had to resort to being...
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Review of VIRGIN LABFEST XVI - SET B: GIN BILOG, MAYANG BUBOT, BOYBOY:...
June 13, 2020GIN BILOGWritten by Luisito NarioDirected by James Harvey EstradaBrothers-in-law Entong (Rhon Kenneth Mercado) and Dune (Buboy Villar) were having one of their regular drinking session...
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Review of VIRGIN LABFEST XVI - SET C: PAPAANO TURUAN and PILOT EPISODE:...
June 13, 2020PAPAANO TURUAN ANG BABAE HUMAWAK NG BARILWritten by Daryl PasionDirected by Erika EstacioOka was a jobless farmer forced by financial circumstance to join the CAFGU, a paramilitary group...
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Review of VIRGIN LABFEST XVI - SET D: DAPITHAPON, MULTIVERSE: Fraternal Focus
June 14, 2020DAPITHAPONWritten by: Jay Crisostomo IVDirected by: Sig PechoAfter their final day of high school, Dennis (Khayl Sison) and Yanni (Quiel Andrew Quiwa) meet at their close friend Chippy's...
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