Review of PETA's RATED PG (2010)

July 10, 2010

The first show of this year's season of the PETA is a show dedicated to the use of theater as a medium of education. "Rated PG" is a play written by Liza Magtoto, with music by Vincent de Jesus (same award-winning composer who put "Juan Tamad" into music). It is directed by Mae Quesada-Medina. This musical play is about the Filipino family, specifically the tenuous relationship of parents and children. It focused on problems of communication, on discipline and imparting lessons.

The play introduces us to the lower middle class family of enterprising Joselle (May Bayot) who has a "conveniens" (sic) store in the form of a big biyahera's bag, a store she opens at her convenience, selling bras and slippers. She has two kids: a feisty teenager Rosalie (Joan Bugcat) and a hyperactive little boy Tonton (a very cute Arthur Castro). Her hard-working husband Romy (Jack Yabut) is a deliveryman (I think). We also get to meet Joselle's mother as well her colorful neighbors. Also playing a big part is the teen gang of Rosalie (or Ozie), the Jejesters.

One day, Joselle gets an offer to work in Barcelona, Spain, and this situation sets the whole play into motion. As time constraints with her visa and working papers set in, she vents off her frustrations against her kids and husband either in straight dramatic scenes, or in seriously dramatic songs. We effectively see realistic family conflicts portrayed onstage as the script tries to touch on every major issue about family dynamics in our local setting. We see everyone doing their own things, yet these activities can result in much tension when it comes to the homefront.

Throughout the play, parents receive tips on how to deal with our kids. Listen to each other. Set and agree on a daily schedule. Discuss and explain plans and problems. Show your love. Set and obey house rules. No spanking. No cursing. No scare tactics. Be ready to say you are sorry. Set a good example. We learn these lessons in nice little song production numbers which the cast does with gusto. In its last song, this play tells us that children are already whole human beings when they were born. While we should give them the freedom to fly on their own, they also need us, our guidance and our love.

The actors who play the central family of Joselle were all pretty solid in their acting. I have heard of May Bayot before, and this is the first time I have seen her in action. She plays a very strong Joselle. I am glad that the dad Romy was not written as a useless bum, like most Filipino shows tended to portray the father character. The teenager Ozie was very realistically written and portrayed, in all her teen angst. The young kid who played Tonton was very cute and malikot. The way Ms. Bayot and company lived the roles onstage, it was like looking into a mirror at certain home situations we are all too familiar with.

The script is very sharp, yet it has the requisite humor and pop references to appeal to the younger audience. The use of a projection screen as backdrop with colorful animated images was also very imaginative. The moving set pieces which was composed of two big wooden boxes and stairs were very well used and re-arranged to represent different venues. The props were very imaginative too, like using rubber bands to represent pansit.

I do have some comment about the songs. The tunes were not really too memorable for me, but they were appropriate to the mood and story. The singing was quite uneven also. The acting was better than the singing. But more importantly, some singers were chewing the lyrics. I felt a lot of vital messages are lost to the audience if the lyrics were not enunciated very clearly, and the cast should take more care in this aspect in future stagings.

Meann Espinosa of PETA's Marketing Office is right, it is encouraged that parents watch this play with their kids. But for me, especially if the kids are already in or nearing their teens. This could effectively serve a springboard for a good family discussion about the issues brought up in the play.

I thought a lot of the play's messages may have been lost to the very young members of the audience that afternoon. The little ones were only reacting when they see the funny antics of the naughty Tonton and his playmate Macmac, as well as various displays of affection seen on stage. But the rest of the play had them quite antsy in my observation. Some were even going around, in and out of the room. The play may be quite long for very young kids (almost two hours), and it had a ten minute intermission! Not generalizing though, depends on the kid, of course.

And so, for yet another timely, educational and socially-relevant stage production, a hearty Congratulations again to PETA!

P.S.: I learned that the kids in the audience this afternoon were from neighboring Barangay Kalusugan and Kristong Hari, as well as from M.H. del Pilar Public School. I wouldn't be surprised if this was all shouldered by PETA and its sponsors, in the spirit of community service and fostering the art of theater in the young. Kudos PETA!

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The show opens on July 9, 6 p.m., at the PETA Theater Center, 5 Eymard Drive New Manila, Quezon City (behind QC Sports Club). Other performance dates are as follows: July 10, 11, 17 and 18 (10 a.m. and 3 p.m.).

For inquiries, contact PETA’s Marketing and Public Relations Office at 7256244, 4100821 to 22 or SMS 0917-8044428, e-mail petampro@yahoo.com.

Concert Recap and Videos: TEARS FOR FEARS Live in Manila (May 2, 2010)

May 3, 2010

Tears for Fears was set to perform in Manila in February 28, 2010.  I was already eagerly awaiting this much-anticipated concert since then.  The date was later moved to May 2, 2010, which was last night.  Seats for this concert were sold out several days before.  My cousin Jerry and I arrived in Cubao around 6 pm and there was already a crowd around the entrances of the Araneta Coliseum.  After a quick dinner at KFC, we immediately went back to enter the venue.

Wow, the "first come first served" areas were already practically full!  The central General Admission area (which was not utilized in the Kelly Clarkson concert the previous night) was also filled with people already.  The last time I saw the Coliseum this full was for the Lady GaGa concert.  This early in the night, it was already fulfilling its promise to be the biggest concert event of this year.

Before 8 pm, the first front act Sandwich took the stage with four songs.  This is one of the rare times that the front act already brought fans to mill around in front of the stage. This was especially true when they announced that they will have a guest "classmate" for their last number -- which turned out to be the great Ely Buendia!  He sang "Alapaap" of the Eraserheads.  Fantastic!  Too bad my camera was not ready yet at that time.  Mr. Buendia then took on his other persona as lead singer of the band Pupil, the second front act.  They sang "Disconnection Notice" and three more unfamiliar songs.  But people were definitely riveted to this Filipino rock icon.

During the lull before the concert proper, every possible space in the Coliseum was fully occupied.  The Gen Ad and the Upper Box areas were filled up up to the edges beside the stage.  Standing room already!  The moment the stage light dimmed and strains of "Mad World" started, there was pandemonium!  There they were, Curt Smith and Roland Orzabal in the flesh on stage!  They immediately sang "Everybody Wants to Rule the World" to start things up and everyone was out of their seats, singing along and dancing!

This wild phenomenon would happen every time they would sing a hit, like "Sowing the Seeds of Love", then "Mad World", "Pale Shelter", "Break It Down Again" and the last song of their regular set, "Head Over Heels".  You practically do not hear Curt and Roland sing anymore, only the voices of the Filipino audience heartily singing along with them on these well-loved songs. 

Roland unexpectedly sang an emo-style cover version of Michael Jackson's "Billie Jean".  Admittedly, there was a rather long stretch in the middle of the show when they sang about five or even six unfamiliar songs in a row like "Closest Thing to Heaven" (VIDEO), which was a bit boring.  However the energy level of the audience remained on the up as their applause was more than polite even in these numbers.

After "Head Over Heels" and the band left the stage, the audience did not sit down anymore.  They continually clapped and shouted for more, more, more!  After a few minutes of this, they re-entered the stage to thunderous applause and hooting.  Roland was telling us that their next song was "Woman in Chains", but we were puzzled because they had no female backup singer. Turned out that the Oleta Adams part was to be sung by their bald MALE back-up singer Micheal Wainwright, who looked like Phil Collins! 

After that, they finally closed their show with their other Number 1 hit, "Shout", and people were singing along like there's no tomorrow.  And then that was it, the loudest and best-selling concert of the year was over.  People were all stunned and did not file out at once, hoping that they would still come out to play "Change" or "Mothers Talk", but that was not to be.  It was truly over.

Before going out, we looked at the merchandise in the lobby, and they were selling autographed posters of Curt and Roland.  These were at a hefty P1,800 apiece and there were actually people buying them!  Even the tour t-shirts were at P1,800 each, and I thought the P1,000 Kelly Clarkson t-shirts the other night was already exorbitant.  Haha!  This was really a concert to remember.  Talk of a return engagement in response to the massive clamor are already out there.