Of something old, something new

Just as the political pot began to boil in anticipation of the coming elections, the cultural cauldron bubbled and brimmed over. Bomb threat or no bomb threat, blasts those terrorists – Manila’s culture-vultures would have their feast, and in late February and early March they had it, too, in abundance.

A cornucopia of musical delights was what the University of Santo Tomas Conservatory of Music and its alumni association served at the Cultural Center of the Philippines in a grand concert billed as Sampung Mga Daliri, Atbp.

The musical bacchanal engaged the talents of eight ensembles (UST Symphony Orchestra, UST Symphony Band, Guitar Ensemble, Conservatory of Music Rondalla, Percussion Ensemble, Jazz Band, Brass Quintet and Percussion and Conservatory of Music Chorus), 10 alumni pianists, 20 faculty pianists, 20 student pianists, vocal soloists (Rachelle Gerodias, Nenen Espina-Alfornon, Jose Randy Gilongo and Andrew Fernando), and seven conductors (Renato Lucas, Ricardo Calubayan, Arnel Feliciano, Rodel Colmenar, Frenvee Andra, Ricardo Mazo, and Herminigildo Ranera).

The titanic event opened with Beethoven’s Prometheus Overture and concluded with the same composer’s Finale to his Ninth Symphony, which employed Herculean vocal and orchestral forces to raise Schiller’s Ode to Joy to storm the ramparts of heaven with sheer volume.

The climax of this 20th anniversary of the launching of this celebration by the late National Artist Ernani Cuenco might not have been the finale of the Ninth. The evening might be remembered in years to come for that instant when the venerable faculty of the Conservatory of Music let their pants down, went slumming and served current pop hits Mister Suave, the Sex Bomb Dancers’ Ispageti Song and Ocho-Ocho. For the prudes in the CCP Main Theater who could not get into the spirit of the fun, they should take the cue from the master and simply turn a deaf ear.

Two nights before in the same venue, Sinag Tala and John Paul II International Center for Family and Communication presented Hope: The Message of the Third Millennium, a concert featuring blind tenor and pianist Carlos Alberto Ibay.

Child prodigies are a dime a dozen, but Chuckie is one of a kind. Not only is he accomplished as a pianist – at the age of 12, he won first place at the Peabody Conservatory Spring Festival and second place in the Steinway Piano Scholarship Competition of the Mid-Atlantic and the Merlin-Engle Piano Competition at the Levine School of Music – but he is a gifted tenor as well. His solo recital displayed his gifts in full measure, much to the astonishment of the audience who filled the hall.

Chuckie breezed with ease through the pieces by Mozart and Chopin but he reserved his power of expression for Liszt’s Hungarian Dance, which he unleashed with a dazzling display of pyrotechnics that was absolutely awesome.

The second half of Chuckie’s recital showcased his voice, an instrument that was classified in his press releases as a bel canto tenor but actually sounded in performance like a baritone.

He essayed old favorites of yesteryears, like With a Song in My Heart and Because, Filipino ditties by Celerio sung with a Yankee twang and songs in Spanish and Italian, all of which did not fail to touch the heart.

He obliged the clamor of his audience for encores with Lullaby of Broadway, New York, New York, and finally Schubert’s Ave Maria as though to remind everyone that this recital would benefit the Episcopal Commission on Family and Life, The Millennium Saint Foundation Inc., and The Springs of Carmel Inc.

At 24, Carlos Alberto Ibay has scaled the heights that other musicians twice his age have barely reached. Somebody up there serves as his all-seeing-dog.

It was a full house at Tanghalang Huseng Batute when Steven Patrick Fernandez, the theatrical wizard from MSU-Iligan Institute of Technology, staged the production of Integrated Performing Arts Guild’s MingMing, a drama depicting the clash of values among three generations of a family fighting for political survival.

Playwright-director Fernandez, weaving an intricate mat of theater craft, wove into his fabric the warp of myth and the woof of the real world, mixing realism and surrealism with minimalism, and the past, this life and the afterlife.

The cast – Elaine Macamay (MingMing), Jean Graciela Peñola (R, the mother), Venus Tan (I, the grandmother) and Al Fay Vintola (P, the uncle) – delivered a solid performance.

There is a need for enterprising experimental theater companies to stage fresh local and foreign plays to keep the theater from stagnation. Will Mindanao show Manila the way?

Something new, something old may not only relate to presents in a bridal shower but it definitely describes Tanghalang Pilipino’s production of Hudhud: An Ifugao Romance. Old is the pre-Spanish epic from the builders of the Rice Terraces. New is the fusion of chants, dance, music and theater. New is the combined vision of artists in the performing arts who have applied their respective talents to resurrect the ancient tale on the stage.

Pour into the vat of this production the music of Chino Toledo, the choreography of Agnes Locsin, the translation of the epic by Romulo Baquiran Jr., and the consultation on this oral heritage with Manuel Dulawan, the set design by Kidlat Tahimik and Eric Cruz, the lighting design by Monino Duque and Ian Torqueza and the consultation of the costume design with Ramon Obusan and what have we got but a spectacle of a show that fuses the finest in contemporary stagecraft with an ancient epic that has been declared by Unesco as "one of the 19 masterpieces of oral and intangible heritage of humanity."

Once again Bugan is courted by Aliguyon according to tribal custom. Once again the hero fights a duel with Pumbakhayon to prove his prowess as a great warrior – on the stage of the Little Theater in TP’s grand production.

The 29th International Bamboo Organ Festival in Las Piñas held many attractions, including the participation of Oscar Yatco and Nena del Rosario-Villanueva. Artistic director Della G. Besa prepared an impressive program that leaned heavily toward chamber music and, of course, the rich literature for the organ. This writer is sorry to have missed all the concerts but one – Voices in Chamber Ensemble.

Two duets by Schumann were rendered by tenor Jose Randy Gilongo and baritone Andrew Fernando and two numbers by Brahms were sung by soprano Rachelle Gerodias and mezzo Janet Aracama.

The more entrancing moments of the evening came in the second half of the evening – Giulietta’s Barcarolle from Offenbach’s Tales of Hoffman, the Nadir-Zurga duet from Bizet’s The Pearl Fishers, the quartet from Verdi’s Rigoletto, the Rossini songs, most especially the hilarious Cat Duet – the one Italian song that needs no translation into English. Janet and Fernando made the strongest impression during the concert. Najib Ismail assisted on the keyboard.

In the years to come, Besa needs to invite more foreign artists to Las Piñas so that the festival truly merits the word "international."

Concluding the 28th theater season of Dulaang UP was a production of Eugene O’Neill’s The Iceman Cometh at the Wilfrido Ma. Guerrero Theater.

This drama delves into the existence of the denizens of a saloon in New York’s Bowery run by Harry Hope (Edwin Decenteceo). Here are gathered the dregs of humanity, men and women boozing life away in drunken stupor, dreaming their pipe dreams.

Among this human wrecks are ex-anarchists (Ebong Joson, Lex Marcos and Spanky Manikan), veterans of the Boer War (Fonz Deza and Allan Palileo), a circus performer (Alex Cortez), a former police officer (Gamaliel Viray), a former captain of the British infantry (Manuel Aquino), a one-time owner of a Negro gambling house (Jacques Borlaza), a Harvard law school alumnus (André Tiangco), the bartenders (Don Karingal and Richard de Guzman) and a trio of tarts (Chol del Corro, Stella Cañete and Imma Matudio).

Into this unholy congregation walks in Theodore "Hickey" Hickman (Richard Cunanan) with a mission of hope for their salvation from the doldrums of their existence. Can a wife-killer perform a miracle?

This drama is conceived in a metaphysical naturalism that encapsulates and examines a section of American life in the early years of the 20th century – what passes for life, that is, among the drunken derelicts in the waterfront, the sorry state of things that later brought on the era of the Prohibition and the rise of Alcoholics Anonymous societies throughout the country.

The Iceman Cometh was also staged in a Filipino translation by Jerry Respeto and Jon Lazam, Pagdating ng Daluyong.

Tony Mabesa’s insightful and magisterial direction did not make this masterpiece seem to have run for three hours. This writer congratulates Tony on his 50th year as theater director.

O’Neill once stated: "A work of art is always happy; all else is unhappy."

And this moonlighter wishes to add: "Art is never old; it is forever new." For comments, write to jessqcruz@hotmail.com.