Over at the Rep’s Globe Theater Onstage in Greenbelt 1, the lovable puppet from the land of lasagna comes to life again, and this time around, he sings and dances, too, in Rep’s Children’s Theater’s musical production of Pinocchio. Based on the book by Carlo Collodi, the musical has lyrics by Jim Eiler and music by Eiler and Jeanne Bargy.
Director Joy Virata, choreographer Jaime del Prado, costume designers Liz and Benny Batoctoy, the rest of the artistic and production staff and the cast conjured the magical country of Pinocchio, much to the delight of the students and teachers who filled the theater to the rafters on a wet Sunday afternoon.
The tale of Pinocchio (Rem Zamora) is told by Antonio (Arnel Carrion). Geppetto (Bonggoy Manahan) and his housekeeper Angelina (Myrene Hernandez) are astonished no end when the life-sized masterpiece of the puppet-maker comes to life, a gift to the ageing childless toymaker from the Blue Fairy (Crisel Consunji). The villagers rejoice over his good fortune: The Balloon Seller (Wendell Frando), the Organ Grinder (Vonn Lomarda), the Pizza Maker (Alex Dagalea), the Candle Wick (Mackee Serra) and the rest of the local folk sing and dance in the village square.
Trouble brews for Pinocchio before the end of the first half of the show. He is unhappy at school where his schoolmates poke fun at him. On his way home he is waylaid by two wayward ragamuffins who cajole him to go with them to the Land of the Toys to which domain the sinister Coachman (Meynard Peñalosa) spirits the youngsters.
Antonio enjoins the audience to help Geppetto look for his son as the hall is lighted up for intermission.
In the second half of the show, Rep’s wonderworkers recreate the Land of the Toys with oversized dancing figures of Pierrot, Strawpeter, Dancing Bear, the Tin Soldier, Rolly Polly, Punch and Judy. Pinocchio and his two companions are transformed into donkeys. His odyssey continues when on a desolate roadside on a wintry night, his father who does not recognize him, gives him his cloak to protect him from the cold. Restored to his real form by the Blue Fairy, he encounters a couple of highwaymen, Signore Volpone, the Fox (Niccolo Manahan) and Signore Gatto, the Cat (Jejie Esguerra). When he is swallowed up by a whale, he is finally reunited with his father inside the leviathan’s belly. How father and son are sneezed out of the sea monster’s tummy, how they get home again and how Pinocchio finally becomes a real boy bring this children’s play to its happy end.
The songs are delightfully tuneful. They have even interpolated the beautiful Neapolitan folk song Santa Lucia into the play.
Who says children’s theater is only for children? Even the oldest fogey prick their ears in glee when they listen to a tale well told.
When beginnings are not tentative but firm and secure, then one can expect fine things to follow. Much can be expected then of the 2004 Filipino Artists Series when mezzo-soprano Grace Chan graces its initial recital, and of the forthcoming concert season of the Philippine Philharmonic Orchestra under its new conductor, Maestro Eugene Castillo, after they acquitted themselves splendidly in the special Maestro Filipino presentation, Da Capo.
That amazing Grace opens her recital at the CCP Little Theater with the Prayer for Peace of St. Francis of Assisi is appropriate and timely at a time when threats of terrorist attacks cannot be taken lightly. What O. Dungan’s musical setting wants in melodic appeal, Grace compensates for in the earnest flow of her account.
In the German lieder and French melodies, the singer delivers each art song with sentiment and sensibility attuned to the particular nuances of each – from the depth of Schumann’s passion for his beloved Clara in Widmung to the irony of R. Strauss’ Zueignung to the joyous faith of Brahms’ Wenn ich mit Menschen Jucche!; from the serenity of Duparc’s Chanson Triste to the Venetian festive spirit of Faure’s Mandoline and to the grotesque outburst of Saint Saens’ Danse Macabre. One could wish that Grace had chosen some other song by Rachmaninoff such as Oh, Sing not to Me the Songs of Grusha or Vocalise rather than the piece she presented.
One need not wonder that the Philippine-born singer from Canada could present a creditable account of the songs by San Pedro, Cuenco and Simon. She is still at heart a Filipina.
But for a song cycle by Turina, the last numbers of her recital are arias from Bizet’s Carmen, Puccini’s Gianni Schicchi, Giordano’s Andrea Chénier and Verdi’s La Forza del Destino. She concluded her recital with another plea for peace, "Pace, pace mio Dio."
Najib Ismail assisted on the piano.
Grace received a standing ovation. She deserved no less.
To celebrate the golden anniversary of 98.7 DZFE-FM "The Master’s Touch," the Far East Broadcasting Company Philippines and the CCP, in cooperation with Smart, presented the PPO under the baton of Maestro Castillo in a concert that featured short pieces by Filipino composers and symphonies by Beethoven and Russian composer Vasili Sergeivich Kalinnikov.
Beethoven’s Symphony No. 8 in F Major, Op. 93 opened the evening in high spirits. Framed by the Seventh, "the apotheosis of the dance," and the Ninth, the "Ode to Joy," this opus – if one may be so bold – is the quintessence of mirth. Its clear skies are blemished by no cloud, as such is it painted by the Maestro and his ensemble.
The songs by Filipino composers, rendered with radiance by soprano Aileen Espinosa-Cura also shine with high spirits, with the exception of one or two. San Pedro’s Diwata ng Pag-ibig and De Leon’s Ganyan ang Pagsinta were rendered by Aileen and the orchestra with Maestro Cecinio Ronquillo on the podium with particular brilliance.
Youth, a tone poem by Col. Antonino Buenaventura, is a homage to "the hope of the Motherland". It was composed for the inauguration of Philippine Independence in 1946.
The climactic number of the concert is Kalinnikov’s Symphony No. 1 in G minor. Conceived in the nationalistic Romanticism of the late 19th century, the symphony evokes images of old Russia though the work is not really programmatic. Bittersweet in the Slavic temperament, it is rich in melodic material much of it of folk origin. The last movement is a summing up of the themes from the first three.
Maestro Castillo tempered the sentimentality of parts of the score – one suspects – with a deliberate prosaic reading of those parts to secure a delicate balance. Whatever some may think, Kalinnikov’s symphony is simply beautiful. If one does not get to listen to it again in the concert hall in these parts, try 98.7 DZFE-FM "The Master’s Touch."
This is not what terrorists would like to hear on the radio. It is not the sound of bomb explosions.
But for now, as Pinocchio and his pasta-eating folks would say: Arrivederci!