Portraits of the Filipino in the performing arts

Say what you will about the Pinoy – that he throws his garbage into the neighbor’s backyard; that he is indolent which is the reason why he is typified by Juan Tamad; that he does not wash his hands after peeing; that he cheats all the way from the card table to the national elections; that he will not admit to any wrongdoing but instead casts aspersions on his cousin; that he will not admit to losing in an election but insist that he has been cheated by his opponent; and if by chance he is caught by the law and cast into the pit, he’ll drag down everyone else with him to keep him company in his misery.

Fortunately, there are exceptions to this indictment. When the Filipino is good, as he often is in the performing arts, he can be great. Three recent productions – two stage plays and a concert prove this judgment.

UP Playwrights’ Theater released a barrelful of laughing gas with its production of Komedi, a trilogy of one-acters by award-winning author Nicholas Pichay.

Ang Maikling Kasaysayan ng Punerarya sa Pilipinas unveils the saga of Martial Aloysius (Ricci Chan), space gay cum beauty queen from Zega, a dying planet, who is on a quest for an energy source to revive his world. He crash-lands on a mountain of garbage in the Philippines, where else? Chan is a one-man riot as he lets fly his monologue in gay lingo, sashaying his way from one nasty allusion to the next with the ease of a trapeze artist. The barb of its satire never misses one’s funny bone with the force of a superlolo from his space gun. The targets range from call centers to fast food hamburger wrappers to the florists of Dangwa. Pichay’s comic casket carries all the spices of low comedy including foul language, sexual allusions, puns and slapstick to make certain the audience gets a bellyache.

Satire takes on a political color in Pangulo Naming Mahal. When Pare (Richard de Guzman) and Mare (Eugene Domingo; alternate: Divina Cavestany) hatch a plot about getting rich the easy way. He pimps for his wife and he has no better customer than an old buddy who has amassed billions from jueteng. She is reluctant because he has "a fat belly and waddles like a penguin," but what impoverished female with a taste for luxury will refuse a gigolo, a former matinee idol and is currently the President of the Republic of the Philippines – and this with her husband’s consent?

And the third segment of Komedi, Psychedelia Apocalypsis fries on the comic pan the hides of Joe (John Frederick Cruz; alternate: Richard Cunanan), an American involved in the filming of Francis Ford Coppola’s Apocalypse Now, Kim, his girlfriend (Cherry Mae Canton; alternate: Mary Liza Diño), Ka Roger, the rebel spokesman (Ronan Capinding), and Muslim cohort Dingdong (Brian Arda; alternate: Faust Peneyra), the old-timer Impong Negro (Jacques Borlaza; alternate: Jhiedon Florentino), film crew members, Easter Bunnies, etc. all sizzling in their own lard, lost in the realm of drugs or in their absurd fantasies.

Tony Mabesa’s deft direction with the help of the artistic and technical staff released in full the trilogy’s laughing gas.

Over at Tanghalang Huseng Batute, the CCP and the Philippine-Italian Association sponsored Tanghalang Pilipino’s production of Jerry Respeto’s adaptation in Pilipino of Luigi Pirandello’s It is So! (If You Think So) – ’Yun Na Nga! (Kung ‘Yun Na Nga).

The direction by Herbert Go focuses more on the satire and parabolic message of the play rather than on its philosophical view on Pirandello’s concept of relativism. State Go and Victor Villareal in their directorial notes: "All wrapped in elegantly flamboyant plastic couture and de-glamorized by false hair, false teeth and false eyelashes, the biglang-yaman signori e signora, boldly strut their stuff to tastelessly flaunt their shimmering assets, desperately keeping their poise to a paean of Baroque-inspired Beatles music. Amid the festive meriendas, their unquenchable thirst for gossip escalates into a devilish intrusion as they pry deeper into the lives of a curious family, in their search for truth – La Verita."

When his village is ravaged by an earthquake, Signor Ponza (Johann de Guzman) evacuates to another town with his wife, daughter and mother-in-law. Here they become the subject of gossip by the townspeople who seem never to tire prying into their private life, except Lamberto Laudisi (Mario O’Hara). Laudisi who may well be the playwright’s alter ego, watches with detached amusement as the intrusion of his neighbors into the affairs of the Ponzas escalates into a mean plot to dishonor them. Conflicting tales are told. Rumors of all sorts. Which one is telling the truth about the Ponzas? Can everyone be really telling the truth as he perceives it?

The rest of the cast includes Paolo O’Hara, Tess Jamias, Diana Malahay, Mayen Estañero/ Catherine Racsag, Sigrid Bernardo, Sonia Mirabueno, Ephraim Avanzado/ Edralin Cabrera and others.

When one leaves the theater, he is plagued by a question: Would Pirandello have been pleased if his play on the relative nature of truth is staged as a farce? It is easy to imagine him saying: "It is a farce if you think it is a farce!"

At the Main Theater of the CCP, PPO Concert Series VI: Picturesque Philippines: Mostly Music before World War II presented the country’s premiere orchestra led by conductor laureate Oscar C. Yatco and featuring pianist Reynaldo Reyes in an evening of music by Filipino composers.

This concert is a survey of Philippine music from the beginning of the 20th century to the outbreak of the Second World War.

No Filipino composition is more familiar and more often sung than the National Anthem but few know the name of its composer Julian Felipe and the circumstances that inspired him to compose the work originally titled Marcha Nacional Filipinas in 1904.

Juan Nakpil’s Pahimakas and Antonio Molina’s Hatinggabi reflected the music idiom of their time, which focused on emotion and melody. These two works along with the next piece, Nicanor Abelardo’s Cinderella Overture, evinced the influence of the European Romantic spirit. The influence of Italian opera on vocal music was represented by Jose Estella’s Ang Maya sung with joyful abandon by soprano Joan Cano whose delivery of coloratura bird-like embellishments echoed the style of bel-canto popularized by Rossini, Bellini and Donizetti. The works of these composers were presented by touring Italian opera companies at the old Manila Grand Opera House.

The influence of ethnic tradition from the Muslim South graced the color of Ramon Tapales’ Mindanao Orchids and the folk influence of the North blended with the composer’s very personal idiom in Angel Peña’s Igorot Rhapsody for Symphony Orchestra. Antonio Buenaventura’s By the Hillside was a tonal painting of an Angono landscape in the same tradition as the canvasses of "Botong" Francisco.

In the art of song, our tropical sunrise was painted by Francisco Santiago’s Madaling Araw, which was rendered most soulfully by tenor Andrei Jose.

These works were annotated by Reyes before they were interpreted by the PPO and its magisterial conductor laureate. Reyes also essayed the solo part in the two centerpieces of the evening – Francisco Buencamino, Sr.’s Mayon and Rodolfo Cornejo’s Concerto for Piano no.1 in D minor.

The collaboration between Maestro Yatco and the venerable keyboard virtuoso could not be anything but absolutely awesome and merited a spontaneous standing ovation from an enthralled audience.

When we recoil from the Pinoy at his worst, recall the Filipino performing artist at his best and raise our heads up high.

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For comments, reactions, and invitations, send e-mail to jessqcruz@hotmail.com.