Fly with Peter Pan! / Read ‘Fabian de la Rosa’

For Hong Kong’s young executive producer-director Matthew Gregory to have thought of recreating and turning J.M. Barrie’s play into an entirely new musical, to have convinced top composer Karl Jenkins to provide the music and playwright Ben Munroe to write the script – this hews close to the basic story – and to have gathered a slew of artists to mount the musical with a huge cast of singers-dancers-actors (both children and adults) – all these seem like a fairytale. With a generous sprinkling of fairy dust, of course.

The vast, collective enterprise currently being staged at the CCP main theater until February is marvelous, enthralling, spectacular, a presentation which leads both the young and the young-at-heart to suspend disbelief and put their trust in fairies.

The youngsters onstage, bless them, romp and skipping about, speak, sing and dance with enviable energy, putting their hearts and souls wholly into the musical as only youngsters can.

The giant sets created with highly fanciful imagination, the ravishing fairy costumes, the zestful singing, dancing and emoting, and above all, the heart-stopping spectacle of Peter Pan (Michael Lin, with Ryuturo Yamagita as alternate) flying through the air with his friends – all these transport the audience to Neverland, with exciting stops at Skull Park, Cannibal Cove, Home Underground, etc., each with its own vibrant ambiance distinct from reality.

As in fairytales, good is good and evil is evil; there is nothing in-between. Peter Pan and the Lost Boys and Girls (the good) battle Captain Hook and his pirates (the evil) and in the end, as in every fairytale, the good triumphs.

The riveting lyrical, infectious music and songs of Karl Jenkins and our own Ameur Calderon throb with life. Our own choreographer, too, Kitty Aguila-Cortes, deftly combines classic, modern, street and acrobatic dancing, closely integrating it with the singing and acting, while accentuating these considerably. The remarkable integration renders the show absorbing and compelling.

The musical reaches a stirring climax as Captain Hook (Scott Sauer) and his pirates briskly and powerfully act and dance out their roles, infusing the fantasy with an irresistibly charming picaresque quality. The battle scenes choreographed by Calderon lead the audience earnestly rooting for the youngsters as they fiercely cross swords with the villainous pirates.

Ben Munroe’s thoroughly engaging and imaginative script captures the spirit of the fairytale, weaving its magical thread visibly throughout. The lighting design by Bee Wan, the sound effects by Ha Yan Pin heighten the dramatic action, lending it intriguing nuances; the costume designs of Elaine Wade and Carol Bloomfield add artistic dimension to the production.

It is to be noted with justifiable pride that Filipino talent contributes palpably to the enormous success of Peter Pan. As previously noted, music director-composer Calderon and choreographer Aguila-Cortes are Filipino. Members of the wonderful choir are likewise Filipino, as are the enchanting child fairies – all 17 of them!

Leave your cares behind and see Peter Pan if only to escape, even momentarily, congested traffic and all other unsavory conditions. The flying scenes in themselves are a unique, adventurous, once-in-a-lifetime experience. Indeed, my only regret about the show is that there are not enough of these scenes. Nevertheless, fly with Peter Pan!

Flying schedules follow: Friday: Jan. 19 and 26, Feb. 2 at 7 p.m. / Saturday: Jan. 20, 27 and Feb. 3 at 2 p.m. and 7 p.m. / Sunday: Jan. 21, 28; Feb. 4 at 2 p.m. and 6 p.m.

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>"Fabian de la Rosa and His Times" will be launched this afternoon at the Vargas Museum, Q.C. Edited by Ana Maria Theresa P. Labrador, the book (printed by Vibal Publishing House) is co-authored by Luciano R. Santiago, museum curator Ana P. Labrador, Macario Ofilada Mina and Santiago Albano Pilar.

I quote: Fabian de la Rosa (1869-1937) was the first Filipino dean of the UP School of Fine Arts. As an artist, he lived and practised art through the Spanish and colonial periods – this explains why history is much evident in his works. He was among the last generation of artists influenced and taught by Lorenzo Guerrero, Miguel Zaragoza, Flores, Luna and Resurrecion Hidalgo, among others. As the leading academic painter at the time of social revolution and nationalism in the country, De la Rosa was and continues to be a great influence in Philippine visual arts.