The truth about Falsettos

He looks more like a movie star than a theater director, his boyish grin belying years of theater experience. He is Andrew Vergara–New Voice Company’s associate artistic director, responsible for hits such as "Classical Monique", the original staging of "Rent the Musical" in Manila and "Revolutionary Hearts", a devised original musical about globalization which he directed, co-wrote and musically staged.

Perhaps he is best known for "The Vagina Monologues", the monumental hit play he diected, also for NVC, which has had a two-year successful Manila run, toured numerous Philippine provinces, and has had three hit runs in Hong Kong and a successful run in Singapore where it will have repeat performances later this year. He has also musically staged VDay events for NVC–fund-raising shows of the play to help end violence against women.

There is no doubt about it–Andrew is one of the country’s most sought after directors. And he acts too–having played leading roles in countless plays and musicals.

Andrew is currently directing the New Voice Company’s 2002 season opener, "Falsettos the Musical", a musical on family and love. I talked to him about the challenges of doing an unconventional yet hilarious and powerfully moving musical:

Question: What is "Falsettos" about?

Answer: The musical is about the loves and losses of Marvin, who leaves his wife and young son for a male lover. In the course of the musical, we see him trying to salvage his relationship with his son who is initially afraid of being gay like his father. His wife has re-married and Marvin’s lover is now dying of AIDS. His son Jason has come to accept the changes in his life and has now embraced his "family": his father and his father’s lover, his mother and stepfather and great friends–the lesbian couple from next door, who heal and cater as they all face a world waking up to a terrible disease. The musical is about family and love–in all the wonderful and unusual forms they take.

Q: Talk about the show’s characters.

A: What’s fascinating about the characters is that they remind us of us. They, like us, continually struggle to find contentment and happiness. Their hopes and dreams are everyone’s hopes and dreams. These are intelligent yet flawed people who are trying to find happiness. They have to deal with their own shortcomings and how those shortcomings affect the people they love. They struggle like we do. They make mistakes like we do. They give in to their desires like we do. They feel an obligation to their families like we do. On their journey to find the meaning of love and family, they get lost, like we do.

Q: Being a director, how have you been preparing for the show?

A: The first step was studying the material, to explore the show’s themes and to understand the characters. The next step was to choose actors and actresses who would give life to these characters, and who could handle both the difficult music and dramatic challenges. The next steps all happen concurrently–rehearsal process, making choices about staging, wedding each character with the specific talents of each actor, building relationships between actors.

Q: Any difficulties directing the show?

A: The show is originally written as a chamber piece, meant for a black box type theater. Since we are doing it at the Music Museum, which has a proscenium setting and quite an expansive stage, we’ve had to depart from the original minimalist staging in order to make best use of the venue.

Q: What are the challenges in creating "Falsettos"?

A: Music and material. There are 41 musical numbers in the show. That is a ton of lyrics and melodies for seven people to learn. The material is challenging because the characters are not stereotype, yet they are universal. The audience has to be able to relate to all of them. Balancing those two ideas–uniqueness and universality–is a formidable task.

Q: Talk about the show’s themes.

A: More than anything "Falsettos" is a family show. That’s what it’s about, our difficult, painful relationships with our fathers, mothers, daughters and sons. Add in friends and lovers and these are the people who constitute our families. The people you love. So in this age in the Philippines when the nuclear family is no longer the norm–families now consist of stepfathers, half brothers and sisters, titos, titas and the like–more and more, we define "family" no longer just by blood, but by love.

Falsettos opens at the Music Museum on June 28 and runs until August 3. The musical stars Lynn Sherman, Jake Macapagal, Joel Trinidad, Rito Asilo, Lily Chu, Jenny Jamora and Joshua Ramirez. For details, call the New Voice Company Actors Studio at 896-6695 or 899-0630.