Making art requires money —and our stages are still reeling from the pandemic lockdowns. It makes sense that many companies revived old productions throughout the year to lure paying audiences back to the theater, from 9 Works Theatrical’s Tick, Tick… Boom! to Full House Theater Company’s Ang Huling El Bimbo.
Among the returnees I caught, Laro was the most successful; director John Mark Yap’s take two at this Floy Quintos play nailed the rhythm and, more importantly, the light-and-dark balance of its updated queer politics — and boasted some of the year’s richest performances, from Phi Palmos, Gio Gahol and Jojo Cayabyab to Jeremy Mayores, Noel Escondo and Al Gatmaitan.
But 2023 didn’t lack for original work — contrary to what one writer described as the “Groundhog Day” situation of local theater.
There were gems to be found everywhere if one actually looked. Some disappeared all too soon: Menchu Lauchengco-Yulo’s “I’m Still Here” from Follies at September’s One Night Stand cabaret (cast her as Phyllis in that musical or Norma Desmond in Sunset Boulevard, please!); Arman Ferrer’s spine-chilling “Awit ni Isagani” from El Filibusterimo the Musical at the Cultural Center of the Philippines’s 54th anniversary concert; Miren Alvarez-Fabregas’ rendition of “Sonnet 104” at Sari-Saring Soneto: An Evening of Shakespearean Sonnets, making a case for a live version of Tanghalang Ateneo’s Password: Oedipus Rex from 2021, where she slayed as Jocasta.
Banner year
More notably, it was a banner year for our actresses: Gab Pangilinan in The Last Five Years, Shaira Opsimar in Walang Aray, Kim Molina in ZsaZsa Zaturnnah the Musical, Felicity Kyle Napuli and Wincess Jem Yana (a star is born!) in Sandosenang Sapatos.
Shamaine Centenera-Buencamino proved, yet again, she’s a national treasure, aging and de-aging literally before our eyes in a matter of seconds in Dulaang UP’s Sidhi’t Silakbo. And Adrienne Vergara was twice a standout: as Medea in Sidhi’t Silakbo (please let her do the full thing!) and, in a knockout comedic turn, as a director battling a dramaturge from hell in the Virgin Labfest’s Ang Awit ng Dalagang Marmol.
Two plays by Guelan Luarca could, in the ways they spoke to each other, well be regarded as one. Under TP, Luarca premiered Nekropolis — the best piece of theater writing I’ve encountered of late, and inarguably a crucial artistic documentation of the Duterte years. Borrowing from Michel Foucalt, Achille Mbembe and Vicente Rafael, Luarca dramatized the concept of “necropolitics” — how power is wielded to decide who is worthy or unworthy of life. The result was a lucid questioning of the lives we lead and the worlds we build when death and fear are normalized.
The second play, under TA, was Ardor. Clearly a fictional take on the ongoing revolutionary movement in the country, it was as much about activists as it was about the pitfalls of ideology, with a solution that points toward anarchy: Might as well burn down this world you’re inheriting if it’s run by those with such contempt for the poor, the marginalized and the ones genuinely fighting for the causes of the first two. Better stay friends than be “too political,” right? Despite the production’s shakiness, I found myself, for a brief moment, becoming a millennial doomer.
Which brings me to Uncle Jane, Nelsito Gomez’s crisp, modern-day adaptation of Anton Chekhov’s Uncle Vanya. This is my pick for best theater production of 2023, and Missy Maramara’s turn as the titular character, the theatrical performance of the year.
No doomer vibes here; instead, I gained from it a more practical, less incendiary outlook. Here’s a play about people who feel like their lives have been wasted on one thing or another; who feel like their efforts toward something have been taken for granted. Yet in the end, they still find hope, no matter how muted, and chances at pursuing better possibilities.
Hope for 2024
My foremost hope for 2024 is simple: That every production finds its audience, gets its makers paid, and turns a handsome profit.
Among the lined-up shows, I’m most looking forward to 9 Work’s restaging of Rent, the rock musical about impoverished New Yorkers living in the shadow of the HIV epidemic. Almost 14 years ago, the company staged this musical for a new generation of Filipino theatergoers, myself included. Now it will be interesting to see how the musical and its down-with-oppressive-systems, “no day but today” ethos will resonate in a painfully different decade.
Additionally, I’m excited to see two of our most thrilling musical theater voices summon an original work to life: Gab Pangilinan and Vic Robinson in Pingkian, TP’s Emilio Jacinto musical.
Three lessons from 2023 to bring into the new year, then: One, as illustrated by Virgin Labfest 18, is that a new thing always needs ample nurturing. With far longer incubation, this year’s festival of one-act plays unveiled its strongest lineup in years. Obviously, developing new plays takes time and material and human resources. But when a thing is painstakingly nurtured, the result can be something wonderful.
Second, getting artists to “cross over” into theater is a smart way of filling seats. But, in Walang Aray, only Alexa Ilacad (from the duo KDLex) triumphed in her theater debut (commanding — and funny! — as Julia).
In Tabing llog, The Musical, Miah Canton and Vino Mabalot stood out among the panoply of Star Magic kids, delivering two of the year’s most compelling performances while giving crash courses on theater performance. A full house is always a welcome sight; a blundering newbie, not really.
Finally, Barefoot Theatre Collaborative’s marketing for The Last Five Years was breathtaking in its efficiency, and worth studying for other companies. Barefoot knew and understood today’s chronically online audiences. It mastered social media. It turned the show into an event: The trip to the theater as something Instagrammable, from the LED billboard, the set (and venue) design, to the decked-up washrooms.
It could all have been just a rare confluence of right show-right people-right time, of course, but still — what a genius way to sell out a run!