[Theater] Waitress (Atlantis Theatrical Entertainment Group) Review

We had actually watched the local staging of Waitress during its opening weekend thanks to an ARC promo but I guess things got way busier than expected since I somehow forgot to write about the experience. And given recent plans to cut down on my Geeky Guide blogging time I guess it's a good thing that I've been able to squeeze this review in.

It's interesting how this musical has gained such a strong following since its release given it's based on a movie that may not be all that well-known even for a movie junkie like me. But stranger things have happened - just look at the likes of Hairspray, which was also based on a rather obscure cult classic film and yet became a Broadway success.

This local production was definitely a lot of fun to watch and made for a lovely evening for me and Tobie. By the time this review comes out the show will be on its closing weekend and I can only hope that enough people got to enjoy the show when they had the chance.

[Theater] Kinky Boots (Marina Bay Sands) Review

My love for the original Kinky Boots movie made the decision to watch the Atlantis staging of the musical an easy theater decision to make. But when provided a chance to catch the international touring production while in Singapore came up, it took a while to reassure myself that the cost was totally worth it.

And yes, the show was even more amazing that I had expected it to be and I'm super glad that we watched. I wish I had been able to catch it with my partner Tobie, but at least I wasn't entirely alone either.

[Theater] Side Show (Atlantis Theatrical Entertainment Group) Review

Early in the year we end up watching a lot of different plays as part of the regular theater season. Later in the year other groups tend to put on more musicals (or at least that's how it feels like to me) and thus we schedule some shows of interest accordingly.

Side Show was our first musical as part of our personal "musical season" at the tailend of 2018 and our first Atlantis show for the year as well. And this wasn't a musical we had heard much about before but it's hard to resist a "freak show" right? And so we went.

The show was quite surprising in tone and pretty creative in its costumes and make-up in order to give that full freak feel realness. But it was also a little confusing with a lot of different story beats, which felt like a bit of a waste of the excellent talent that they had gathered for the production.

And this is one major cast.

[Books] Hamilton: The Revolution Audible Review

I have working classifications for the sorts of books and related material that I purchase. There are books that I want to see on our shelves and so we need physical copies. There are things that I feel I'll only read on my Kindle or as a digital comic. And more recently there are Audible audio books that I listen to while walking.

For one reason or another, Hamilton: The Revolution ended up being classified as something I'd secure as an audio book because...reasons? I guess it's not something I imagined that I would ever get around to actually "reading" and so it's now something that I've listened to instead.

It did prove to be an interesting enough experience and a nice change of pace from my usual audio book biographies.

[Theater] Evita (Lunchbox Theatricals)

By now a lot of us have been exposed to Evita through the Madonna movie released in 1996, one of the first in the "modern era" wave of movie musicals. But that wasn't quite like the original stage play and I've been eager to see it staged one way or another.

My recent trips to Singapore included spotting the signs promoting the touring company of Evita being in the country but at the time it was too early. One thing led to another and another trip came along just in time to catch then show in its final weeks.

While it's not my favorite musical, I admit that I know the songs better than I'd like to admit because whatever childhood. So I was generally looking forward to how they'd present things on stage versus how they were done in the movie. And end result was interesting but not quite what I had hoped it would have been. So let's dissect that.

[Movies] The Greatest Showman (2017) Review

So we finally got around to watching The Greatest Showman - the movie whose soundtrack conquered the country before legitimate theater showings could begin. The MMDA-enforced delay in December disrupted the movie's official holiday release and we ended up with a late January one instead.

I wasn't too excited about this movie since my knowledge of P.T. Barnum centered more about the controversies of his life and his reputation as liar given the rather spurious exhibits he put on display.

But hey, there's nothing like a big movie musical to wipe that all away and let folks focus on the fun stuff and with some amazing songs too.

We walked away from the theater having enjoyed individual songs and performances but not necessarily the story as a whole or how it was told. It gets complicated.

[TV] Crazy Ex-Girlfriend: Season 2 Review

We initially got on board watching Crazy Ex-Girlfriend because of the music. The show is pretty much what happens when you turn a musical into a long-running romantic comedy television series in a great way. But initially there wasn't much else to enjoy apart from those musical interludes as the protagonist had lot of problematic moments and everyone seemed to be enabling here.

The second season of Crazy Ex-Girlfriend is when things really get serious and they get down to business in terms of presenting a more realistic story. The music remains as awesome as ever but now it really feels like the show is going somewhere serious and is using its viewership as a platform for something bigger. And it's all amazing.

Don't get me wrong - this is still a comedy and the show is crazy fun (I keep using the word "crazy" that it's starting to get weird) and the music really adds a special dynamic to things. But it's the writing that really brings things home into a truly special place.

[Theater] Hair (Repertory Philippines) Review

Hair is one of those musicals that I had only seen as a movie up until this point. The 1979 film is a classic in its own right but of course it had a somewhat more controlled (and perhaps focused?) narrative as it was meant for commercial release bu even then a lot of what made the story such a representative of the era still sang through clearly.

But Hair as a stage musical is a completely different animal with a drastically different story. If the movie already felt rather fun and free, the musical is all that and more as it's certainly turned up to eleven. And that is both a great thing and possibly a confusing thing depending on your perspective.

It was interesting that a play that involves depictions liberal recreational drug use and a message of freedom and peace has been staged during a time when the government has been cracking down on illegal drugs with rather lethal results. Whether or not the message of the play directly applies to our country's situation I'll leave to you to determine for yourself.

[Theater] Maynila sa Mga Kuko ng Liwanag The Musical Review (Grand Leisure Corporation)

I probably don't watch enough original local theater productions as it's admittedly more accessible to me to watch foreign shows being staged here, whether by local companies or touring groups. But I do make an effort to watch shows featuring friends when they reach out and ask for support for their shows.

That's what led me to Maynila sa Mga Kuko ng Liwanag The Musical, an unexpected stage adaptation for a famous movie that I have also not seen yet. And given how  I usually try to keep various versions of a story separate in my head when writing a review, this helped me view this production solely on its own merits.

Admittedly there were weird circumstances around the viewing we caught as it started almost an hour late and it was our first time at the Kia Theatre, which is definitely not one of my favorite theaters now. So I'm saying I was not in the best state of mind at the start of this production's run.

[Theater] The Sound of Music (Lunchbox Theatrical Productions) Review

It's easy to underestimate The Sound of Music as it's a pretty established musical that more people remember as a movie than a stage play. And don't get me wrong, the movie is a brilliant piece of film making, but it's also a very different entertainment experience versus a live performance. You can't really compare one to the other but I suppose some degree of comparison remains impossible.

And as a long-time musical junkie, I'll admit that I've seen the movie version of The Sound of Music probably more than is healthy. But that's just how things turned out and I have no regrets celebrating the works of Dame Julie Andrews.

But this significant exposure to the movie had me underestimating what a stage production off the same story might be like. But thankfully I got tickets for this touring London West End Production as part of a Ticketworld bundle offer together with West Side Story since the actual play turned out to be one of the best that I've had the pleasure of watching in quite a while.

[Theater] West Side Story (Lunchbox Theatrical Productions) Review

For most of my life, West Side Story was one of those musicals that existed in my mind as a movie. Yes, I know it was a Broadway musical first before it was adapted into a movie, but given the time of its release, the movie remains the easier way to get to experience this story. So when the news that a touring production was coming to Manila, I figured it would be worth the investment.

Now I'll admit that West Side Story may have a few great and memorable songs but it also has a lot of weird ones that felt almost extraneous to the larger plot. And thus it was never really a musical that I looked out for because of the songs and the singing. But I have always loved it for the dancing and the sheer rigor demanded of anyone choosing to perform in this production.

The talent gathered for the movie was pretty top notch and that will always set the bar pretty high for any theater production of the show. But this staging was pretty stellar in that regard and certainly helped make the most of the experience.

[Theater] Kinky Boots (Atlantis Theatricals Entertainment Group) Review

Ever since I first caught Kinky Boots in a limited cinema engagement, I've totally loved the movie and have repeatedly watched it over the years. Sure, it feels like another small town sob story sort of like The Full Monty or something but it's also a lot more than that - and I'm not just saying that because of the drag queens.

But in many ways I had always felt that the movie would always be something totally under the radar and thus was a cultural novelty that I could treasure and only choose to share with specific people on a limited basis. So I was totally surprised to find out that it had been adapted into a full Broadway musical - and a rather successful one at that. But hey, it worked for Hairspray, right?

[Theater] Sister Act (Troika Entertainment) Review

Most touring theater productions that we've had a chance to watch were through Lunchbox Theatrical Productions. So I was a little surprised to find out that the touring show of Sister Act was by another group, this being Troika Entertainment. But I've always had a soft spot for the movie this musical was based on we went ahead and booked tickets.

This stage musical of Sister Act naturally features an expanded story to provide more material for additional musical numbers as the narrative of the movie was pretty straightforward and one-track. A good musical tries to explore a few other character arcs and they clearly tried to do that here.

I was a little surprised to find out that the musical was not able to retain the rights for the songs used in the original movie. I understand that there are additional costs for that sort of thing versus crafting original music but then the movie was clearly associated with certain songs like "My Guy (My God)" or "I Will Follow Him" to name a few.

[Movies] La La Land (2016)

My love for musicals has a lot to do with being raised on the big movie musicals of old Hollywood and other movies of the period. Our family always had a love for the classics and we watched many such movies time and time again. In hindsight I'm grateful for that sort of exposure as I love having that sort of context when watching movies.

I set out to watch La La Land with Tobie precisely because so many reviews have mentioned how this movie is sort of an ode to that period of Hollywood. The posts for the movie alone did their best to paint this particular picture by showing its lead stars in a dance number that could have done by the likes of Fred Astaire.

But this movie is much more than a tribute piece. It's a movie that is passionate about many subjects and it tackles each with gusto. It's a movie that was both familiar and yet new. I was comforting yet surprising.

In other words, it was a great movie.

[TV] Hairspray Live!

Admittedly I haven't been paying that much attention to NBC's various "Live" stage musical productions in recent years due to mixed reviews and an odd selection of productions. Some shows that I actually would have wanted to have seen totally slipped past my radar for one reason or another.

I had almost missed out on Hairspray Live! were it not for the social media storm it created during its live broadcast and the subsequent decision to upload the entire show to YouTube. And so one night we ended up watching it while waiting for players to come over for late night board games despite the increasingly terrible holiday traffic.

And while the result was not quite as terrible as feared, it definitely wasn't as polished as a stage production. And that's really more to do with the challenges of live television, which go beyond managing a single stage for a set period of time.

[TV] Crazy Ex-Girlfriend: Season 1

Platforms like Netflix and iFlix have been contributing to our TV show discovery process given we've been living without cable TV for quite some time now. And as much as I try to find "lesser"shows that I figure I can watch without investing in my limited shared time with Tobie, sometimes shows surprise me.

Fresh Off the Boat started as something that I thought I would watch alone and the same goes for Crazy Ex-Girlfriend. And while we still love the former way more than the latter, this show does have some definite potential. And I'm not just referring to the fact that the show has Filipino characters in the thick of things.

Or maybe I'm just a sucker for a show that tries to marry the stage musical experience to its comedy. The show may not be wall-to-wall songs but the occasional musical bits do provide some delight and help make a lot of the weird stuff a but more tolerable.

The show definitely started out with the crazy mindset well in mind and at times felt problematic. But in time the show figured out a better direction to take with the writing and that helped a lot,

[Theater] Green Day's American Idiot (9 Works Theatrical)

The jukebox musical has become the staple of Broadway in recent years. After the success of shows like Mamma Mia! and Jersey Boys, it seems that any artists with a respectable discography now have the potential to have a Broadway show written around their songs. We saw that done locally with Rak of Aegis, and that worked out pretty well.

Green Day's American Idiot is one of the more recent shows to follow in those footsteps, although the source material was a little unexpected. I mean so far we've mostly adapted more wide-appealing pop artists of a sort, but to create a show based around an alternative punk rock group.

Admittedly I used to be quite the Green Day fan back in the day. But I guess I drifted away from this sort of music after college or thereabouts. So it was a little weird to watch this show since it was largely unfamiliar since I didn't follow the original American Idiot album, but also familiar since Green Day has always had such a distinct sound versus other bands. Sure their songs sometimes sound alike, but you still know it sounds like a Green Day song.

[Theater] Godspell (Music Artes)

There are a crazy number of theater companies in Metro Manila - or at least that's how it seems to me. But regardless of the theater company, you're bound to see familiar faces among the cast. And I suppose that just goes to show how small the local theater community is. Regardless of who's producing the show, you're bound to see the same set of actors vying for roles. I'm sure there's a similar phenomenon in other theater hubs like New York.

Godspell took me a little by surprise since I wasn't actively monitoring MusicArtes. They're a bit better known for their concet work and not necessarily musical theater productions such as this one.

At first I was a little reluctant to secure tickets since MusicArtes didn't exactly have a track record to reference plus it's not like I get super excited over religious-themed productions. However looking at the cast got me super excited and so I manged to snag some last-minute tickets despite its very limited 2-week run.

[Theater] Stepping Out: The Musical (Repertory Philippines)

Over the years, we've made it a habit to support the regular season of Repertory Philippines. Whether it involves just booking the first three plays individually or committing to a full season pass including the musicals, the goal is to see what they have to offer for the year and celebrate the diversity of theater. Repertory is a theater company with a very rich history and it always saddens me when we find their shows not quite filled to the brim in terms of sold tickets. They remain one of the theater options in the city and one of the steady avenues for watching straight plays and not just musicals.

However in recent years we've seen them stage a musical as part of their regular 3-production season as a way to balance things out a little more. At first I didn't think much of Stepping Out: The Musical when I secured the tickets because the name of the show was unfamiliar to me and I generally avoid looking up the productions online in order to avoid spoilers.

So it was funny that once we arrived at the venue and saw the show collateral, I had to admit it all seemed vaguely familiar. But of course this only make more sense to me during the show itself.

[Theater] Les Misérables in Manila

A few years back I wrote about how nice it is that some pretty great theatrical productions are a lot more accessible in the region because of theater venues like the Marina Bay Sands Theatre in Singapore that has managed to draw various big name shows to Southeast Asia. In recent years we're not seeing some of those same productions come all the way here to the Philippines, thus further eliminating the need to travel. And while ticket prices can sometimes seem higher than their regional counterparts, it all evens out when you start to factor in things like airfare into the mix.

I never expected for the likes of Les Misérables to come to Manila though, and I'm glad that I was wrong on that count. This is one of those pillars of Broadway that have been running for like forever and a day and to have the show come to this little country is certainly a joy in itself.

And while I'm not a total fan of the venue, The Theatre at Solaire, admittedly it's still one of the better theaters in Metro Manila. Just don't expect a comfortable sitting experience given the way they structured their seating rows.