Velma and Roxie Rock Manila!

 I was really supposed to watch Chicago the Musical on December 16, but because of some family matters, I got to watch the uber wonderful play last December 12.

Because I am a huge fan of Bebe Neuwirth (who originally played Velma Kelly in the 1996 revival), I was super excited to when I learned that Chicago is in town. I have seen videos of Bebe as Velma on Youtube and I was mega excited to see the choreography of Ann Reinking in person. And when I got there, I know I was in for a wonderful time.

When the curtains raised and one of the members of the ensemble said "Ladies and gentlemen, you are about to see a story of greed, corruption, violence, exploitation, adultery, and treachery... all the things we hold near and dear to our hearts. Thank you," tears welled up in my eyes. When the orchestra started playing the overture of Chicago, was practically crying. And when Velma came up, I was dead.

The ensemble danced so effortlessly that even though I know that the choreography were ultra hard, the ensemble made it look as easy as walking. I was pleased and surprised to learn that after all these years, they retained Ann Reinking's wonderful choreography. Of all the dance numbers, I was really looking in seeing Velma's dancing. One because I have seen Bebe do it in the Youtube videos, and two because I know they were complicated and I want to see them live. However, I was a bit disappointed when I Can't Do It Alone came and the complicated dance steps were replaced with less complex steps.

Bianca Marroquin, the actress playing Roxie was such a good comedienne, all her cracks bite so hard that I was laughing like crazy all throughout the play. I guess Terra MacLeod, the one playing Velma, was good, but sorry I am biased with Bebe Neuwirth's performance. Haha! When I saw online that Bebe played Mama Morton just recently, I was half hoping that she will come to the Philippines and perform, so obviously I was a bit disappointed. But it is okay though, Roz Ryan was good. C. Newcomer, the guy playing Mary Sunshine, yes the GUY, was a great surprise for me. I thought Mary Sunshine is a girl. Jeff McCarthy, the guy who plays Billy Flynn was also good but I think his dancing is a bit awkward, I think I like Richard Gere (the Billy Flynn in the movie) better.  Jacob Keith Watson who plays Amos Hart was so good that I really pity Amos for being married to Roxie and being neglected his whole life. As for the ensemble, well I cannot comment on them because they were just perfect. They danced in seamless synchronicity, they move so effortlessly, and they made me want to learn how to dance jazz.

Though most of the souvenir items sold were quite expensive (for me only though), I was very lucky that my mother lent me some money and I got to buy a souvenir program which has Bebe Neuwirth's pictures! Yey!!

Guys, you still have several shows to watch. Chicago the Musical is up in Solaire Restort & Casino until December 21, 2014 from Tuesdays to Sundays. Just go to the website of TicketWorld.

Realization

After thinking deeply and taking into consideration the recent things I learned from a gender diversity seminar (which is another story), I finally got into the concrete conclusion that I AM NOT A LESBIAN. I only idolize older (this is comparing their ages to mine, of course) women not because I am sexually attracted to them, but because I want to be just like them. Of course, I also idolize male figures (preferably older as well), but people make it such an issue when I blab about my female idols.

Let me enumerate and explain (which to others might say ‘defend’) each of my idols:

1.       ANJELICA HUSTON. She is my first ever favorite actress. And I just LOVE HER! She is just a wonderful actress. Her portrayal of Morticia made me want to become an actress myself, despite my previous hatred for the idea, and made me concoct fictions, mostly about the Addams Family. She is also an advocate of anti-animal cruelty, which made me love animals more and hate those people who have pets but do not care about them. Despite many netizens bashing her looks, she remains surgery-free and says, “I’d rather be a blue-haired lady than a woman trying to regain youth by surgery and pulled in all direction,” and I idolize her even more for that. At the same time, I feel the same way. She might not look as youthful as she were when she first played Morticia or when she was Maerose Prizzi, but she has this beauty and elegance that we fans can see and are willing to defend to anyone who protests. She may not be the most known actress in Hollywood, nor the most Oscar-awarded actress (in fact, us Anjelicaholics find her underrated), but she is definitely a superb artist. She is also a survivor (read her autobiography A Story Lately Told), and I wish to be able to surpass the challenges I will face as bravely as she did. And lastly, she is a late bloomer, just like me. Oh, and I love her clothing choice ALWAYS. Probably because according to her, the key is wearing comfortable clothing. And despite her age, she remains chic.

2.       AYEN MUNJI-LAUREL. This woman is definitely GORGEOUS! She has this angelic beauty no one in the right mind can deny. I admit that I first fell in love with her because of her beauty when I saw her in a local soap opera (Amaya), but I got to know her better. She probably, if not really is, is the

kindest celebrity who ever walked the earth. She raised her children well, and it reflects. She is highly religious and she surpassed the hardships life gave her. Despite her stature in life, she remains down-to-earth and accommodating to her jolly, if not annoying (me being one of them) at times fans. She also shares this wonderful marriage with her ever-so-handsome husband, Franco Laurel (whom my friend Gleng Suzara also has a huge crush on). How I wish to have the same marriage in the future. She also has this elegant taste of clothing, no matter what she wears, she never fails to look as if she stepped out of a magazine. She made me love and appreciate the Philippine theater. Oh, and I almost forgot! She has this amazing voice that she doesn’t have to shout the highest notes (like many singers do) just to sound impressive.

3.       BEBE NEUWIRTH. Beatrice is just whoa. She’s not so young anymore but her body will make young men drool and young women like me go into an extensive diet and exercise just to try to have the same body. And having that body allowed her to do Bob Fosse-hard choreographies we witnessed in Chicago, and after her hip transplant, she can still groove. She is not the best singer in the whole world (comparing her to Mariah Carey, of course) but I really admire the set of lungs and pipes she have – can you imagine singing a high-toned song while dancing and still sounding wonderful – now that is talent. She is also a good actress; she already has two Tony’s and few TV nominations, who will say she’s not? Honestly, I would not have paid her more attention if she did not play Morticia Addams on Broadway but seeing her other works made me love her even more. And her beauty is… how do you describe it? I won’t say exotic but it is definitely not the usual American beauty. I admire her experimental taste in fashion but I do not usually agree with what she wears. If Anjel made me want to become an actress, Beatrice made me want to become a theater actress. She showed me the passion one can have just to do one live show. She doesn’t have many projects and as a fan, I demand the big studios and networks to show us fans more of our idol.

 


4.       MERYL STREEP. She’s such an amazing actress, Academy Awards  and nominations everywhere! And who would think that she is past 60 years old already?! She did Mamma Mia! when she was 59 and it was not reflected on the film.

 


5.       CHERIE GIL. One word to describe her, elegance. No matter what role she portrays, she always retains this air of elegance but that is not a bad thing. She’s a chic, despite her age. And well, she looks quite a bit like Anjel.

6.       DAWN ZULUETA. Pure beauty. Oozing with talent. And she’s kind, she recognizes the presence of her fans and she has this fans’ club which sends the fans an autographed photo of her when their birthday comes (I received one, yey!)

 


7.       CARLA GUEVARRA. I only saw her once (in The Addams Family A New Musical at Meralco Theater in which she played Alice Beineki) but I just love her. (Photo credits to @carlaguev from Twitter)

I did not say anything about idolizing actresses only, right?

8.       LIANA BARRO. She’s my Journalism 101 and 103 (News Writing and Investigative Journalism) professor and I just adore her. She teaches as if she’s only playing (which according to her is how she treats her work). Despite her fast-paced teaching and high-standard grading, I learned so much from her. She made me want to become a journalist someday. She’s always busy with work but she never fails to enjoy, party, and relax. I do not know if she knows this but she is a great inspirational speaker. She shares stories of her life, inspiring people like me, without intending to. And the students who passed whatever subject she teaches will surely be successful in life, just like she is. I believe she is highly-religious and family-oriented person. And the brain she has, my gosh, I think she knows everything!

9.       MARILYN BAROJA. She was my Physics teacher when I was in high school. Besides the fact that she is so brainy, I like the way she taught us – going beyond

the borders of the black board because there is so much to write, illustrating how to measure distance and other stuff on the tiled floor, keeping the atmosphere light despite the mega-hard to understand lessons in Physics, and encouraging the not-so-bright classmate/s of mine to try and participate in class. I promised her that I will be a Physics teacher and she keeps on reminding me that every time I visit the school T.T. I remember the time when I was the school’s representative to the Physics quiz bee and I was in 11th  place. I was crying over my loss and disappointing her when she said while laughing at me, “Ano ka ba Jai (my nickname), para ‘tong tanga. Tumigil ka na nga sa pag-iyak, baka isipin nila kung ano ginawa ko sa’yo. Ok lang yan.”

 

 10.   LILIBETH MAYOR. She was my Biology teacher when I was in high school. She is more of an aunt than a teacher. When I have problems, she’s there to listen. She would ask me to do something for her (may it be redoing her resume, creating a poster (which is still existing, I am proud to say) for the Bio Lab, doing an assignment of her sons Kiel and David) and I will refuse to be paid, she’ll say, “Ang kulit mo talaga.” But when she is insistent, a threat will come if I won’t oblige her. “Magagalit ako sa’yo kapag hindi mo ako sinamahan,” she said when I was too shy (?) to come with her when she ‘kidnapped’ me. She’s like a walking Biology encyclopedia. During class, everything is just a blast – we had jingles and we learn at the same time. Before, the jingles my classmates and I made for Biology were used when we took the UPCAT. Most of us did not pass but we still remember our Biology.

 


11.   RACQUEL CARACAS.  She was my Earth Science teacher and probably the most terror educator I will ever face. On our first day of class, she scolded us for having a dirty classroom (“Ambababoy niyo! SSC pa man din kayo,” she said.) Outside the classroom, she mother-like, she’ll treat you as her daughter and you can talk about anything under the sun.

I also did not say anything about real persons only, right?

12.   MORTICIA ADDAMS. PERFECT. Perfect life, perfect family, perfect marriage, perfect husband, perfect figure… she’s just the perfect woman! She’s the most beautiful, sexiest, and luckiest woman ever created by the imagination of mortals. She has this dark elegance that will make any man turn and stare and fall in love with her. And there is her marriage with Gomez – she adores him and he adores her more than his life. This is probably the reason why I am still single, my standards for a boy are not so high, just tall, smart, hardworking, kind, romantic, and caring; but my relationship standards are – to have a relationship as perfect as Morticia and Gomez’s. LOL. But the most admirable thing about Morticia is not her appearance, nor her husband and her family, nor her life, but her ability to live her life as simple as possible, as if she does not know how lucky she is. Sometimes, I pretend to be like her.

And lastly,

13.   EUGENIA TERESA “GIGI” T. GAVINO-PUNSALANG. My mom. My mom is not perfect, no one in the living is. But the sacrifices she made to raise my sister and I were enough for me to idolize her. She may be moody at times, I might get into arguments with her, but I love her very much. Sometimes I might not show the love and gratitude I feel for her but I am grateful to God for making my mom my mother. I might kid around and say I wish Morticia Addams will be my mother but I’ll never exchange my mom for anything. I am really scared of working, why? Because I will be away from my mom. I have been so depended with my mom for the past 18, almost 19 years, I do not know how to survive alone.
              My mom is so beautiful just like her mom (anyareh saken?!). She’s a great cook. She knows how to tighten her belt even though she already cannot breath. And most of all, she loves me and my sister so much that whenever and wherever we need her, she’ll do everything just to be by our side.

So you see? I just idolize these 13 women’s attributes making me idolize these women themselves. I just summed up my analysis after thinking over whether I am lesbian or not. So I really am not lesbian at any point.

Now the reason for me liking old (comparing again to my own age) people? Well, probably because they already experienced life and they already know what they are doing. They do not just blab around (just like me). And probably because I really am born in the wrong year, instead of 1995, maybe I was supposed to be born on 1985 or 1975 or something.

The Addams Family Visits Manila

Last, November 23, 2013, I was able to watch The Addams Family A New Musical at Meralco Theater. And to simplify things, the performance was wonderful. I will use my newly learned skills to critique the show.

Let me start with its comparison to the Chicago preview and the Broadway show which were both uploaded in Youtube few years back.  In the Philippine adaptation of the show, four original songs were removed and replace – these were the ‘Where Did We Go Wrong’ (sang by Morticia and Gomez, wondering whether they raised Wednesday right because of her sudden liking for a “normal” boy), the‘Morticia’ (which Gomez sang as he pined for Morticia who declined his request for tango), the ‘Let’s Not Talk About Anything Else But Love’ (sang by Gomez, Mal, and Fester) and its reprise (sang by Gomez, Fester, and Grandma), and finally, ‘In The Arms’ (sang by Mal for Alice after having a moment with Bernice, the pet giant squid of the Addams family). These songs were replaced by differently worded songs to the tune of the Broadway preview’s ‘Passionate and True’, and the album’s ‘Crazier Than You’ and ‘What If’ (though both songs were also used in the Philippine adaptation).

The additional song that I really love was Gomez's "There Are Two Things I Will Never Do". It's just so funny. The song talked about Gomez being torn between his love for his daughter and his wife. Gomez sang this when Wednesday asked him not to tell Morticia that she is engaged. The song went "There are two things I will never do. Say no to my wife and say no to my daughter." Then when Morticia tried to confront him, Gomez had a rendition of the song, making it "There Are Three Things I Will Never Do", in which he enumerated the three as "Lying to my daughter, lying to my wife, and telling either of them the truth." There was actually an attempt to do a third rendition, creating "There Are Four Things I Will Never Do", but Morticia stopped him ("Gomez, stop doing that").

Most of the choreographies were changed, which was not bad at all. After seeing the Chicago preview and the Broadway show on Youtube, a new choreography is rather pleasing to the eyes. The book was also modified, merging some of the script of the Chicago preview with the script of the Broadway show, and also having additional script. The story itself was modified a bit as well, instead of Gomez and Morticia being caught off guard to Wednesday and Lucas’s engagement, the Philippine adaptation had Morticia the one to be caught off guard and Gomez knew all about the engagement. Gomez’s Full Disclosure was different as well, making me miss the goat, plum, and crow humor of Gomez, but still, Gomez was wonderful as always.

Now let’s go to the technicals – lights, sounds, set and props, and costumes. The play of lights was simply wonderful, most especially during the opening number (‘When You’re an Addams’). The lights gave the whole show the perfect drama each scene requires. And as a student studying DRM102 (Directing and Production), I cannot wait to get my hands on the technical table, especially the lights panel and experiment on it. Now to the sounds… my golly, the sounds were spectacular. Last Saturday, I realized why the tickets were prized as such, the orchestra was live! Each cent I spent to watch the production was just worth it, the performance itself was wonderful and to have a live orchestra – it was just perfect! Frankly, I did not know that there will be a live orchestra, but when I saw a man tuning his bass, I realized that the accompaniment was live and I knew right then and there that I was in for a wonderful show (and I was not disappointed). The set and props were as amazing as the performance itself. I just love to see the backdrops dropping and rising from the pulleys attached to the ceiling above the stage (what on earth were they called? Sorry!). The dead trees were realistically made, actually, everything looked real. I especially liked the couch and the side table with a bust, it looked just like the one used in the Broadway show. But what I liked the most was the ‘Pulled’ scene. I love the effect of how Pugsley was electrocuted by Wednesday. And finally the costumes, the most notable costume was Morticia’s. It was different from Bebe Neuwirth’s and Brooke Shields’s which was purplish-black. The biggest difference in Eula Valdez’s costume was the wired hem of the dress. I believe that the production wanted to recreate the old cartoon’s dress, but I feel Morticia had a hard time walking in that dress. However, for the second act, Morticia had a different dress, allowing her to dance for the ‘Just Around the Corner’ and the ‘Tango de Amor’. And Morticia was just so sexy during the ‘Tango de Amor’, when she pulled her dress up, revealing her legs (“Mi Amor! Creature of constant surprises, you have legs!” Gomez said). The other casts’ costumes were appropriate for their character, most especially Grandma. I also found Lurch’s heeled shoes cute, I do not know why.

Finally, to my favorite part, the show itself! I was not disappointed at all. The performance lived up to my expectations. Eula Valdez was sublime as Morticia, I totally envy her figure. After those famous people who portrayed Morticia – Carolyn Jones, Anjelica Huston, Bebe Neuwirth, and Brooke Shields, she ranked up to the perfect Morticia (in my scale). Arnell Ignacio was just perfect for Gomez. You can see none of his comedian self as Gomez, he was simply… well, Gomez. K-La was another story, but I cannot comment much on her since last Saturday was the first time I saw her perform. The same comment goes to most of the cast. Nyoy Volante was surprisingly good. I honestly did not see him as an actor, how much more as an old woman. Watching him as Grandma made me almost forgot that the actor doing Grandma was indeed a man. But the person who really mesmerized me was Carla Guevara-Laforteza who played Alice Beineki. She was such a wonderful actress with a very powerful voice. Of all the songs in the show, I believe that the hardest song to sing was ‘Waiting’ and Ms. Carla Guevara-Laforteza did it so well. When I was watching the Chicago preview on Youtube, I did not care much about Alice, but after seeing her perform, I fell in love with Alice. And I think I have a new idol.

For those who are theater fanatics like me, I suggest you watch The Addams Family A New Musical. The show really is worth watching.