Last December 6th, I was lucky enough to get second row orchestra side seats to Repertory's rendition of Sweeney Todd.

Starring Audie Gemora as Sweeney Todd/Benjamin Barker and Menchu Lauchenco-Yulo as Mrs. Lovett, the musical is about a British urban legend where a demon barber from Fleet Street goes around, seeking revenge, slashing the necks of his customers, and in turn, their bodies are being used as uh... filling for Mrs. Lovett's Pies.

Everyone pretty much knows the story of Sweeney Todd, right? Then I'd better not dwell much on the story and on to the review.  First off, the music -- I love, love, love it! I first saw the musical via the film adaptation starring Johnny Depp and Helena Bonham-Carter [which I dubbed "Sweeney Todd - The Harry Potter version, since the cast members playing Bellatrix, Peter Pettigrew & Severus Snape were in the movie] and I loooooooved it. My mom, on the other hand, thought that it was too gory so she stepped out of the room while I was watching it on HBO.

In this Repertory version, Audie Gemora played a wonderful Sweeney Todd. He had all the facial expressions of boredom and "I could not be bothered" looks to Mrs. Lovett while she is busy trying to profess her love for him! LOL! Menchu Lauchenco-Yulo was also brilliant, but of course, not as brilliant as Audie Gemora. The rest of the characters [Franco Laurel as Anthony and Lena McKenzie as Joanna] were also quite good.

The set was awesome. My favourite part was the steaming oven! Awesome, awesome! Plus the trapdoor where the dead people fall into from the barber's chair was nice! Lighting = superb! Sound = superb as well!

Soundtrack = ahhh... my favourite part! It's been a week since I've seen the play and the lines "I feel you Joanna....." are still stuck in my head.

If I had to choose which one's better between the movie & the local production, then I'd say the local production! Well, nothing beats the real deal, doesn't it? Of course, there's always the movie to fall back on everytime I need a dose of the musical [and Johnny Depp hotness amidst all that makeup too].

Quite a shame the run ended last Sunday [December 13th]. However, if it would be shown again on additional runs [I dunno when though], do watch it! :)

For next year, I am looking forward to the following repertory productions:

Romeo & Bernadette [February 2010 -- same month as I'm going to watch the local adaptation of RENT!]

Little Women [November/December 2010 -- their big musical and directed by Menchu Lauchenco-Yulo!]

Till then! :D

** all photos from Broadway World - Philippines **

Last Sunday, November 29th, I had a chance to watch "Treasure Island" by Theatre Down South at the Insular Life Theatre here in Alabang.

Tickets were at P450 a pop, and was free seating.

I normally try to watch as many plays/musicals as I can whenever I'm free or have extra funds, and this play is much more special because a very, very good buddy of mine is playing a part!

It's actually my first time to ever watch a musical with my friend in a supporting role. Granted, I had a few sniggers here and there because my friend is not himself [ie in character], but it's part of the whole threatre persona!

The show was good -- it remained true to the original tale, based on a book by Robert Louis Stevenson. And I have to admit, when I was watching the play, I couldn't help but compare bits and bobs of the story from the Muppets version of Treasure Island. I can't help it! I loved that movie when I was younger! And who could top those cute little muppet characters?

The props were excellent! It showed the jungle scene very nicely as well as the bar and ship scenes!
There were lots of funny parts in the tale, the music is okay as well, but there were parts of the dialogue I wasn't able to listen [probably because I'm sniggering or whispering around with my friends lol]

At the front of the auditorium, there were numerous props that you could have photos in! Unfortunately, I forgot to bring my camera and my mobile phone was low on battery so I wasn't able to take photos! Dang! Before and after the show, cast members also go around meeting the show watchers! Now that's effort!

Too bad the last run of the show was on the 29th of November, however, I'll watch more musicals by this group [well, mainly because my friend was in it] once the time and fund permits!

Forgive my lack of updates recently. I've been ill last Friday and I've had a really packed weekend!

First off, this Saturday, I went with a good friend of mine to watch the Spring Awakening musical here in Manila, held at the RCBC theatre.

We're lucky enough to get good loge seats, and our view was excellent!

For those of you who are unfamiliar with this theatre production, Spring Awakening is a play first done in 1891 by Frank Wedekind. It was initially banned for show in Germany due to controversial topics [more about that later]. It tells the tale of a group of teenagers, mainly Melchior Gabor, the "perfect" student -- always getting good grades and is a role model to his peers, Moritz - the goof, he's tagged as a failure, and is very curious about women, Wendla - an innocent girl who eventually falls for Melchior, and Ilsa - she's the "rebel" -- she is living in the streets.




I loved this musical! It is absolutely fantastic -- the music was so good [it was written by Duncan Sheik], it had me singing the lines "blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah" after we have already left the theatre and was on our way to a second-hand bookstore. This soundtrack is currently on queue on my download list. The performances were great, but there were some downsides:
1. There are some scenes that got me all confused -- some characters did not have the proper closure that I expected [ie Ilsa and Melchior]; also the adult parts got me confused as well. Who's the parent of whom? If only one actor plays one female adult and one male adult, and you would only have one costume the whole play, wouldn't you get confused as well?
2. Not enough props -- there was a part where Melchior was supposed to be in a graveyard and there were tubes everywhere, but uh.. the Manila production didn't even have fake tombstones in the area.

Guess those are the downsides and ups for now.


Now, for those of you who are going to watch [in other countries, or for the next run of this play in Manila, whenever that may be], here's some things you have to prepare yourself for: *a bit of spoilers. Skip this part if you want to be totally surprised*
1.  There's some instances of masturbation that were shown in the play. It's not the explicit kind, of course, but still, don't be shocked.
2. There's some breast & butt exposure [but I heard that there was nudity in the other country's version? can anyone verify this? I am off to surf reviews from other countries after I post this]
3. Suicide is tackled
4. They talk about sex
5. Male kissing is also included [yes, the homo kind, not the bromance kind]
6. Abortion

Overall, the play is very good, its worth my time and money. It's one of those plays that made the hairs at the back of my neck stand up. Good, good, good. Actors were also awesome [Joaquin Valdez is good as Melchior, but the dude that played Moritz? Hats off to you, you were also good as well], the venue is in the Central district as well so it is very accessible!

I think the last run of the play here in Manila was last Sunday, October 18th, but hey, here's wishing to another run!

After the concert, we went off to a secondhand bookstore, and I snagged myself a copy of "The Duchess" by Amanda Foreman. Whee!