What's a musical made of? One of the producers of this West Side Story said that they have trainers for singing, acting, and dancing.
What can I say about this West Side Story? Christian Bautista is a good singer. That's it.
One word comes to mind. Stiff.
But, he's just the money maker in the group (to appeal to the masses). I would think if he does this more often, obviously he can make it big time... in acting and dancing. Of course, remaking popular ballads is the sure money maker. So doing this was a little bit of a risk for him. Kudos to him.
Anyway, I think the problem with Christian Bautista (I saw the very first showing on opening night) was that he was concentrating on his vocals. I would have thought that in stage musicals, the singing would be secondary (i.e. it comes naturally) to the actor-dancers.
Joanna Ampil of course is a given, though now I think I would've loved to see how Kyril (correct spelling?) did her Maria.
By the way, what does "Teodoro" mean? I know that's Spanish for Theodore. But apparently, it was being used to mean something like "goodbye" or "see you again soon" or "I love you."
We got West Side Story tickets for just P500 and well, I saw Avenue Q by a different production outfit and starring Aiza Seguerra as Gary Coleman also for the same amount. It was worth all 50,000 centavos for Avenue Q. I cannot say the same for West Side Story.
Now talking about Aiza Seguerra. Through Avenue Q, I thought most Filipino actors are better theatre actors and less of film actors. I did say most Filipino actors. I think Aiza is one of those.
In any case, I liked having to watch these two and I would love to see more from Filipinos.
By the way, maybe it mattered that I watched West Side Story at the Meralco Theatre, where you can really see how short the actors are to be playing Caucasian characters (and you have larger expectations about the sound system - which failed). For Avenue Q, I saw it at the RCBC (Makati) Theatre which was much smaller than Meralco - but for the scale I think it was just right. :-D
Oh, I guess what makes West Side Story worth P500 is the live music played by... The Philippine Philharmonic Orchestra? I forgot who. I guess they're the saving grace of the night (and the show).
Problem with Avenue Q - there's a little bit of sex there although it was hidden behind puppets and symbols. So it's not for everyone.
If you're an adult, Avenue Q is very entertaining, I give it a rating of 4 (must-watch!). If you do not yet have the mind of an adult, you might just say bad things about Avenue Q, so steer clear of it.
If you're not deaf, West Side Story is a 3; a must watch for theatre/stage/play/musicals lovers or for those who can afford it. Not worth it.
hi, this is tita gigi reinoso. per pdi's resident theater critic, christian's voice is thin and weak and his acting stilted. karylle has a good voice but not as good as joanna ampil's. the orchestra should be great because it is conducted by gerard salonga, summa cum laude of berklee college of music boston and one of the musicians i admire a lot. maybe i will not spend 500 pesos just to watch a bunch of caucasian wannabes, hahaha. wrong choice of play to stage - they should have done phantom of the opera na lang, hahaha
ReplyDeletehi tita gigi. i agree with your comments. thanks for posting them! :-)
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