The PETA has always come out with something interesting these past few seasons, this year, being the musical Rak of Aegis, with music coming from the extensive discography of the popular local band.
Congratulations talaga to whoever is choosing their list of plays and musical every season, because they have struck this wise balance of having crowd-pleasers, compulsory school play material and that random local difficult material! Last year, it was Bona that filled their theaters. The other year, it was Care Divas. This year, it's Rak of Aegis.
Performance-wise, the cast gave a veritable tour-de-force!! Everyone was just plain outstanding! This was the first time also that I've seen the husband and wife team of Isay Alvarez and Robert Sena perform and no wonder they were Miss Saigon cast members! World-class talaga sila magperform!
The main lead who had to sing the outrageously high notes of Aegis' songs was also very good, and bow talaga ako sa kanya! I mean, you would have to vocalize really really well, if you want to hit those high notes!
And they don't do it the David-Foster-Whitney Houston way where it starts quietly building into a throbbing crescendo. The songs of Aegis are so in your face, first note pa lang, mataas na agad!
So for these actors to do it twice a day, good luck talaga sa vocal chords nila!
The production design was also very good! I loved it! I love the water canal in the middle and that sequence where they sang one of Aegis' more popular songs and then the rain comes down!! It was fantastic to watch! I also loved that bubbles bit! Very creative! Tapos right choice of song pa!
I really wished I were more familiar with their songs because everyone on my right, were really enjoying themselves because I think they really knew Aegis' songs!
I found the story a bit heavy though and it hit so close to home, it kinda dampened my mood a bit. I strongly suggest you find that Aegis CD that you have (I know you have one! How else can you know Basang Basa sa Ulan and that Halik song!)
Congratulations Michael Martinez for qualifying for the finals in men's figure skating! Ang hirap pala magqualify for the finals - may cut-off score!! Akala ko rankings ang labanan, hindi pala.
Good luck sa finals! I saw the free program of the pairs figure skating yesterday and OMG, the Russians really were worlds apart from the rest of the field. Nilampaso at vinacuum cleaner talaga ang competition! The faces of the two Russian gold and silver medalists pairs read "Eat this, motherf******!" to their fellow competitors!! Even the German world champion pair who won bronze looked dazed and shellshocked. Even the performance of the Chinese pair which was so clean and flawless looked very elementary.
Anyway, I'm excited to see what the best male figure skaters can actually do to set them apart from the mere mortals......And to Michael, mabuhay ka! Based on the age of the oldest competitor, if you just stay healthy and competitive, you can actually participate in 3 more Winter Olympic Games!
Art fair for the cognoscenti and the people
Sa totoo lang, my brother Vic has more exquisite taste in art than me. The paintings that he has bought are really beautiful and he's one of the people who do not really care about the artist and the buzz around that artist. Basta when he sees something he likes, he buys it. Ako naman, I've been gravitating more to abstract art so much so that Mama said to me one day, "Magkano yan? 40k? Ako na lang magpaint nyan. Kaya ko yang gawin. (Mama is a Fine Arts graduate of UP)." Ganun. So ngayon, when I go to galleries, di ko na siya sinasama haha joke!
One of the events that I really want to see is Art Basel, but I think I should start with the local version na lang muna. Imagine, kahit isang art fair dito wala pa akong na-aattend, que horror! Anyway, I've placed this na on my calendar and ayun, makikisawsaw kahit walang pera at cannot talk intelligently about art. Just like Vic, and I guess most people, we all love beautiful things di ba? And for people like me who write for a living, we need to be inspired. Life is boring e. We need a spark of inspiration, from time to time.
