Stageshow Closing Night

Roeder Camañag and Liesl Batucan

To say that Tanghalang Pilipino’s Stageshow had a rough first week was an understatement. First of all, it had to contend its opening week with the last week of the much touted Phantom of the Opera. And it didn’t help much that the publicity for Stageshow was scarce also. So it broke my heart to know that it got clobbered by the Phantom in terms of audience turn out during its first week. But somehow, the dozens of people who had seen Stageshow became very vocal and rallied behind the show, urging people to see it before it ends its very limited two week run. And it worked since the attendance picked up considerably on its second week.

Roeder Camañag

I did manage to catch a performance of Stageshow during its second week. More specifically, I was able to catch its last performance. I was glad that I got to see a different set of leads during my second viewing. For the closing performance, Liesl Batucan and Roeder Camañag played the roles of Ester and Tirso respectively with May Bayot portraying the role of Magdea. Right from the opening number of Mambo Magsaysay, it was already noticeable that Liesl and May are very good singers enabling the Tres Dahlias (with Angelina Kanapi as Chabeng) to do three part harmonies which I really loved. Liesl also provided a sense of lightness and optimism that radiated even when her character went through hard times. I believed that things would turn out right for her in the end because Liesl’s Ester who believed it too convinced me. Roeder, on the other hand, exuded swagger and sexiness as Tirso. He delivered competent vocals which was expected since he’s had extensive musical theater experience and a recording career at one point to boot. Liesl and Roeder also were light on their feet and exhibited good carriage during the tap dancing sequence. I don’t want to say which Tirso, Ester or Magdea was better. All I can say is that I am one lucky chap to be able to see different actors portray the same roles. Seeing both sets of actors gave me a more complete experience with Stageshow.

And something a little extra was on hand after the show as well as Nanding Josef, Tanghalang Pilipino’s artistic director gave out awards to Bayani Casimiro (received by his son Tony Casimiro), Pilita Corales and German Moreno. These three are some of the celebrities who have had some experience performing at stageshows. And German Moreno was very emotional when he received his award since he was greatly affected with what he saw with Stageshow. His lengthy acceptance speech was littered with anecdotes during his stageshow days which entertained the audience.

Stageshow cast members with Pilita Corales and German Moreno

I do hope that others who failed to see Stageshow during its initial run will get to see it when it gets re-staged for the National Theater Festival. This production, directed by Chris Millado is the last play written by the late Mario O’Hara. Catch Stageshow on November 7, 2012 at 8:00 PM and November 8, 2012 at 3:00 PM at the Cultural Center of the Philippines’ Tanghalang Aurelio Tolentino (CCP Little Theater).