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| Kim Molina, Sandino Martin, and Teetin Villanueva |
Ballet Philippines’
latest production, Manhid: The Pinoy Superhero Musical, featured a bunch of characters who each possess a unique
superpower. But one superpower, if I may call it that, that definitely stood
out during the show’s opening night was the amazing vocal chops displayed by
the production’s female leads namely Teetin Villanueva, Kim Molina, Jean Judith
Javier, Ronah Rostata, KL Dizon and Mayen Estañero.
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| Sandino Martin |
I am
not saying that the male leads Sandino Martin and Fred Lo lacked in the vocal
department. It’s just that the women who sang, outnumbering the men who did six to two, exhibited more variety, range,
texture and depth.
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| Teetin Villanueva |
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| Kim Molina |
As
Lam-Ang, Teetin sang with a soothing voice that sometimes showed a mean streak
just like the wind that she commands. Kim, as the slum bred Allunsina,
displayed spunk and power that made each expletive she threw sting a lot more. Jean
Judith soared with her haunting soprano voice as Dilim, the nightclub singer
who acted as one of the narrators. Playing Lagrimas, Ronah’s voice sounded as
if she was indeed always in tears. KL, as Urduja, was a force of nature with
her strong classical singing background and her opening duet was one of the
highlights of the entire show. Lastly, Mayen’s vocal stylings showed how cunning
and manipulative Mamalahi-ma is. As I’ve said above, Sandino, the dreamer
Bantugan and Fred, the seducer Radia Indarapatra actually did pretty well. It’s
just that they were outnumbered and out powered by the very vocally strong
female leads.
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| Fred Lo |
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| KL Dizon |
Plot
wise, I struggled initially with Manhid,
as the opening songs didn’t seem to follow a narrative thread to me and it
became difficult to identify who’s who, how each character is related to the
others, and what set them into motion. And since they’re superheroes/villans,
there was an added task of figuring out their individual powers, who are the
heroes of Maragtas and the villains
of the Tulisan ng Bayan. Even more,
the world of Manhid is set in an
alternate reality where the 1986 EDSA Revolution failed, so the origin section
had to show the kind of world the characters are living in. All this was too
much to take in that I think the plot suffered a bit. What’s notable is that
the same problem of introductions at the expense of the plot moving is also
encountered in the first issues of comicbooks. It was only during the second
act that things started looking more together plot wise although things just
got bleaker for our heroes as they get rounded up by the scheming Mamalahi-ma
with the help of her henchmen. The heroes, earning themselves a second wind and
hungry for a payback, set up the third act which was the final, all-out battle
in which the outcome I won’t spoil in here.
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| Jean Judith Javier |
Of
course, my ears were all on the songs composed by Kanakan Balintagos (when he
was still Aureaus Solito), Vincent de Jesus, and the Eraserheads along with
Carina Evangelista writing some of the lyrics. It was not that easy trying to
figure out which song was composed by who if I just had to rely on the music
arrangement by Francis de Veyra of Radioactive Sago Project, the live band
accompanying the shows. De Veyra did a swell job in giving the musical a
streamlined sound. A heavy dose of the brass section provided a packed punch
during upbeat numbers while a muted trumpet gave a cool and sexy vibe in some
of the slow paced songs. And it was a delight to hear Kailan by the Eraserheads
in its original context which is actually tinged with treachery.
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| Buddy Zabala and Ely Buendia |
It
amused me to see some of the Ballet Philippines dancers having spoken lines namely
Richardson Yadao, playing Apolaki with an Amboy accent, Victor Maguad as Gawigawen,
and Jean Marc Cordero as Sarimanok. Cyril Fallar, as Sidapa, even sang for a
couple of measures. Other company members like Earl John Arisola as Malyari,
Katherine Trofeo as Gonongleda, and Rita Winder as Rasagadang were just limited
to dancing and yet came out as very creepy as the silent villains.
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| Vincent de Jesus speaks during the post-show press conference |
With
the guest artists/singers taking a more prominent role in this production, Manhid felt like a typical musical but
one that has very strong and competent dancers. In comicbooks, a hero who just
acquired his superpowers often struggle in using and controlling them, and
often fumbles at his first fights. In the same way, Manhid also encountered the same problem especially with its large
cast and a larger than life story. The
opening night was plagued by problems concerning lapel microphones and unsure
blocking, a typical problem encountered during the first shows. It would be
very interesting to see how the production gets more polished and put together
towards the end of the run. I am also curious to see how the alternates namely
Regina de Vera, Ricardo Magno, Gold Villar and especially the theater newbie
Mark Anthony Grantos will fare in their respective shows.
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