Newly renovated Aliw Theater reopens, Ballet Manila previews comeback season

Lisa Macuja-Elizalde at the newly renovated Aliw Theater stage

When Ballet Manila launched its 24th performance season back in July 2019, the company's CEO and then Co-Artistic Director Lisa Macuja-Elizalde announced that her choreographic take on Giuseppe Verdi's opera La Traviata would serve as the finale for that season. Initial plans included a live orchestra to be conducted by longtime collaborator Alexander Vikulov and Andrew Fernando with the artists of the Klassical Music Foundation taking on the singing roles. And then the fire that gutted Star City, Star Theater, and damaged Aliw Theater happened.

Ibong Adarna ballerinas before the ribbon cutting

With a  downscaled production utilizing pre-recorded music, La Traviata, double billed with Rudy de Dios' Carmina Burana, was still staged in March 2020, the weekend before everything came to a halt because of the pandemic.

A scene from La Traviata

More than two years later, La Traviata is set to stage a comeback at the newly renovated Aliw Theater in Rise, happening on October 7 & 9, 2022.

Double billed with Ballet and Ballads, this production of La Traviata will be closer to what Lisa Macuja-Elizalde has initially envisioned. There will be live orchestra music, utilizing the Aliw Theater orchestra pit, to be conducted by Gerard Salonga who also serves as music director. Baritone Andrew Fernando leads the lineup of opera singers that also include soprano Jade Riccio and tenor Ivan Nery.

Rise will mark Ballet Manila's first live public performance at the newly renovated Aliw Theater. And it is not just the theater that has gotten upgrades but the entire building as well, now christened as the Elizalde Complex.

Reb Atadero, Lisa Macuja-Elizalde, and Mitch Valdez

New amenities in the complex make the building more versatile than just being a venue for ballets, concerts, and other performances. At the ground level, the 370 square meter area Elizalde Hall includes a lobby and two meeting rooms that can house small conferences, business meetings, forums, and symposiums.

Intimate recitals, rehearsals, gallery exhibits, and even banquets and receptions can now be accommodated at the Custom Spaces, a 500 square meter area, located at the upper level of the complex.

The balcony scene from Romeo and Juliet

And probably a huge relief to all is the presence of numerous rest rooms throughout the complex guaranteed to lessen the long lines during intermissions.

All these changes, especially the Custom Space, meant that the audience capacity of the Aliw Theater has been trimmed to 1,275 from the 2,300+ seats it had before. But the theater boasts of a new, flexible LED screen on stage and top of the line lights and speakers. The interior now sport new seats, air filters, as well as carpeted floors and modified walls that improve upon the theater's acoustics.

A scene from Lisa Macuja-Elizalde's Cinderella

Ballet Manila's comeback performance Rise happening on October 7 & 9, 2022 coinciding with Lisa's birthday, will be a showcase of Aliw Theater's improved technical specifications. The company is also set to stage Lisa Macuja-Elizalde's Cinderella to inaugurate its Holiday Cheer Series on December 25-30, 2022.

The 25th Performance Season, billed as Of Hope and Homecoming begins with Martin Lawrance's Romeo and Juliet on February 18-19, 2023. It will be followed by Don Quixote with guest artists from San Francisco Ballet on May 27-28, 2023. Gerardo Francisco's Ang Ibong Adarna wraps up the season on August 19-20, 2023. The shift in the performance schedule of the season to 2023 was made in order not to clash with other ballet companies' respective seasons.