Bonifacio, Isang Sarswela

In line with Andres Bonifacio’s 150^th birth anniversary happening on the November 30, 2013, productions commemorating this milestone are part of several performing companies’ offerings for this season. And the first Bonifacio themed show that I was able to see was Philippine Stagers Foundation’s latest musical entitled Bonifacio, Isang Sarswela.

This new musical boasts the same creative team of Atty. Vincent Tañada (writer and director) and Pipo Cifra (composer) who were also the brains behind PSF’s previous musicals like Cory ng EDSA, a Filipino Musicale and Joe: A Filipino Rock’sical. After seeing a performance at the SM City NORTH EDSA, I think that Bonifacio, Isang Sarswela is clearly the best among the three musicals that I’ve seen so far from this theater company.

Unlike their previous two musicals, Bonifacio, Isang Sarswela stuck mostly to the story of the rise and fall of Andres Bonifacio (Vince Tañada), known as the El Supremo of the Katipunan who led the revolution against the Spaniards during the late 19^th century. Gone this time are the fictitious characters whose own stories ran parallel to the main historical character as seen in Cory and Joe. This meant that there were no present day characters to serve as the narrators and also as the audience’s eyes to the historical moments shown in the musical. What is left is a more straightforward and yet gripping narrative littered with historical figures like Gregoria de Jesus (Cindy Liper), Emilio Aguinaldo (Jordan Ladra), Hilaria Aguinaldo (Monique Azerreda), Emilio Jacinto (Patrick Libao), and Macario Sakay (Chin Ortega) that aimed to shed light on how Bonifacio’s demise could possibly had been at the hands of his fellow countrymen.

This doesn’t mean that the signature elements one has learned to expect from a PSF production were no longer there. Bonifacio, Isang Sarswela is still a visual spectacle with energetic choreography, and a dazzling and triumphant finale.

During the performance that I was able to catch, Tañada and Libao did an impromptu scene, much to my surprise, to perk up the audience made up mostly of students. This humorous bit of fluff did liven up the audience but for me, it broke the flow of the story which has already gotten more serious and compelling at that point. I guess that in an ideal world when the theater audience is more mature, this deviation from the original material will not be needed anymore. I do think that the work’s darker mood felt that this musical could no longer qualify as a sarswela which is typically light and comedic. But this dark turn, and the more serious nature of Bonifacio, Isang Sarswela, was definitely a step in the right direction for PSF if you ask me.