Manhid
the Musical
As a theater
enthusiast, I watched Manhid the Musical at the Cultural Center of the
Philippines Main Theater. At first, I don’t have a clear idea of what would be
the storyline. By knowing their tagline “Pinoy Superhero Musical” and by looking
at their poster, I assumed that it would be like a Marvel Comics or DC Comics
kind of plot. The musical was produced by the Ballet Philippines, one of the
leading ballet company in the country. Without any doubt, I expected that the
show will be filled with dance numbers. I also thought that the musical would
be primarily watched by children since most of them are superhero fans. It
turned out that the musical was Rated-13 and it piqued my curiosity as to what
would be the content of the musical.
I attended the last
staging on March 8, 6 pm. The show had a good number of viewers. I was
fortunate that there were still available seats at the Balcony II of the
theater. My seat was not as conducive as I wished because my location was on
the upper part of the theater.
Before the show
started, I read the playbill to have an idea about the show. It was an original
Filipino Musical and it was first staged back in the year 1991. Written by
Aureaus Solito and performed by UP Tropa Experimental Theater student artists,
this musical was staged for people empowerment during that time. It was created
for the protest against Filipinos who were apathetic to certain civic issues of
the country. This production of Ballet Philippines was the third re-staging
after 24 years and this was for the commemoration of the EDSA People
Revolution.
Manhid was about the
future of the Philippines if there will be no uprising to happen. The
characters are called the “Children of Protest” who were named after the great
heroes of Filipino epics. They have special powers, just like any other kind of
superheroes, and they will use these to fight against the antagonist
Mamalahi-ma, the Minister of Humanity. But the children of Protest” was divided into
two; the “Maragtas” were the good heroes, and the “Tulisan ng Bayan” were the
evil ones and they were on the side of the Minster of Humanity. Mamalahi-ma’s
mission was to kill the “Maragtas” so that she can rule the whole country
without any interruption. A battle between the two rival groups climaxes the
story surviving only the strongest and the powerful. At the end, the wicked
Mamalahi-ma was killed by the good heroes of the musical. The triumph was still
dependent to the people. The freedom was given to them whether they will become
indifferent or they will be proactive citizens of the country.
Relating it to EDSA
revolution, Mamalahi-ma represents the dictator Marcos, the Maragtas were the
activists, and the Tulisan ng Bayan were the loyalist armed soldiers of Marcos
during the Martial Law regime.
Curtains
up
I am expecting many
things in Manhid. I watched it because I want to see if there were developments
in Pinoy musicals when it comes to production and stage design. Regarding the
story plot, indeed it was moving and affecting. But I want to see if the
theater techniques and the over-all production of the musical were effective in
bringing the message to the viewers.
During the first act,
there were many things happening on the stage: dancing ensembles, projected visuals
at the back drop, and the rock music, making the whole number as chaotic as you
can imagine. It captured the image of a disturbed society where everyone was
apathetic on what was happening. But the technique of the stage design was not
effective in putting up the whole production, hence making the scene confusing.
There were no focal points on the stage, and just like reading comic strips,
sometimes your eyes will be drawn into different parts of the page, or you
might read a dialog in a balloon that shouldn’t be read first. Same with this musical,
the visual contents were overflowing that the spotlighted acts were not noticed
during the performance. In addition, the rock band music was overpowering that
the singing lines of the characters were not clear to be heard.
One the other hand, the music and score rocked
the whole musical.
The gracefulness of ballet dance and the toughness of rock music was a great tandem in the performances. Despite the weak spots of the musical, still the show was a mark in the hearts and mind of all the viewers because of its universal message of sacrifice and freedom.
