Updates: Seussical, In The Heights, N2N Repeat and other shows you should look forward to

I haven't been updating this blog for a couple of months, well, because of college stuffs, too, I guess. And I didn't even get the time to write a review for Repertory Philippines' Seussical, and Atlantis Productions' In The Heights and Next to Normal (Repeat). So, I decided to write a mini-review on these shows.


Repertory Philippines' Seussical:

The story centers around Horton the Elephant, who finds himself faced with a double challenge--not only must he protect his tiny friend Jojo (and all the invisible Whos) from a world of naysayers and dangers, but he must guard an abandoned egg, left to his care by the irresponsible Mayzie La Bird. Although Horton faces ridicule, danger, kidnapping and a trial, the intrepid Gertrude McFuzz never loses faith in him, the only one who recognizes "his kind and his powerful heart." Ultimately, the powers of friendship, loyalty, family and community are challenged and emerge triumphant, in a story that makes you laugh and cry.

This year's presentation of Repertory Philippines for children's theater is a must-watch! Besides its well-loved stories by Dr. Seuss, this production makes you visually full because the stage is bursting with colors and bubbles. With music and lyrics by Stephen Flaherty and Lynn Ahrens, even the songs makes you want to jive from your seats. Everything is so perky, from sets to the costumes. The only problem is the costumes looked cheaply made, but that aside, the production is well-made considering its cheap ticket prices. This show has various sets of cast, but you have to catch Bituin Escalante, most especially, because she was the bomb (imagine, pregnant and still jumping to Sour Kangaroo?).  

Seussical runs until December 2011 on OnStage, Greenbelt 1. For tickets, visit Repertory.ph or call Ticketworld at 571-6926.

Plus, my friend Michelle is in the cast and this is her first professional production! (Clap! Clap! Clap!)


Atlantis Productions' In The Heights:

The musical is an affectionate portrait of the Hispanic community in Manhattan's Washington Heights, showcasing hip-hop, salsa, merengue and soul music. Usnavi courts Vanessa, and dreams of opening a bar back home in the Dominican Republic. Nina is in love with Benny, but her father is against their union because he wants Nina to complete her education at Stanford University, and is prepared to sell his business to finance her. In the meantime, their friend Abuela wins $96,000 in a numbers game. 

I didn't set my expectations high when I went to watch In The Heights last September. Besides of its "printed" set, the stage was crowded of set pieces and the production didn't quite match with the size of the Carlos P. Romulo Auditorium stage. But, as the other reviews say, In The Heights is a capsulized telenovela put on stage with brilliant music and lyrics by Lin-Manuel Miranda. The musical brings heat on stage brought by its music, choreography and book. And, because we are a Spanish-cultured country, I found the musical relevant that it might have happened in some barangay in our country. What I like best about this production is the talent: it isn't stunt cast (except if you consider K-La, but I don't) and there's pure musical theater talent on stage; commending Ima Castro and K-La Rivera.  

In The Heights will re-run March next year. You'll never know, you might just bump into Lin-Manuel Miranda in RCBC Plaza! Why? Because he is going to watch the show. Duh.

Atlantis Productions' Next to Normal (Re-run): 

Next to Normal tells the story of how a family is impacted by a mother with bipolar disorder. Grounded in contemporary subjects, the musical considers how a suburban family copes with immense crisis and how far two parents will go to protect their children, and keep their lives unbroken by mental illness.

I've reviewed this show before (Click here to read review) so I'll just tell you how much this show changed from its first run early this year. It's unbelievable how a musical which I've watched a million times (including bootlegs) can make you sob over and over again. It shouldn't have that effect on me since I've seen it before, but this is what's amazing about this musical. It has "deeper" depth the second time around. The cast is much, much effective (especially Felix Rivera) this time, but an exception is Markki Stroem who plays Henry. I had this feeling that he had less enthusiasm about being on the show which made him look plain and lifeless on stage. But, still, it depends on one's character choices. Unfortunately, I don't think this musical will be staged ever on the Philippine stage; a decade past, maybe.


Other musicals you should look forward to:

• Atlantis Productions' The Little Mermaid starring Rachelle Ann Go and Erik Santos. Runs from November 18 to December 11 at the Meralco Theater. For tickets, visit http://www.atlantisproductionsinc.com. Directed by Chari Arespacochaga and Bobby Garcia.

• Last few shows of Repertory Philippines and Stages' Peter Pan starring Sam Concepcion and Tippy Dos Santos. Runs until October 30, 2011 at the Meralco Theater. For tickets visit http://repertory.ph or call Ticketworld at 571-6926. Directed by Jaime Del Mundo and Menchu Lauchengco-Yulo.

• Resorts World's The Sound of Music with Joanna Ampil and Cris Villonco currently running until December (might extend). Tickets are available at the Resorts World Manila Box Office and all TicketWorld outlets.