PHILIPPINES THEATER REVIEWS

London’s smash theatrical concert “The Simon & Garfunkel Story,” a loving musical tribute to the famed American folk-rock duo, has just made its only Asian stop this year at The Theatre at Solaire....

The 1943 children’s novel by French writer poet Antoine de Saint-Exupéry, 'The Little Prince,' is a classic literary piece meant for adults. Instead of children-friendly explorations of friendship, love, and fantasy, it blows heavier with darker themes of loneliness, obsession, and loss....

Amidst excitement and anticipation, 'Asian Persuasion,' a film by Tony and Grammy-winning Filipino producer Jhett Tolentino, premiered on Monday evening, November 27, at SM Megamall Cinema 2. During the exclusive press screening, press members along with the cast and creatives talked about the futur...

How the 18th-century American Revolutionary War is depicted in the Pulitzer Award-winning musical 'Hamilton' continues to thrill patrons and theatergoers, now in its last week at The Theatre at Solaire. This production marks 'Hamilton’s' first international tour, which will soon transfer to the Et...

Jon (Jef Flores, Khalil Ramos), the protagonist in Jonathan Larson's 'tick, tick.... BOOM!' is a struggling composer who is days away from turning 30. He can’t help but hear that internal clock clicking: he doesn’t want to turn a year older without something groundbreaking to show....

With the birth of a new theater company, Tanghalang Una Obra, whose creatives were closely associated with Gantimpala Theater Foundation, comes 'Ibarra,' a reworking of the latter’s yearly production of 'Kanser,' based on Dr. Jose Rizal’s first novel, 'Noli Me Tangere.' But this time, it present...

A little over 10 years since Actor's Actors Inc.'s The Necessary Theatre premiered John Logan's Tony Award-winning play 'Red' in Asia, the theater company brings back the two-hander on stage. Bart Guingona still plays the abstract expressionist Mark Rothko, while JC Santos plays his fictional studio...

If you were to stage a 20-year-old two-hander post-pandemic, it’d be a smart move to update its directorial decisions and the script’s words and dialogues, especially with the play’s themes about young love, pre-marital sex, and peer pressure meant to resonate, at the least, with the Gen Zers ...

It took eight years for three-time Tony awardee Jack O’Brien-directed 'The Sound of Music,' a warhorse title from the Rodgers and Hammerstein’s catalog, to reach the Philippines’ capital—a rare feat because most of the international productions visiting town are either from South Africa or t...

Learning music mogul Clive Davis gave the imprimatur to 'Whitney Houston: I Wanna Dance with Somebody,' the biopic of Davis’s former protegee and the late music icon Whitney Houston, promises topnotch musical sequences, which would not disappoint--even the most critical superfans. ...

Witnessing a postmodern reimagination of a sublime 20th-century Rodgers and Hammerstein musical makes one realize there is a darker, yet more revealing, life’s perspective. In Repertory Philippines’ 'Carousel,' director Toff de Venecia incorporates what we obsess about in this digital age, e.g.,...

'I Will, the Musical' successfully premiered at the iconic Manila Metropolitan Theater stage on October 14, almost a year after it was filmed at the Music Museum and streamed online in 2021....

To say 'Anak Datu' is immensely personal and political is an understatement, and the uninitiated ticket buyer could find it rather deceitful at first. Pre-opening, TP’s marketers were masquerading the production as a play with music told in multi-universes than a multi-layered creative protest at ...

True to its original form, the zarzuela, 'Mula Sa Buwan,' whose original title 'Cyrano: Isang Sarswela,' fuses songs, dances, romance, and revolutionary overtones, which, in essence, is immensely faithful to its main inspiration, Edmond Rostand’s 1897 French play Cyrano de Bergerac, more specifica...

A summer night couldn’t be more propitious: an amphitheatre sitting loftily atop rugged Antipolo terrains adorned with humongous homalomenas, philodendrons, and alocasias growing uninterruptedly, a buzzing crowd of guests gushing over the museum’s Castillan-influenced architecture jutting into t...

There are very few times in a reviewer’s career where he/she can honestly say they saw a perfect performance. This past weekend at The Music Center at Strathmore international star of stage, screen, and the concert stage Lea Salonga gave a perfect performance. Her Dream Again Tour has a song list...

On Valentine’s week, Steven Spielberg’s first full-length musical film, 'West Side Story,' which recently been nominated for seven Oscar Awards, including this year’s 'Best Picture,' finally screens in Philippine cinemas starting February 16....

Staging 'Island Song' virtually seems to fit in this pandemic season since live events are currently limited in the Philippines. However, Artremix Productions successfully made it possible to inspire theater enthusiasts and practitioners not to lose hope, as if theater is still alive [physically]. T...

Good musicals are like magnets a?' they attract crowds from near and far that not even pervasive talks of a global pandemic could stop them from inflicting their charm on their willing patrons....

Tanghalang Pilipino (TP) stages Malou Jacob's Batang Mujahideen as part of its 33rd season, titled a?oeMakidigma.a?? According to TP Artistic Director Nanding Josef, the group has had the piece for years, unable to include it in its season lineup until now....

The Philippine Theater Educational Association's (PETA) 52nd season-ender is unlike the more popular stage plays (e.g., The Normal Heart or Angels in America), which also talk about HIV and AIDS. Categorized by its creators as a a?oedrama anthology,a?? Under My Skin is a one-act play that weaves thr...

Repertory Philippines (REP) opens its 2020 season with the backstage comedy Stage Kiss, a straight play written by distinguished playwright Sarah Ruhl, who also wrote The Vibrator Play and Eurydice....

CATS is a bizarre musical, to begin with, and it's understandably complex to adapt it into a film....

It is essential to be authentic because a production like this speaks of our cultural identity....

Shakespeare's works are classics, and there's a reason why they have stood the test of time. Just recently, the embattled UK-based Shakespeare Rose Theatre was about to make its international debut by staging Macbeth and A Midsummer Night's Dream in Manila. However, it was suddenly canceled. This No...