Showing posts with label n2n in manila 2011. Show all posts

Friday, October 7, 2011

A Next to Normal Life?

By Anton Diaz

Original Article can be found HERE

Life is Crazy

I realized that all of us live a crazy kind of life.

We turn into our own monsters at times, just to cope with the pressure of everyday living.

The insanity is only made bearable by our family and friends.

When you are an employee, you long for the day when you own your own time and hit it big with your own business.

When you are an entrepreneur, you think of your more carefree employee days

when you had a consistent salary and comfortable benefits.

You wish for a perfect family but instead you get a quirky one with little habits that annoy you at times.

You hate living a life of compromises.

We all have our personal crazy stories that we are afraid to share with other people because we might lose face.

Natalie sings it beautifully in the song, Maybe (Next to Normal):

"I don’t need a life that’s normal.
That’s way too far away.
But something next to normal,
Would be okay."

Yes, I agree -- A Life Next to Normal is OK.

An Insanely Great Cast
Thank you to Menchu Lauchengco-Yulo, who played Diana Goodman (a woman struggling with bipolar disorder and grieving the loss of her son), for taking us on an emotional roller coaster ride that made us reflect on our lives.
Thank you to her powerful co-actor Jett Pangan (of The Dawn), who played Diana's ever-supportive husband Dan, for portraying our own hopes and struggles.

We are fans of Felix Rivera and have watched most of his shows. His performance as Gabe was chilling and crucial in the whole drama.
We were impressed with BlueREP alumna Bea Garcia's convincing portrayal of Natalie. It felt like the role was written with her in mind. Congrats to The not-so-invisible girl!

As for Pilipinas Got Talent’s Markki Stroem, who played Natalie's boyfriend Henry, we wished he could be at par with Bea. Anyway, there's always room for improvement.

Unexpected Plot
I was not expecting Next to Normal to be a rock musical-telenovela-drama. I was actually ready to laugh but I cried instead -- my first time while watching a musical.

The reason I love watching musicals is that I always look for that kurot sa puso. It's that feeling that hits you in your core and, if you are lucky, it can change you forever.

Next to Normal has that Rent-like kurot and the unconventional frankness of Avenue Q.

Maybe Brian Yorkey (author of the book and songwriter of the play) was right:

"What doctors call dysfunction
We tried to call romance
And true it's quite a trick
To tell the dancers from the dance
But rather than let chance take me
I'll take a chance"

Here's a toast to the crazies and to the chances we take in life!

Live an Awesome (but sometimes crazy) Life,

Full Disclosure: We watched a complimentary press, showbuyers and friends-of-the-theater preview of Next to Normal last night.

P.S. Next to Normal returns for a limited engagement beginning tonight, October 7, 2011, until the 16th at the Carlos P. Romulo Auditorium in RCBC.

This play is a testament to how powerful theater can be -- not only does it tug on your heartstrings, it also calls you to action. Don't miss it!

Buy that ticket now from your makulit spammer/showbuyer friend...you won't regret it.

Catch Atlantis Productions' NEXT TO NORMAL (THE REPEAT)

on October 15, 2011 / Sat / 2PM @ RCBC

RC Marzan (0922.888.5348)

Borgy Marzan (0922.888.5344)
or email: watchplays@yahoo.com

Seat Plan can be viewed here:
https://spreadsheets.google.com/spreadsheet/ccc?key=0Au4HQl0TAAC_dHR0OFpvWHZ2VUsxNzg2eTU1NWhFcmc&hl=en_US#gid=0

Tuesday, October 4, 2011

Next To Normal (The Repeat): 10 Days To Go

"This is the best production Atlantis has presented in its many years of producing theater...not with a mammoth set, a huge cast, and racks of elaborate costumes, but with simplicity and directness, and a cast of six wonderful actors whose sole purpose was to tell a good story."

- Lea Salonga

"What a lovely, painful play Next To Normal is."

- Boy Abunda

"Viewers will be inspired in the emotional roller coaster that is 'Next To Normal' as it presents the painful yet liberating experience of letting go of what causes us hurt, not just for the sake of ourselves but also for those that we love."
- Manila Bulletin

Catch Atlantis Productions' NEXT TO NORMAL (THE REPEAT)

on October 15, 2011 / Sat / 2PM @ RCBC

RC Marzan (0922.888.5348)

Naked reactions

BY SAM L. MARCELO, Senior Reporter

Original Article can be found HERE

REVIEWS ARE often written in retrospect; initial reactions are parsed and restructured with readers in mind. The language used in knee-jerk mobile-phone conversations is very different.

Included here are actual text messages that were sent and received while still reeling from the emotional punch of Next to Normal. Never meant to be published and minimally edited, they are unfiltered thoughts that are, at times, embarrassingly earnest.

Pardon the abuse of exclamation marks!!!, cuss words, emoticons and CAPITAL LETTERS. When you have a character limit, you have to take shortcuts.

March 11
AAH to SLM: Watched Next to Normal last night. Menchu was absolutely AMAZING! You have to see it. Visceral acting.

***

March 12, intermission
SLM to AAH: Gawd, this thing has made me cry several times already. I hope it has a happy ending.

FCR to SLM: When are you watching Next to Normal? :)

***
March 12, post-musical
SLM to FCR: Just finished. Fucking waterworks. So good!
AAH to SLM: Well?
SLM to AAH: Slayed! Destroyed! Perpetual lump in throat! Lip quivers and snotty sniffles! Two thumbs, eight fingers, 10 toes up!
FCR to SLM: Ah, so it’s worth it :) Ok :)
AAH to SLM: :)
SLM to FCR: Yes, it’s worth it! Let me know what you think when you see it.

SLM to AAH: Menchu was FAB all the way. Kudos to Jett Pangan, though. His part in the duet was unexpected. So raw. That part KILLED me.

AAH to SLM: You are so passionate about it. Wanna review it? :)
SLM to AAH: Nah. I’ll leave the reviewing to those who are wiser than I am. Right now, I wanna go home, hug my pillow and sleep. All I did was watch but I’m so drained! I wonder how the actors do it.

***

A few notes saved in SLM’s “Drafts” folder:
Menchu Lauchengco-Yulo = Dipped in awesome sauce.

Jett Pangan = Emotional anchor. When he loses his shit, so do we.

Break out the tissue!

Bea Garcia = Ellen Page-y.

Felix Rivera = Creeptastic Oedipal weirdo.

Jake Macapagal = ROCKSTAR.

I’m totally sapped. Much respect to the actors. Are they like Rachel Berry and Tinkerbell? Do they need applause to live? CLAPCLAPCLAPCLAPCLAPCLAPCLAPCLAPCLAPCLAPCLAP.

Catch Atlantis Productions' NEXT TO NORMAL (THE REPEAT)

on October 15, 2011 / Sat / 2PM @ RCBC

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Jett Pangan rocks the stage

By Bobby Garcia

(The Philippine Star)

Original Article can be found HERE

Jett takes on the demanding role of Dan in Next To Normal, also starring Menchu Lauchengco-Yulo, with much sincerity, confusion and heartbreak.
| Zoom

MANILA, Philippines - It has been 10 years since Jett Pangan started performing with us at Atlantis Productions. And I am convinced that this man can do anything.

When I was looking for a singer/actor to take on the difficult role of Jon in Tick, Tick…Boom!, Jonathan Larson’s semi-autobiographical rock musical, Bettina Aspillaga suggested I call Jett Pangan in to audition for the role. Slightly weary because of his rock icon status (I knew he could sing but I wasn’t sure he had the discipline for theater), I called him in to audition.

In came a really simple, pleasant, down-to-earth guy who really could sing a song like it was nobody’s business (and act it out at the same time). He didn’t bring with him any of his “rockstar coolness.” He just walked into the room with a smile and said he would love to do musical theater. And he knocked the ball out of the park as Jon. Sensitive, troubled, joyful and passionate, it was a performance that I still haven’t forgotten. Jett as Jon, sitting by a piano under the projected falling rain, singing Why with so much pain and confusion. It has become one of the most indelible musical theater moments in my career.

After Tick, Tick… Boom! Jett would go on to play some of the finest musical theater roles in Atlantis. His resumé reads like an eclectic mix of character roles and leading men that would have any New York City actor envious: Riff Raff in The Rocky Horror Show, James Thunder Early in Dreamgirls, Officer Lockstock in Urinetown, Nick in Baby, The Beast in Disney’s Beauty & The Beast, the adult male roles in Spring Awakening, Professor Callahan in Legally Blonde and, most recently, Dan in Next To Normal. How’s that for variety and unpredictability? And those are just the shows he has done with us. He has performed in numerous other productions for different theater companies in a varied number of roles making Jett the most versatile leading man in Philippine Musical Theater.

In every production of ours, Jett has jumped on board without knowing what the heck he was getting himself into. He just trusted me. And in every production, he has been a joy to work with. Professional, passionate, supportive and thrilled to be a part of the team, Jett is a director’s dream. Mix into that bag some of the finest singing and acting from any male theater performer, I count my blessings to have welcomed Jett into the Atlantis family 10 years ago.

Through the years of working together, Jett and his wife as well as their children have become family to me. We have been there for each other during the best of times…and, more importantly, during the worst. Perhaps that is an even greater gift than the joy of working together.

But the working together part is pretty awesome, too. And Next To Normal was probably the best experience we have had together. When I was casting the show last year I only had two people in mind for the lead roles: Jett and Menchu Lauchengco-Yulo. No one else. I knew I couldn’t do the show without them.

Jett sunk his teeth into the demanding role of Dan with so much sincerity, pain, confusion and heartbreak. He had everyone in the rehearsal room (and, eventually, in the theater) in tears by the time he got to his final emotionally climactic scene in Act 2. It is a performance unlike any other I have seen. The amount of truth and the simplicity of its delivery is what gets me every time. No screaming hysterics here. Jett says it all with a tender glance or a devastating look away. His Dan is, in my opinion, a definitive performance. I am so proud of the work he has done and how he triumphed in what he himself will tell you is the hardest thing he has ever done in his career. Jett as Dan, cleaning away any trace of his wife’s attempted suicide and singing I’ve Been, has become another indelible musical theater moment in my career.

Now we get the chance to do it all over again as we prepare for the repeat run of Next To Normal. It will be a bittersweet run for all of us as I suspect it will be the last time we are able to gather the amazingly talented cast, that apart from Jett and Menchu, consists of Felix Rivera, Bea Garcia, Markki Stroem and Jake Macapagal. It was next to impossible to gather them for this brief repeat run and as everyone moves on to different projects, only a miracle will allow us to do this show again with everyone fully intact.

That is what makes theater so special: The impermanence of it all. It is alive while you are watching it and it is gone when you walk out of the theater. But it doesn’t leave you empty-handed. Good theater leaves you transfixed and transformed, long after the curtain has come down and you have left the theater. And Next To Normal is that kind of a show. It stays with you long after you have gone home and gotten on with your lives.

Right before the final performance of the first run of Next To Normal last March, Jett came up to me, hugged me and asked me if we could just keep running the show forever. He was joking of course, but I knew what he meant. The show has become so special to all of us who worked on it. It is a gift unlike any other. Like Jett, we all wish we could run this show forever and with each other. None of us have ever experienced anything quite like Next To Normal before. And we count our blessings that we are all able to come back and share the show with you one last time.

We hope to see you at the theater for this very limited repeat run!

Catch Atlantis Productions' NEXT TO NORMAL (THE REPEAT)

on October 15, 2011 / Sat / 2PM @ RCBC

RC Marzan (0922.888.5348)

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It’s a mad world

BY SAM L. MARCELO, Senior Reporter

Original Article can be found HERE

THEATER
Next to Normal
Presented by Atlantis Productions

BIPOLAR DISORDER, drug abuse, suicide. On paper, Tom Kitt and Brian Yorkey’s Next to Normal seems like it wants to leave its audience a depressed mess of tears. "It’s been described as a ‘feel-everything’ musical and I couldn’t agree more," said Bobby Garcia, who is directing the rock musical. "I think everyone who sees it will respond differently depending on their own circumstances in life. Ultimately, it ends with hope and the possibility of change."

For the Manila staging of Next to Normal -- also the show’s first licensed English language production outside the United States -- Atlantis Productions assembled a dream cast headed by Menchu Lauchengco-Yulo as Dianna Goodman, a woman struggling with mental illness.

"It’s a very demanding, very emotional role," said Ms. Lauchengco-Yulo, who has been reading up on bipolar disorder. "I cannot claim to totally understand it, but I certainly have a great respect now for people who are bipolar. I just need to be focused and let the songs, which are almost all emotionally driven, affect me while I’m on stage. What’s so great about a role like this is that you really have to forget who Menchu is and find Diana."

She caught it twice on Broadway without having any idea what the story was about. She was lucky to catch Alice Ripley, who won a Tony Award for her turn as Diana, on one of those times. "It just blew me away," Ms. Lauchengco-Yulo remembered, adding that a story about a family -- a mother, father, daughter and son -- was something that anyone would be able to understand. "It will change how you see life."

Joining Ms. Lauchengco-Yulo are Jett Pangan, Felix Rivera, Bea Garcia, Jake Macapagal, and Markki Stroem. "I couldn’t imagine doing this show with anyone else," said Mr. Garcia, who had nothing but praise for his leads. He described Ms. Lauchengco-Yulo’s Diana as "a creation of breathtaking power and devastation" and Mr. Pangan’s Dan as "raw with emotion."

The director, who considers Next to Normal as one the most rewarding creative processes in his career, said that eclectic rock musical plays like an Indie film. "It is an extremely personal piece of musical theater; that’s where its power lies. Despite -- or because of -- its intimate nature, it has captured the hearts of audiences who have come to see it."

While it isn’t a glitzy Broadway musical with big production numbers, Next to Normal earned the 2009 Tony Award for Best Score and the 2010 Pulitzer Prize for Drama. The last time a rock musical won the latter was in 1996, when Jonathan Larson’s Rent took home the honor.

In an interview with Playbill.com, Mr. Kitt said that "Without Rent and Stephen Sondheim, there is no Next to Normal." Incidentally, the opening run of Next to Normal follows another theater company’s staging of Rent. Other symmetries: Michael Grief directed the original productions of Rent and Next to Normal; Mr. Garcia, meanwhile, directed the first Manila and Singapore productions of Rent in 1999 and is now taking on Next to Normal.

"I think Rent inspired a lot of musical theater collaborators to create musicals that were personal and powerful," said Mr. Garcia. " Rent showed us what the future of musical theater would be like and I think Next to Normal once again reminds us of this. It deals with themes that have never been dealt with before."

He continued that Next to Normal is a work of genius collaboration. "It has a full understanding of the evolution of musicals and where they need to head towards" he said. The production is, in a word, "extraordinary."

Catch Atlantis Productions' NEXT TO NORMAL (THE REPEAT)

on October 15, 2011 / Sat / 2PM @ RCBC

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Roller coasters and musical theater

By Lea Salonga
Philippine Daily Inquirer
Original Article can be found HERE

I LOVE a good roller-coaster ride.

Last Christmas, my family went on an outing to Disneyland, the happiest place on earth. Later in the day, once my daughter had fallen asleep, Rob and I decided to ride on California Screamin' the huge roller coaster at California Adventure.

The ride began by being shot like a cannonball towards the first rise, only to be followed by numerous twists, turns and dives. The sheer speed and force wracked our bodies every which way for the duration of the ride. Although the ride can feel like several hours, it only lasted for about a minute.

It was exhilarating to be sure, and at its conclusion we found ourselves uttering these three magical words: Let's go again!

Built to code

It was great not having to worry. The coaster was built to code, adherent to stringent building regulations, as well as constructed with painstaking attention to detail under the strictest supervision. I knew that nothing would go wrong, which then gave me the freedom to enjoy the ride to its fullest. Sure enough, California Screamin' did not in any way disappoint.

It was similar to watching musical theater.

More than just a few times, I've been sorely disappointed by mediocre to lackluster performances: flat acting, bad singing and a complete absence of skill.

Thankfully, last Sunday, that wasn't the case. I headed off to RCBC Plaza to watch the final performance of Atlantis Productions' "Next to Normal." I had previously seen this show on Broadway the day before it won three 2009 Tony Awards.

I was a wreck at the end of the Broadway performance, and anticipated the same here.

The actors in the Manila production, I've either worked with or watched over the years, so I knew that I wouldn't be thrown by a bad note or hammy acting.

Newcomer Markki Stroem had a lovely singing voice and great stage presence as Henry. Bea Garcia as Natalie was a volatile bottle of angst and it was beautiful watching her explode.

Felix Rivera was ever reliable, maintaining full vocal and emotional control as Gabe. And although I would never presume Jake Macapagal to be a rock star, that was exactly what he projected-neon lights, high pitched screams and all.

Incredible actors

The emotional center of "Next to Normal" fell in the hands of two incredible actors: Menchu Lauchengco-Yulo and Jett Pangan.

I always expect Menchu to be amazing. After witnessing her transformations into Eva Peron in "Evita" and Mrs. Lovett in "Sweeney Todd," I knew that Diana's character would be a perfect fit for Menchu's level of skill. She was in great voice, whether she used her sweet soprano or a full belt, and fit Diana like a glove.

Jett Pangan is well known as the frontman of The Dawn, a day job that has him jumping about on stage, a veritable whirling dervish performing for a mad, screaming, often sweaty crowd. As Dan however, he was always the positive presence, the calm amid the storms, the rod to everyone's wild bolts of lightning.

Heartbreaking

Although at the beginning of the show Diana made reference to her keeping all the plates spinning, it was actually Dan who did, trying to keep his entire family from crashing to the floor. At the end of the musical when he finally broke down, no longer able to hold it all together, it was heartbreaking and devastating to watch. Without a doubt, Jett is one of the finest musical leading men to grace the Philippine stage, and I look forward to many more of his appearances.

I enjoyed this production more than when I first saw it, the music more familiar than it was two years ago. I must give credit to the people behind the scenes: Bobby Garcia's masterful direction, Chari Arespacochaga's clever musical staging, the great musicians led by Ceejay Javier and finally a sound system that did not make me want to strangle the sound person in charge.

This is the best production Atlantis has presented in its many years of producing theater-not with a mammoth set, a huge cast, and racks of elaborate costumes, but with simplicity and directness, and a cast of six wonderful actors whose sole purpose was to tell a good story.

In short, this show was built to code. And everyone in that audibly sobbing audience just sat back and enjoyed it. Guys, let's go again.

Catch Atlantis Productions' NEXT TO NORMAL (THE REPEAT)

on October 15, 2011 / Sat / 2PM @ RCBC

RC Marzan (0922.888.5348)

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Next to Normal Philippines: A Musical About Pain, Loss & Love

by Maria Ressa

Original Article can be found HERE

How do you know that what you know or feel is real? What certainty do you have in your view of the world? What if the person you love only brings you pain? These are only some of the questions you’ll have after watching Atlantis Production’s Next to Normal in Manila.

It’s a rollercoaster ride that leaves you crying then laughing. It is exhausting. Part of the power comes from the parsing of information – a deliberate build-up of what you know about its characters. Ten minutes into the show you realize that the main character Diana (played by Menchu Lauchengco-Yulo) is manic depressive. In fact, the opening song skillfully blends – in song and staging – its characters’ versions of reality and fantasy.

I won’t spoil it for you by telling you more than this because the revelations and a-ha moments are part of what makes the experience memorable. Director Bobby Garcia said to bring tissues, and he was right. Garcia has pushed the growth of musical theater in the Philippines, bringing in productions which challenge Filipino stereotypes. He splits his time between New York, London, Toronto and Manila. He has a long list of credits, but let me pluck from past and future: A LITTLE NIGHT MUSIC, ZANADU, URINETOWN, HEDWIG & THE ANGRY INCH, Associate Director for MISS SAIGON and Hong Kong’s Disneyland’s first Show Director. He is about to open SACRIFICE, a musical he’s developing on London’s West End! He also brought RENT to Manila many years ago and compares NEXT TO NORMAL to that. Garcia said, “I think it’s the new RENT for those who’ve grown older and have new issues to deal with.”

NEXT TO NORMAL is – essentially – a thought-provoking musical about pain, love and loss. It is about the harshness of reality and the little things we humans do to cope. It is about hope and – as the final song says – light.

“Day after day
Wishing all our cares away
Trying to fight the things we feel,
But some hurts never heal.
Some ghosts are never gone,
But we move on.”

It’s a stretch from the campy musical lyrics to the pain the characters feel to an almost existential acceptance of it all.

“You find some way to survive,

And you find out you don’t have to be happy at all to be happy you’re alive.”

Menchu Lauchengco-Yulo does a great job with an exhausting role. Make sure you get one of her CD’s – which has songs from NEXT TO NORMAL as well as her other favorites. Rocker Jett Pangan (who plays the role of her husband, Dan) moves away from his former overenthusiastic theatrical zeal to play a more low-key character punished by life and love. Although his performance sometimes lacks color, it is nice to see him play it straight especially given the power of his voice. Felix Rivera is stellar as their son, Gabe. Bea Garcia is their daughter, Natalie, dealing with the complexity of her family life and her own search for identity; Markki Stroem (from Pilipinas Got Talent) is her boyfriend, Henry, giving her support and a life outside her troubled family. Although uneven in comparison to the main couple, that budding relationship provides a stark contrast to the tragedy of daily living for Diana and Dan. Finally, the doctor characters are played competently by Jake Macapagal.

NEXT TO NORMAL takes musical theater down a new path. Its Filipino cast and creative team adapt universal themes and opens discussions on once-taboo topics in our society. This is better than the news or an intellectual explanation of manic depression and bipolar disorder. You understand it because you feel it.

Catch Atlantis Productions' NEXT TO NORMAL (THE REPEAT)

on October 15, 2011 / Sat / 2PM @ RCBC

RC Marzan (0922.888.5348)

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A journey from hell to redemption

By Bibsy M. Carballo

(The Philippine Star)

Original Article can be found HERE

Menchu Lauchengco-Yulo and Jett Pangan lead the cast of Next to Normal with Jake Macapagal, Markki Stroem, Bea Garcia and Felix Rivera.
| Zoom

MANILA, Philippines – We don’t really know if it is a comment of the times we live in that causes movies, the plastic arts, and theater to ride the dark trend and flourish in it. Perhaps it is our way of reaching out for a catharsis that will hopefully purify us in the end.

We watch a one-eyed half drunk Marshal (Jeff Bridges), master of the long distance rifle forge a strange relationship with a girl not quite a woman (Hailee Steinfeld) out to exact vengeance for her father’s killing. The Coen Brothers’ True Grit celebrates violence with humor through relentless killings, and peril from both man and killer snakes such as the wild, wild West was capable of. In the end, quiet courage and true grit triumph in man’s validation of a soul lurking somewhere in the darkness that erases what this retaliation had propelled.

On that same day, we watch for the first time a Sofia archival find of a Mario O’Hara 1986 classic Bagong Hari, touted by critic Noel Vera as the finest Filipino action film ever made. Its symphony of brutality finds us cheering on this master of all weaponry (Dan Alvaro) in his unceasing rampage on all evil until they lay dead including himself, which would have been the real ending but sadly wasn’t. The movie is a true allegory of the Philippines during the last few months of the Marcos regime.

Menchu and Jett play wife and husband Diana and Dan

And now, we sit to digest more violence in Bobby Garcia’s Next to Normal (NTN), bringing in audiences to watch the savagery one inflicts upon oneself and family that is clearly of a different genre. It is a brutality more painful than physical wounds, its emotional battering more destructive than a bullet could ever pierce one’s heart. It is that psychotic illness called manic depression or bipolar mania characterized by dramatic and unpredictable mood swings.

Its symptoms could include excessive happiness then sadness, excitement, irritability, restlessness, increased energy, sleeplessness coupled with need for sleep, a high sex drive (shown early on in the play which induced laughter in the audience), a tendency for grand unattainable plans, and thoughts of suicide and death.

While we had thought bipolarity more to be an ailment of the Western world, Dr. Honey Carandang, renowned psychologist tells us it is quite common in the Philippines. However, she says, it seems to victimize those of high intelligence belonging to the higher income level, although she is quick to declare that this may not be a fair assessment since the poor do not have the facility to come in for treatment and therefore stand and be counted. She admits that electric shock as part of a cure used in Next to Normal was previously practiced in the Philippines but is now considered quite brutal and discouraged.

Menchu as Diana living with mental illness

The bipolar victim is given life onstage by Menchu Lauchengco-Yulo, easily today’s first lady of the legitimate theater, having gone through the ranks and trained by the best in Repertory Philippines among them the redoubtable Bibot Amador, Baby Barredo, Celia Diaz Laurel and Joy Virata. And now she works with second generation musical theater producer-director Bobby Garcia who has tirelessly championed the cause of Filipino talent in much of the Asian region from China to Malaysia and Singapore. His projects range from Rent, Rocky Horror Show to the more recent Xanadu and A Little Night Music. He has also been associate director for Miss Saigon and was Hong Kong Disneyland’s first show director when it opened in 2005.

We last watched Menchu in Rep’s Sweeney Todd, as the conscienceless Mrs. Lovett who had no compunction in serving human flesh for dinner and ask Menchu to compare them. “They are very different,” she answers. “Diana is a broken woman who suffers from a mental illness. She doesn’t have the ability to cope…Lovett, on the other hand, is a survivor. She will do what it takes to survive... What is similar between Lovett and Diana, is that they believe the world they create in their heads.”

Menchu admits that both are dark characters but Diana is more emotionally draining.

Next to Normal which started off-Broadway then moved to Broadway winning its 2010 Pulitzer prize and three Tony awards, is part of a recent trend in rock-infused musicals pioneered by Rent in confronting issues previously the domain of straight theater. The opening of NTN with the ensemble singing Just Another Day (For just another day, for another stolen hour; When the world will feel my power and obey; It’s just another day) actually reminded us so much of Rent’s Another Day. (Another Time Another Place, The Words Would Only Rhyme…You Wanna Prove Me Wrong? Come Back Another Day, Another Day).

Producer-director Bobby Garcia

Jett Pangan who has been seduced by musical theater starting from Jesus Christ, Superstar is actually into his 13^th theater project even as he continues with his rock band The Dawn’s engagements. We have watched him in The Rocky Horror Show and Dreamgirls of Atlantis, but his take on Diana’s husband Dan, he concedes, to being his most demanding as he rises to the challenge. Naturally, the rock music is part of what lures him on board. He acknowledges this in an interview, amazed how the vocal symphony in a bed of rock delivered by a few can create the sound of an entire orchestra.

But like the gloom and murkiness of our recent unplanned excursions, they all end in redemption. As Bobby has been quoted as saying, “Ultimately, it ends with hope and the possibility of change.”

The rest of the cast are made up of Felix Rivera and Bea Garcia as their children Gabe and Natalie, Markki Stroem as Natalie’s love, and Jake Macapagal as the two doctors.

Catch Atlantis Productions' NEXT TO NORMAL (THE REPEAT)

on October 15, 2011 / Sat / 2PM @ RCBC

RC Marzan (0922.888.5348)

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https://www.facebook.com/pages/Next-to-Normal-in-Manila-October-15-2011-SAT-2PM/190632594294347

Sunday, September 18, 2011

Next To Normal: A Limited Return Engagement!

- Lea Salonga's Review on Next To Normal

Ticket Prices:

P 1500 (Orchestra Center)

P 1300 (Orchestra Side)

P 1100 (Loge Center)

P 900 (Loge Back / Loge Side)

P 700 (Balcony)

DO NOT MISS IT THIS TIME!

Catch Atlantis Productions' NEXT TO NORMAL (THE REPEAT)

on October 15, 2011 / Sat / 2PM @ RCBC

RC Marzan (0922.888.5348)

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Thursday, March 17, 2011

NEXT TO NORMAL: Last Two Weekends Left!

"Give me pain if that's what's real.

It's the price we pay to feel.

The price of love is lost.

But still we pay.

We love anyway."

Catch Atlantis Productions' NEXT TO NORMAL

on March 19, 2011 / 2PM / Saturday / RCBC

Contact:

Borgy Marzan (0922.888.5344)
Robert Marzan (0922.888.5348)

or Onay Sales (0918.536.2116)

Seat Plan can be viewed here:

https://spreadsheets.google.com/ccc?key=0Au4HQl0TAAC_dF9FNVI4WGVyYTBTRWFKaGpCV05mYkE&hl=en#gid=0

Tuesday, March 8, 2011

Defining What's Normal

DIRECTLINE By Boy Abunda
(The Philippine Star)
Original Article can be found HERE

His name doesn’t command top billing but actor Jake Macapagal has things as important as stardom: A body of work and integrity.

More than two decades as theater and movie actor, Jake has portrayed a wide range of characters in major and indie projects. From key roles as healer (in Pandango) to the inconspicuous party guest (in Sakay), the soft-spoken actor has, indeed, been there, done that in a way that allowed him to even work in Japan, Singapore and Germany.

In the next few weeks, Jake will be adding to his back catalogue by playing Dr. Madden, a shrink in Atlantis Productions’ Next to Normal. His patient is the lead character Diana, who has bi-polar disorder, a psychological disorder characterized by alternating episodes of depression and mania.

“Not only did I have to research on the disorder but some of the lyrics have medical terms. It’s something I’ve not done before,” he said.

More than testing his mettle in learning tongue-twisting words, Jake said he auditioned for the role because he believes in the message of the story; that is, defining (or in this case, not defining) what is normal.

“What can be normal to you may be abnormal to someone else. Ultimately, the story tells us to not be judgmental of others,” he said.

Next to Normal is a Tony Award and Pulitzer Prize winning rock musical that addresses such issues as grieving a loss, suicide, drug abuse and ethics in modern psychiatry. Sounds heavy? Not if you ask Jake.

“It helps that there are lots of singing and that the music is country and rock, two genres that many Filipinos can relate to. It’s kinda like Rent — you have tons of fun that you hardly notice you’re learning a lot about yourself, the world and your relationships”.

Jake acknowledges that bipolar disorder as subject for a musical may be taboo, if not left-of-center, to some Filipinos. He points out that many Pinoys still frown on the idea of visiting a shrink unless he is deranged.

“But bipolar disorder can affect anyone even without them or their family knowing that he has it. So how could you address the issue if you don’t acknowledge it first and then do something about it?”

Asked if he thinks his role in Next to Normal could be his ticket to stardom, Jake just smiles. He said that what’s more important for him is that he does a variety of roles and that he gives each one justice.

Spoken like a true actor.

Catch Atlantis Productions' NEXT TO NORMAL

on March 19, 2011 / 2PM / Saturday / RCBC

Contact:

Borgy Marzan (0922.888.5344)
Robert Marzan (0922.888.5348)

or Onay Sales (0918.536.2116)

Seat Plan can be viewed here:

https://spreadsheets.google.com/ccc?key=0Au4HQl0TAAC_dF9FNVI4WGVyYTBTRWFKaGpCV05mYkE&hl=en#gid=0

Friday, October 7, 2011

Tuesday, October 4, 2011

THEATER Next to Normal Presented by Atlantis Productions

by Maria Ressa

Original Article can be found HERE

Sunday, September 18, 2011

Thursday, March 17, 2011

Tuesday, March 8, 2011

THEATER
Next to Normal
Presented by Atlantis Productions