Tuesday, October 4, 2011

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)

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

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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)

LIKE OUR FACEBOOK PAGE:

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

Divine madness

BY SUJATA S. MUKHI

Original Article can be found HERE

THEATER REVIEW
Next to Normal

MUCH HAS been said about this Pulitzer-prize and Tony award-winning piece that has dared bring mental illness center stage -- literally. The fact that it’s a musical about such a topic is unusual enough. But that it was on Broadway and not the fringes, playing to full houses, is a statement of an audience’s readiness to heal and deal. (Of course, Rent paved the way by singing about people living with HIV-AIDS more than a decade before.)

Menchu Lauchengco-Yulo surrounded by (clockwise from top) Jett Pangan, Jake Macapagal, Bea Garcia, Felix Rivera and Markki Stroem

Next to Normal focuses on a good Everywoman, Diana, living with a diagnosed bi-polar condition for 16 years. Her cycle swings from manic to depressive, and her family is dragged along for the ride.

On some days she is a sweet, loving and affectionate wife and mother to her husband Dan, her son, and her daughter Natalie. Before you know it, she is feverishly whipping up their lunches, making a hundred sandwiches for three. She pops a rainbow of pills, and gives her husband a good romp in bed.

Then on other days, she sees dead people, slumps to the floor, ravaged with guilt and horror as her demons pick at her wounds. Dan looks on with pained helplessness, while Natalie rages against the unfairness of being born into such an abnormal family, and acts out.

Diana has been numbed by the cocktail of medications she has taken over the years. She misses the highs and lows of feeling feelings. When she sees her daughter being kissed by Henry, a young man she doesn’t even know, she is appalled at having missed the milestones in her family’s life. Upon the prodding of her son, she decides to stop her medication, and tosses out her pills.

The consequences are disconcerting as the united states of Diana don’t quite come together. She then consults with yet another psychiatrist who uses hypnosis to bring to the surface events that have traumatized her, and she allows herself to feel her pain and loss for the first time -- with devastating consequences. Diana unravels as she loses the protection of her delusions, paving the way for another medical intervention: electric shock therapy, now known as electroconvulsive therapy (ECT).

With a spectacular score and book, Next to Normal makes a compassionate case study out of Diana’s condition, deconstructing “insanity.” It’s made even more layered by a non-judgmental look at the co-dependencies that mark the relationships in a family and the choices each member makes. These are not songs an audience sings along with, but rather feels along with. The dialogues that weave through duets, trios and quartets are more exposures than expository, as we get to know more intimately the demons that each character faces.

It’s the characterization of the doctors, however, that brings us to question the agenda of Next to Normal.

With more than just side-swipes at America’s romance with pharmacology, Next to Normal shows surprising irresponsibility in its indictment of psychiatry. Of all characters, the doctors play closest to stereotype (from the names alone: Dr. Fine and Dr. Madden), a choice we were hoping would be avoided or completely shelved. With the advances in holistic psychiatry, it seems archaic for the play to categorically denounce psychopharmacology as a viable treatment option, or play up to the public’s perception of the horrors of ECT, reinforced by movies or books that are a throwback to an era gone by.

A gimmick used at the beginning of Act 2 almost pushes Next to Normal to a fantastical telenovela.

But the play rightfully offers a transpersonal perspective (a persistent character, and a revealing line towards the end captures that) by not attributing Diana’s mental problems solely to imbalances of circuitry or chemistry -- the affliction is far more transcendent. But the play does no service by demonizing the effects of treatments that have actually helped many cope with their conditions. It seems so ’70s to push mental aberration as an idealized personality enhancement and tout the “I’m weird therefore I am” line. In fairness to the material though, there are other forces at work when Diana makes the decision to go off to find her Self.

Philippine theater at its best

There’s a shock of recognition when we realize that the issues besetting this family are not very far removed from our own. Replace manic-depression with some other handicap or illness, and you’ll see that at some point we are Diana through our disability; we are Dan, a toss-up between unconditional love and delusional martyrdom; we are Natalie in our seething resentment toward our own limitations and to those around us; we are Henry, ever loyal and ever needing-to-be-needed.

And if we are not them, we certainly know people like them.

But for all the brilliant characterization and music, Next to Normal is next to nothing without a cast that nails it, and without a director that has the sense and sensibility, and courage, to take it on.

This production has both.

It is no small feat that Atlantis Productions was awarded the right to produce this first international English production. But it is well-deserved. Director Bobby Garcia has proven to be fearless in his choices of material, and has the razor-sharp intuition for spot-on casting. He has always been unafraid to challenge Filipino audiences, which also means that he holds them to a stellar standard of understanding and appreciation of difficult, if not controversial material.

And there are three words that sum up the jewel in the crown for Next to Normal:

Menchu Lauchengco-Yulo.

Her Diana is unabashed, unapologetic, unembellished. It is so rare to see such rawness on Philippine stage. It would have been easy for an even slightly lesser actor to fall into the trap of self-consciously annotating the part (look at me, I’m so good at playing the crazy woman!). But Lauchengco-Yulo, who is a world-class theater luminary, internalizes Diana down to guts and entrails, rather than in overarching gestures of drama and pathos.

It was sometimes difficult for the preview audience to deal with her anguish, and felt voyeuristic to see the suffering, the tracks of tears, body fluids spewing. It is a brash, wrenching performance, alternating with self-mockery and moments of bearable lightness of being, but gone all too soon. It is mind-boggling how she will be able to achieve the same level of intensity through the play’s run without burning out.

But it is to this cast’s credit that even with such a performance as Lauchengco-Yulo’s, the actors worked with such community.

Ever-dependable Jett Pangan (it is always a treat to watch him) as husband Dan shows a different, quiet kind of anguish as he knows his world hangs by a thread every single day. The revelation in the end of his own repression gives Mr. Pangan a striking vulnerability.

Bea Garcia as Natalie is feisty and has a compelling physicality to her approach -- we look forward to her onstage more often, as with Felix Rivera who plays the brother, and Markki Stroem who plays Henry, the ardent admirer. Both young men are earnest and sincere actors, though there is a darkness to Rivera that would be interesting to explore more of on stage. Jake Macapagal in the twin roles of the frivolously named psychiatrists Drs. Fine and Madden, played the rock star hilariously.

The parts are not easy to learn, and to sing through emotion is challenging, but this luminous cast pulls through.

Under the excellent musical direction of Ceejay Javier, rock melds with jazz fused with classical, supporting and never overshadowing the cast or mood.

In the coming years though it may be inevitable that Next to Normal will go the way of Normal, and lesser theater groups with lesser actors will attempt this and go the woeful way of current Rent productions, disconnected from their authentic context. But while it is here, under Bobby Garcia’s watchful eye, with a committed, dedicated, no-shame-barred cast, just brace yourself and Go. See. It.

Catch Atlantis Productions' NEXT TO NORMAL (THE REPEAT)

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

RC Marzan (0922.888.5348)

LIKE OUR FACEBOOK PAGE:

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

'Next to Normal': Bittersweet beauty of love and loss

By ROWENA JOY A. SANCHEZ

Original article can be found HERE

MANILA, Philippines - “Next to Normal” delivers beyond its title: It’s extraordinary.

The US rock musical, which debuted off-Broadway in 2008, boldly breaks out of the confines of generic stories, tackling a not-so-often discussed subject, which is told mostly through nearly 40 brilliant songs exposing the characters’ innermost struggles and sincerest reflections on life, love and relationships.

Librettist/lyricist Brian Yorkey and composer Tom Kitt expand theatric freedom by putting bipolar disorder, a psychological condition characterized by intermittent and extreme mood shifts, in the center, as well as its impact to family members who’ve long been yearning for something “normal.”

The tandem also did an awe-inspiring job in the music department. The lyrics border on the conversational and personal (and sometimes humorous) yet it powerfully reflects universal emotions, while the melodies--mostly created with piano, guitar and violin---feel naturally familiar and accessible to the point that the songs can go beyond the theater and onto radio.

And considering that “Next to Normal” has won a slew of Tony awards and the 2010 Pulitzer Prize for Drama (thus cementing it as one of the very few musicals in history to have attained such feat), this musical may well be one of the best productions to have invaded Philippine theater.

Since it’s a musical, there’s an instant connection with the Filipino audience, whose love for music is second nature. But more than that, local theater-goers will most likely find a version of themselves in any of the characters exemplary portrayed by the cast consisting of Menchu Lauchengco-Yulo (Diana), Jett Pangan (Dan), Bea Garcia (Natalie), Felix Rivera (Gabe), Markki Stroem (Henry), and Jake Macapagal (Dr. Fine/Dr. Madden).

Diana, Dan and Natalie struggle to be a normal family, but it seems to be far from reach. Diana suffers from bipolar disorder, and has hallucinations of her son Gabe, whom she lost when he was just eight months old, way before she gave birth to her daughter. Worse, the matriarch has a long-running gap with her daughter Natalie.

Through the support of her husband Dan, Diana undergoes several types of medications in hopes of getting cured. However, she eventually realizes that her wounds run so deep that pills or even an electroshock therapy can't treat them.

The local cast, especially Lauchengco-Yulo, captured the rawness and conflicting tensions of their characters, making for very affecting performances that we find it difficult to choose our favorite number. Stroem, who plays the love interest of Natalie, displayed vocal maturity and range, although still not that far to make us forget of his “heartthrob” image during his “Pilipinas Got Talent” days.

Kudos also to the stage design (by Lex Marcos) and lighting design (by Shoko Matsumoto) of the musical---the multiple layers of the stage that presents the family’s home, and the soft lights on the walls (and notably the “lightning” tracing the walls in one of the scenes) made the whole stage alive and useful, in a classy, unfussy yet still edgy fashion.

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.

Catch Atlantis Productions' NEXT TO NORMAL (THE REPEAT)

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

RC Marzan (0922.888.5348)

LIKE OUR FACEBOOK PAGE:

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!

"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'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)

LIKE OUR FACEBOOK PAGE:

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

Sunday, September 11, 2011

In The Heights: Closing this weekend

"Find out what it takes to make a living,
what it costs to have a dream,
and what it means to be home In the Heights."

Catch Atlantis Productions' IN THE HEIGHTS
September 17, 2011 (Saturday) 2:00 PM and 8:00 PM
@ RCBC Plaza, Makati City

For seats and ticket reservations, contact

Robert/RC Marzan (0922.888.5348)

Onay Sales (0918.536.2116)

Click here to view September 17 - 2PM Seat Plan:
https://spreadsheets.google.com/spreadsheet/ccc?key=0AmLBGx_WlZfkdDduMUt3THdoMGE4bUlOOTBGam9fakE&hl=en_US#gid=0

Click here to view September 17 - 8PM Seat Plan
https://spreadsheets.google.com/spreadsheet/ccc?key=0AmLBGx_WlZfkdGpkX0NuVTNGWnBaRkk3YkFhNkFmT2c&hl=en_US#gid=0

Ticket Prices:
Orchestra Center – P1700
Orchestra Side – P1600
Loge Center – P1300
Loge Side/Back – P800
Balcony – P700

Tuesday, July 12, 2011

IN THE HEIGHTS

IN THE HEIGHTS is the new TONY AWARD-winning
musical about three days in the life of Washington Heights, a vibrant and tight knit community at the top of the island of Manhattan. It’s a place where the coffee from the corner bodega is light and sweet, the windows are always open, and the breeze carries the rhythm of three generations of music.

Created by a team of New York’s freshest young talents,

In the Heights is the tale of a community at a crossroads.

Find out what it takes to make a living,

what it costs to have a dream,

and what it means to be home In the Heights.

Catch Atlantis Productions' IN THE HEIGHTS on its closing weekend!

September 17, 2011 (Saturday) 2:00 PM and 8:00 PM

@ RCBC Plaza, Makati City

Contact the following ticket sellers:

Onay Sales (0918.536.2116)
or Robert Marzan (0922.888.5348)

Click here to view September 17 - 2PM Seat Plan:

https://spreadsheets.google.com/spreadsheet/ccc?key=0AmLBGx_WlZfkdDduMUt3THdoMGE4bUlOOTBGam9fakE&hl=en_US#gid=0

Click here to view September 17 - 8PM Seat Plan

https://spreadsheets.google.com/spreadsheet/ccc?key=0AmLBGx_WlZfkdGpkX0NuVTNGWnBaRkk3YkFhNkFmT2c&hl=en_US#gid=0

Ticket Prices:

Orchestra Center – P1700

Orchestra Side – P1600

Loge Center – P1300

Loge Side/Back – P800

Balcony – P700