kung paano ako naging leading lady the musical (dalanghita productions)
The disclaimers: I saw the OnStage version, Blue Cast. I do have the comic version of the one-act’s script, but never got to see the Virgin Labfest version. (also, if it matters, I haven’t seen Rak of Aegis…though I do want to.)
Industrious yet, erm, well-rounded Mely hopes she finally landed the best job of her life, as an all-around kasambahay for corporate-sponsored superhero team Fuwerza Filipinas. Her frustration in life is her pretty but happy-go-lucky younger sister Viva. But Viva may finally get a chance to prove herself, under government-supported Kayumanggilas.
It’s a massive expansion from the one-act’s script, for better or for worse (because there are points where it feels the expansion went too far). It is also true what more professional reviewers have noted, that some areas and scenes may have been streamlined better. That said, it is still a highly-impressive production, funny most of the way and yet also interesting and emotional in all the right places.
What is most impressive is how the production manages to ask very uncomfortable questions, while keeping everything interesting and fun. Bravely addressed are issues of colonial mentality and discrimination by race, educational status, economic status, and, of course, body type. Why is it funny and uncomfortable to us that an American is the least in a group, that he is stuck in our country as an underling, that he loves someone who isn’t sexy and who is the househelp? Why would our people naturally gravitate to a group of English-speaking, well-dressed, innate superheroes, instead of those who had to fight and adapt their way to superhero-ness? Why is the cute girl automatically ditzy without a fair trial? Why would it be wrong for a nerd to have a cute girl? Why do we find all of these scenarios strange, and thus funny?
Most of the script and many of the songs emphasize these little discrepancies, striking home their message but without moralising. For instance, most Fuwerza Filipinas songs feel stilted and false (intentional or not), all the better for you to notice the false-ness of what the Fuwerza is. In contrast, all the rage in the Kayumanggilas battle cry, their bitterness in being ignored just because they are lower-class-born, feels real and strikes home.
Of course there’s the sister story in the middle of all this superhero singing and dancing, and they are the strongest parts. Partly because they are the most Filipino yet most universal, thus most real, aspect of the play. The bitterness of the older sister expected to be responsible, and the opposing bitterness of a baby sister judged before she has proven herself. The scene directly lifted from the one-act is still the strongest scene in the whole production, and that one is played with Mely, Viva, a table and two chairs.
The musical feels of RENT, some Wicked, and several other Broadway staples, and yet it also has Sharon-type and Nora-type songs, and some Pinoy-style rock. So, like the best of our komiks, it’s a hodgepodge of so many inspirations, and it’s own unique thing because of it.
I saw the Blue cast (though it may be a bit mixed up), and generally I can recommend that group for its balanced dynamics. Frenchie Dy also makes a very relate-able Mely. The Red cast makes a better OST between the two, but the Blue cast OST is very nice as well, reflecting the balanced dynamics of their version of the production.
Overall I am very happy to be nerding about a Pinoy musical, in the way I have been nerding about Pinoy komiks. It is fun to be loving your own, really fun.
Oh, and I don’t care what you think, but I like Kayumanggilas! :)
annaxmalina
dailybridgerton
turnnoffyourmind
gummygunk
theartofmadeline
kaledo-art
germansingergirl
