30-Day Musical Theater Song Challenge: Day 6

For day 6, I am to post a song that makes you sad/teary, so we're going back to the serious musicals once again. One song at the top of my list of sad songs is 'Bring Him Home' from Les Miserables. Seeing Valjean pray to God to spare Marius and take him instead can really touch a person if sung well. So, here I bring you one of my favorite renditions of the song: J. Mark McVey from the Hollywood Bowl presentation of the musical last August 2008. This is one of the most touching renditions I've seen. Enjoy!

30-Day Musical Theater Song Challenge: Day 5

For day 5, I am to post a song which makes me happy. For this day, let's stray away first from the serious musicals I've shown you and go to a musical that's more light-hearted. When I need a pick-me-up, 'Good Morning Baltimore' from the musical Hairspray is one of my go-to songs.

So for now, I leave you with Nikki Blonsky's 'Good Morning Baltimore' from the movie adaptation of Hairspray! Have a great day!

30-Day Musical Theater Song Challenge: Day 4

For Day 4, I am to post a song that demonstrates how overrated you think a musical is. I hate to say this, but for me, personally, Evita is an overrated musical. I've never seen the actual musical, so I can only base my opinion from the movie, but I found the general storyline a little dragging and the score, unmoving. I do know that this is one of the works that made a name for Andrew Lloyd Webber, but it's just not my cup of tea.

And since I can't find a good quality clip of something from the stage production, give you 'High Flying Adored' from the Evita movie by Madonna and Antonio Banderas.

30-Day Musical Theater Song Challenge: Day 3

For day 3, I am to post a song that demonstrates how underrated you think a musical is. Today, I will leave you with a video of Lily's Eyes from The Secret Garden. This musical truly is underrated. Even though some of the speaking parts are a bit dragging, it has a beautiful score. It's a shame this didn't get more popular than it did.

This video has some generation loss, but Philip Quast and Anthony Warlow, two giants in Australian musical theater, did a wonderful rendition. I can't think of a better recording of this song than the Australian cast recording. This is possibly my favorite male duet of all time, so enjoy!

30-Day Musical Theater Song Challenge: Day 2

For Day 2 of the 30 Day Musical Theater Challenge, I am to post a song from your latest musical obsession.

My latest musical obsession is Andrew Lloyd Webber's new musical 'Love Never Dies,' which is the sequel to his biggest musical ever (he himself admitted this) 'The Phantom of the Opera.' As you can see, Phantom of the Opera is one of my most beloved musicals, and I know that ALW has been working on a sequel since God knows how long (he formally announced it in 1998). Luckily, I was in the US last year when the cast album came out and I was so excited to get my grubby little hands on them. When I read the plot, however, I was horrified--they have deformed the characters beyond recognition, especially my favorite character Raoul.

Raoul has always been my prince charming. When I was younger, he was my dream man--he was dashing, handsome, and he moved heaven and earth to rescue his beloved Christine. The Raoul in Love Never Dies was a complete opposite. How DARE they turn him into a scruffy, bitter drunkard who gambled his fortune away. How dare they! Madame Giry and Meg Giry's characters also took a turn for the worse, and  I, until now, for the life of me, can't understand what reasons Meg's character would have to do what she did in the events before Love Never Dies. The change in the characters, coupled with the very different feel of the music, made me want to literally throw my CD into the air. However, as I listened to it more, it grew on me. Score-wise, it still cannot compete with my all-time favorite musicals, but after I watched the video of it (which cannot be found in Youtube), I was converted. There were moments in the musical that had an intensity I have never seen in any musical before. I do not adore ALW, but for this musical, he has truly composed the right music for the staging he had imagined. The end result just left me breathless. Sure the plot is blah, and the libretto is no where as lyrical as the original, but its finished product makes up for some of the clunkiness.

I will leave you with the opening sequence from the new production of Love Never Dies which just started it's run last May 28. It includes my favorite song of the moment, 'Till I Hear You Sing' sung by Ben Lewis.

30-Day Musical Theater Song Challenge: Day 1

I encountered this 30-Day Musical Theater Song Challenge in another person's blog and thought that this would be a good way to kick off my blog. It says to post it on Facebook but I'm going to do it in blogger instead.

For Day 1, I should post a song from the first musical you saw/heard. As I said in my introductory post, the first musical that I saw when I was already aware is a VHS tape of Les Miserables 10th Anniversary Concert. It's been my favorite musical ever since. So I bring you "Do You Hear the People Sing" sung by Michael Maguire and company. He plays Enjolras, who happens to be my favorite character in the musical, too. Enjoy!

Review of 9 Works Theatrical's RENT

And just to kick off my blog with some content, I'm reposting my review of 9 Works Theatrical's RENT (originally posted on feb, 28, 2011)

I don't consider myself to be a Renthead, because there are other musicals that I prefer over Rent. Nonetheless, I'm very familiar with the show, owning the DVD's of the movie and the Rent: Filmed Live on Broadway. I also have the movie soundtrack as well as the Original Broadway Cast. Having said so, I entered the theater with high hopes. After all, as far as I know this is already the 3rd run of this musical. The first run was early 2010, when I couldn't find tickets because I bought too late already. The second run was late last year, when the tickets were expensive since it was staged in Rockwell. So I bought my tickets early and was happy for the chance to finally see the musical.

The good thing about Rent is that production-wise, it isn't hard to replicate. The set isn't extravagant (and doesn't change either) and the costumes are simple, too. They're everyday outfits that can be pulled out of an ordinary person's closet. The musicians are composed of a small band of 4 or 5 people. Having said this, you don't need to put in an extravagant amount of money to replicate this in Manila. 9 Works was able to give a good feel of the Broadway show.

Of course, a production doesn't mean anything without a good cast. When it came to acting, the cast was able to capture the essence of their characters. I was especially impressed with Job Bautista as Angel. They got the perfect man to play Angel, the optimistic, dancing, AIDS-stricken cross dresser. Singing-wise (which is the most important part of me), they were okay. Gian Magdangal (Roger) at times reminded me of Adam Pascal's rocky, edgy voice. However, the high ranges of the male characters proved to be a challenge to the male members of the cast. They had to resort to almost shouting their high notes. As a result, power ballads such as Roger's Your Eyes and Collins' I'll Cover You (Reprise) fell a little short for me. This, coupled with the fact that the sound engineer failed to notice that the high was too high (leaving a very penetrating sound when the actors sang in their high range). It's a little hard to explain, but if you know how to operate a sound mixer, you'll know what I'm talking about.

All-in-all, I would say that this was a good production, although it would have been better if the cast were better able to hit the high notes. Nevertheless, this a fresh, young cast whose faces are relatively new in the musical theater scene. I look forward to their blossoming in the years to come.

List of cast that I THINK I saw:

Gian Magdangal - Roger

Sherry Bautista – Mimi

Fredison Lo – Mark

OJ Mariano -Collins

Job Bautista – Angel

Mian Dimacali – Maureen

Jenny Villegas- Joanne

Lorenz Martinez – Benny