National Artist for Literature F. Sionil José, in a recent column, called it “the ancient problems of our theater”—the lack of resources, say, and more gravely, the continuing lack of audiences, which was the prevalent lament during the sparsely populated National Theater Festival held in November this year at the Cultural Center of the Philippines.
I was fortunate enough to get cast in Tanghalang Pilipino’s critical hit “Stageshow,” the last and most fabulous play by the late, great Mario O’Hara. Doing the show was both exhilarating and disappointing, though. Exhilarating because every time we performed it, something magical was happening to all of us. It was so irreverently Pinoy and unflinchingly human. And during every show we felt Mario’s spirit watching over us laughing, the way he probably used to do every Christmas.
“Stageshow” by Mario O’Hara is first and foremost a Broadway show for the Filipino. Yet, during its initial run last month, it had the misfortune of competing with “The Phantom of the Opera,” which played to packed houses night after night right above it.
By native, we mean, of course, original Filipino material, which for much of this year seems to take a beating from either a general lack of visibility or the lackluster quality of many new homegrown offerings.
In the days of yore, the comedian Canuplin made a name for himself in the entertainment world, modeling his antics after the great Charlie Chaplin, “the eternal tramp.”
