Rody Vera is everywhere, and there is no way you can miss him. Just this year, he adapted the Bicolano epic “Ibalong” into a thundering dance-musical for Tanghalang Pilipino; he wrote the libretto for the Ninoy and Cory Aquino tribute musical “Pamana” for the Philippine Educational Theater Association; he transposed Shakespeare’s “Twelfth Night” into a bittersweet reverie for the bygone studio system of Philippine movies in Peta’s “D’Wonder Twins of Boac”; and, most recently, along with Tuxqs Rutaquio, he fleshed out new ways of looking at the Bard’s “The Merchant of Venice” with a bold reimagining, now called “Der Kaufmann/Ang Negosyante ng Venecia” (the show has remaining performances at CCP’s Little Theater on Saturday, 3 p.m. and 8 p.m., and Sunday, 3 p.m.).
The epic of Bicolandia, “Ibalong,” is a mélange of fantastic stories with three heroes—Baltog, Handyong and Bantong—who got to battle against the elements, one-eyed monsters, giant flying sharks, crocodiles as big as boats, and other such fearful creatures.
