Bicolandia’s heroes live again in Ibalong Festival
The Ibalong epic is the best known in all of Bicolandia, and the annual festival devoted to its heroes is one of the biggest shows
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The Ibalong epic is the best known in all of Bicolandia, and the annual festival devoted to its heroes is one of the biggest shows
Through the Bicolano epic “Ibalong,” as reinterpreted and reimagined in song-and-dance form by Tanghalang Pilipino (TP), the resident drama company of the Cultural Center of
When “Katy” opened on Jan. 27 at the Cultural Center of the Philippines, not only was it the first local production to raise its curtain this year, it was also a harbinger of sorts.
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.).
Tanghalang Pilipino’s “Ibalong,” a dance-musical reimagining of the Bicolano epic, topped the 1st/2nd-quarter citations of the 2013 Gawad Buhay!, the Philstage Awards for the Performing Arts, with 15 citations in the performance and technical categories.
Jonathan “Tad” Tadioan considers his breakthrough role of the tormented Boy Pogi Resureccion in the play “Doc Resureccion: Gagamutin ang Bayan” (written by Layeta Bucoy and directed by Tuxqs Rutaquio) as his first major challenge in Tanghalang Pilipino, the resident drama group of the Cultural Center of the Philippines.
Bicol life and lore are tackled in Tanghalang Pilipino’s musical epic “Ibalong,” opening Feb. 8, featuring a formidable cast that includes Jenine Desiderio of “Miss Saigon” fame.
REP’S FIRST production for 2013 is the award-winning comedy “Boeing Boeing,” which won the 2008 Tony Awards and Drama Desk Awards for Best Actor (Mark Rylance) and also received four additional Tony nominations.
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.
My friendship with events specialist Billy Roces since the 1970s has made me aware of how beautiful the Bicolanos are as a people. When his
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