Category Archive for: entablado

kultura

Dolphy, national artist*

It’s difficult to imagine childhood without Dolphy, even when all he was to me was the image of a father on television, even as who I identified with was Maricel Soriano or Claudine Barretto playing his daughters in two different sitcoms, across two different generations. At some point this father image became interwoven with that of Enteng Kabisote, father to Aiza.

The images are real to me, the characterization of fatherhood that was protective but had difficulty providing, that was faced with the rich mother-in-law who disapproved, that struggled financially but had a posse who depended on him, underground as the economy was that they all created and fueled. (more…)

kultura

beyond 13: last hurrahs for Pinoy theater in 2013

seeing the plays that will kick-off 2014 have reminded me of actors and actresses, performances really, that i actually thought were super galeng, no matter that these might have only happened once for that actor, or three times in 2013. there is also the fact that i’ve promised to be more conscientious about migrating articles and pieces written for elsewhere, to this blog — if only to keep them alive online (local site archival work ain’t that good after all). so here are a few more beyond the 13 that i first posted for Pinoy theater (here and here), if only so we are reminded of what we might look forward to in the new year and on National Arts Months, too, beyond Wicked. (more…)

kultura

neither spectacle nor escape: a review of “Grease”

in the last two months of 2013, many theater productions had to compete with an audience that could only be preoccupied: typhoon Haiyan’s victims were in dire need, and one could only feel guilty about veering away from relief operations. “the show must go on” carried the weight of the tragedy outside of theater.

so here, a series of reviews that are happening later than expected, because real life took over. kicking it off with 9Works Theatrical‘s Grease.
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kultura

13: Pinoy theater’s highs and lows in 2013 (part 2)

down to my last seven highs and lows of Pinoy theater in 2013 (counting Maxie The Musical to have been the sixth in the last installment, Lorenzo the fifth, yes, i might be cheating, haha). i realized that instead of many wonderful productions (there was a lack of it for PETA and Repertory Philippines, unlike in 2012), there were performances this year that were just wonderful, some that saved productions from utter ruin. (more…)

kultura

13: Pinoy theater’s highs and lows in 2013 (part 1)

for most of the year i was writing theater reviews for GMA News Online, which in October came to an end after a good three-year run. the ending was horrid, where my writing was edited to the point of changing what i was saying about Tanghalang Pilipino’s Der Kaufmann and Red Turnip Theater’s Closer – my last two reviews with GMA. these reviews were published after i said that i was resigning as contributor, given other disagreements with the editor of the Lifestyle Section.

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