I was given the opportunity to watch Les Miserables in Manila live for the first time, and I could not help but feel appreciation for the craft of theater. Theater is not usually an art form that is appreciated by Filipinos, despite having some of the best theater actors and actresses in the country only a few people in the country understand the value of theater performances. Hollywood actors like Natalie Portman give so much value to theater; I could not help but feel that this type of mindset should also be shared to a wider audience in the Philippines.
Les Miserables is truly one of the most moving musical ever. The story is about how the human spirit will triumph, the songs that were played like “I dreamed a Dream” and “On my own”, hit me hard.
This is due to the fact that there is very little chance for us Filipinos to see award winning productions such as this. Before television came, actors and actresses have been molded inside the theater. Theater is a high form of art, you cannot compare it with movies or television, because the emotion is raw, it is authentic and even if you watch one play over and over again, the show will never be the same and that is the magic of theater performance. Because of the inspiring story of Les Miserables I wanted to watch more theater plays. I became encouraged to check if there are other theater shows that I could enjoy here in Metro Manila.
Luckily, a friend invited me to TIU Theater, for a free concert musical show. Who knew that a free theater show is being provided here in Makati and not just your typical show best of all they are giving it for free. TIU Theater is a nonprofit organization under Creative Image Foundation. It provides free singing, dance lesson and theater workshops for the impoverished children in Payatas and Smokey Mountain. I could not help but ask the question, what if a local version of Les Miserables will be created in the Philippines? What if the children from Payatas and Smokey Mountain will be the ones to star in the play? Is this possible? One could only hope, let us see if this idea will materialize in the future.
Les Misérables is now the longest running musical in the world and, in October 2010, celebrated its 25th anniversary with a theatrical first – three different productions of the same musical staged at the same time in one city – the star-studded concerts at The O2, the acclaimed new 25th Anniversary Production (which completed its sell-out UK Tour at London’s Barbican Theatre) and the original production, which continues its record breaking run at the Queen’s Theatre, London.
The New 25th Anniversary Production has been a huge hit all over again, currently breaking box office records on Broadway, across North America and in Spain, Canada, Australia, Korea and Japan, with other productions due to open worldwide in The Philippines, Singapore, South America and South Africa over the next three years. 32,000 people attended the sell-out O2 Concerts, which were also relayed to cinemas worldwide and subsequently released on DVD and Blu-ray.
No comments:
Post a Comment