4 Valentine’s shows for the heartbroken, the smitten, and more

There’s a Valentine for everyone, whether you’re in love and sickeningly sweet, completely heartbroken, or in a complicated relationship that’s awkward to explain.

And Valentine’s doesn’t have to be a frustrating three-hour car ride spent stuck in traffic or parking lots for the same restaurants, pop concerts, scenic vistas, hotels, and motels. Thankfully, Manila’s art community offers a wealth of alternatives to these Valentine’s Day affairs and spreads their events out over several days. (READ: 50 date ideas for Valentine’s 2015)

It’s complicated, with post-traumatic stress disorder

What plucks heartstrings best? Not praises or promises, but rather, honesty – even when it is the complicated truth. 

Staged by acclaimed theater group Red Turnip, Time Stands Still is a straight play that runs until March 8 at Whitespace Manila, Chino Roces Avenue Extension, Makati City. It’s by the Pulitzer Prize-winning writer Donald Margulies and Tony Award-winning director Daniel J. Sullivan.

It is about photojournalist Sarah’s (Ana Abad Santos) survival of an unfortunate incident at her work abroad that lands her back in the United States at the apartment of her longtime boyfriend and fellow journalist James (Nonie Buencamino), where she heals her fractures and wounds while her photo editor and ex-lover Richard (Nor Domingo) and his new and much younger girlfriend Mandy (Giannina Ocampo) drop by repeatedly. She finds that marriage, children, and a normal domestic life are suddenly on the table.

The genius of the play is that – though the premise, the characters, the setting, and even the some of the lines seem perfect for a sitcom – the actual way the story is performed, how the characters move through their lives, react to their circumstances and to each other, what choices they make, feel so very real and true.

It’s just that Sarah’s work is covering war zones among other dangerous places, that the unfortunate incident was a roadside bomb in Iraq planted by terrorists that also kills her fixer (guide/translator), who also was her secret lover she struggles to mourn openly for.

All this, while recovering from a shattered leg and lacerated face in the home of her longtime boyfriend, James, a man who feels guilty leaving her alone in a war zone because he himself was suffering the effects of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) from witnessing the horrors of war for far too long. Sarah herself, with her flashbacks and her guilt at having survived when so many have not, is also suffering from PTSD. 

At the premier on January 30, the performance resonated with the entire audience, even with Rem Zamora, real life photojournalism veteran who has covered war and disaster.

“Watching the play was like watching a real photojournalist’s life. It’s like watching my life and my colleagues,” he said. Abad Santos, Buencamino, Ocampo and Domingo were brilliant in their parts. Zamora, the play’s director, has done himself proud in making such a tight production. 

With their staging of Time Stands Still, Red Turnip once again proves that there’s more than enough theater audiences for adult entertainment. And by adult, that means mature and realistic, not pornographic and gratuitous. (That happens later in intimate quarters for lucky ones.) 

Finally, real stories real adults can empathize with. No franchise musical of cartoon characters come to life. No kids among the audience. This is another a rare treat from Red Turnip.

For tickets, visit Ticketworld

To die for

Heartache sometimes makes people feel like ending it all. Don’t – just watch the ballerinas dance to  Songs to Slash Your Wrist By.

With Hugot ng Rosas, the lovely ballerinas and brawny danseurs of Ballet Philippines interpret into dance the cheeky Songs to Slash Your Wrist By – the album of multi-awarded and highly acclaimed composer and librettist for theater, television, and film, Vincent de Jesus, whose many works include Zsazsa Zaturnnah Ze Musicale, Lorenzo, and the movie Crying Ladies, to name just a few.

Ballet Philippines transforms de Jesus’s compositions – sung in the album by folk singers such as Noel Cabangon and Aiza Seguerra and theater actors acclaimed for musicals such as Kalila Agilos, Myke Salomon, OJ Mariano – into viscerally affecting performances that anyone who has known love and loss will feel. 

The choreography of the country’s premier dance group promises to plunge its hands into your still-beating heart and lovingly mend where it broke.

You don’t need to be at the end of your rope with heartache to love and enjoy this dance and its songs. The performance will be on February 14 and 15 at 9pm at the Ballet Philippines Studio 1 near the Folk Arts Theater within Cultural Center of the Philippines (CCP) complex, Pasay City. 

Tickets are by donation and the seating is by first come first served policy.  Ticket holders will also get a 50% discount on tickets purchased on February 15 for the Manhid superhero ballet rock musical. Hugot ng Rosas is part of the CCP’s Pasinaya events, as well as that of Fringe Manila. 

For details, visit ballet.ph/shows, fringemanila.com, and culturalcenter.gov.ph/pasinaya. The album Songs to Slash Your Wrist By is available online at iTunes and CdBaby.com 

A family affair

If it’s a family affair one needs this February, it’s best to avoid the crush of lovebirds this coming Valentine’s Day and see something fabulous towards the end of the month with La Cage Aux Folles. 

This modern family tale is Harvey Fierstein’s musical adaptation of the play of the same name by Jean Poiret about how a son first introduces his fiancée’s ultra-conservative parents to his father, who happens to be a drag star in a long term relationship with another man, who manages the nightclub in  Saint-Tropez that he dances in. Hilarity, of course, ensues. 

Literally meaning “the cage of mad women” in French, the musical is best known for its campy anthem “I Am What I Am,” as well as the Hollywood movie adaptation Birdcage starring the late Robin Williams and Gene Hackman.

La Cage Aux Folles runs at the RCBC Plaza, Makati City on February 28, March 1, 7, 8, 21, 22, 27, 28, 29, with Friday and Saturday galas at 8pm, Saturday matinees at 3:30pm, and Sunday matinees at 4pm.

Bringing La Cage Aux Folles to life is 9 Works Theatrical, with acclaimed and multi awarded veteran actors Audie Gemora and Michael de Mesa as the flamboyant nightclub owner Albin and the sensitive drag star Georges, respectively; television actor  Steven Silva as Georges’ son Jean-Michel, and ballerinas Missy Macuja-Elizalde and Joni Galeste, alternating as Jean-Michel’s fiancée Anne Dindon; and Raul Montesa and Sheila Francisco as ultra conservative Monsieur Edouard Dindon and Madame Marie Dindon, respectively (just to avoid any confusion in this cross dressing gender-bending musical). 

Dancing onstage will be JP Basco, Mara Celine Javier, Randi de Guzman, Carlos Deriada, Chesko Rodriguez, Dindo Divinagracia, Cheeno Macaraig, James Stacey and hunky television actor Rafa Siguion-Reyna in drag, no less.

Behind the scenes are artistic director Robbie Guevara; scenic and costume designer Mio Infante with the Fashion Designers Association of the Philippines and Twinkle Zamora; choreographers Arnold Trinidad, PJ Rebullida, and Yek Barlongay; musical directors Joseph Tolentino and Sweet Plantado-Tiongson; lighting designer Martin Esteva; technical director Dong Calingacion; hair and makeup designer Myrene Santos.

For tickets and other inquiries, please call 586-7105 or 0917-5545560, or email info@9workstheatrical.com. Facebook: 9workstheatrical. Twitter & Instagram: @9WTonline.

Love with a raised left fist 

To love is to give a damn. Drum, dance, and rise for issues that concern all especially women. 

On Valentine’s day itself, one might start the day right by participating in something creative yet relevant. Start the day by dancing for women’s rights with One Billion Rising Philippines at the Bonifacio Shrine, Taft Avenue, Manila at 9 to 11am on February 14.

One Billion Rising Philippines is led by Gabriela Women’s Party and is part of the global movement started by Eve Ensler, Tony-Award winning playwright best known for The Vagina Monologue. Hosting the event once again internationally acclaimed theater actor Monique Wilson. 

To learn the dance moves, watch here.  To download the music, visit Soundcloud.com. For more information, visit the Facebook page and Onebillionrising.org.

Writer, graphic designer, and business owner Rome Jorge is passionate about the arts. Formerly the Editor-in-Chief of asianTraveler Magazine, Lifestyle Editor of The Manila Times, and cover story writer for MEGA and Lifestyle Asia Magazines, RomeJorge has also covered terror attacks, military mutinies, mass demonstrations as well as Reproductive Health, gender equality, climate change, HIV/AIDS and other important issues. He is also the proprietor of Strawberry Jams Music Studio.