Repertory Philippines: Fantasticks!

People need to be able to harness their creativity, whether it be for fun or to find unique approaches to problems or situations. Our generation is on a constant technological buzz that sometimes fails to stay grounded in real, old school values. Kids are constantly glued to their television sets and play stations while family time means going to the mall and watching a movie. I'm not against these things cause obviously how can we live without our cellphones and facebooks!?! What I'm trying to say is we need to find more intellectual ways to entertain ourselves whether it be by reading a book or surrounding ourselves in the arts.

Watching plays can be an alternative to going to the movies. In the old days, going to the theatre was a ball-gown event where all the rich and famous were to be seen. These days, Philippine theatre is threatened by the movies which are threatened by piracy which is threatened by government authorities. So in short, the government doesn't provide enough patronage for the arts. Complain later, and promote now.

FANTASTICKS! A Repertory Philippines Production directed by Baby Barredo

July 3 to July 26, 2009
8:00 PM on Fridays & Saturday 3:30 PM on Saturdays & Sundays
Venue
OnStage
2/F Greenbelt 1, Ayala Center, Makati City
Call 8870710 or visit their website at http://repertory-philippines.com
Tickets
Orchestra Center P 600.00 Orchestra Side P 400.00 Balcony P 300.00

Here's their synopsis:
The Fantasticks, the world's longest-running musical, is a captivating and simple romantic comedy about a boy, a girl, two fathers and a wall. The audience uses its imagination to follow El Gallo as he creates a world of moonlight and magic, and then pain and disillusionment, until the boy and girl find their way back to one other.

In a clever reverse of the Romeo and Juliet story, two fathers put up a wall between their houses to ensure that their children fall in love, because they know that children always do what their parents forbid. After the children do fall in love, they discover their fathers' plot and they each go off and experience things in the world. They return to each other and the love they had, having learned from the world, bringing to life a funny and quite touching story of innocence, and of knowledge.

The score, which includes "Try To Remember", "They Were You" and "Soon It's Gonna Rain", is as timeless as the story itself. If a show opens in 1960 and is still running after over 17,162 performances, one can reasonably assume it is a good show in every sense of the words. Musical theater fans trying to remember the kind of September when this beloved Tom Jones–Harvey Schmidt tuner wasn't playing won't be able to think of many. Now a nationwide chestnut, the original Off-Broadway show—based on Edmond Rostand's play Les Romanesques—ran a record-breaking 42 years.

Repertory Philippines’ The Fantasticks stars teenage sensation Julia Abueva as Louisa, and teen heartthrob PJ Valerio as Matt. Completing the cast is a respectable list of theater veterans. Jake Macapagal stars as El Gallo. The Fathers, Bellomy and Hucklebee are played by Dido de la Paz and Jaime del Mundo. Miguel Faustman reprises his role as Henry, the old actor and relative newcomer to the stage but already making waves is Red Concepcion as Mortimer.