we were invited to watch the staging of spring awakening by atlantis productions.  after reading the plot from their website, i expected to be in heat after the show.  but we were left cold.. and it was not because of the AC nor the weather.


i'm not sure if it was right to have set my expectations high.  but this is a professional stage production.  the ticket is not cheap and it was two hours of my life.  although, it was very hard for me to forget the previous production i saw, wherein, i felt nothing but awe.

since the tickets were pricey, we bought the cheapest.  since as my friend said, the Carlos P. Romulo Auditorium in RCBC is not that big, so proximity to the stage would not matter much.  but it did..  it sure did.


i'm not sure how they do it, but we didn't seem to notice that the house was open already.  we even needed to ask the people who sells the very costly production book, which we didn't buy, if we could go inside already.

when we were already seated, there were musical instruments on stage.  i got excited.  it was my first time to watch a musical with live music.

i'm not sure what time the play actually started, but the wait was long enough for me to notice that there was no house music!  are they cutting on electrical costs?

when the play finally began, i almost fell off my seat or maybe stand up and demand a refund.  the girl was singing on a microphone!  a hand-held mic!  after the song, and they started to say spoken lines, they have lapel mics!  why?  i'm not sure who to ask and during the whole duration of the show i was looking for the answer.  but i couldn't seem to find the logic behind it.

there was an instance wherein jett pangan had problems with his lapel mic.  since we were seated at the top most part of the auditorium, it was amazing to still be able to hear his voice and i was able to understand what he was saying.  so, why the mic?

their use of the hand-held mics were pretty distracting.  the only instance wherein i enjoyed their use of it was during the performance of Nar Cabico and JC Santos of The Word of Your Body (Reprise). 

i'm really sorry, but i have been brought up to the unplugged voices of the artists on stage.  regardless of the quality of the sound system.  if their reason was the live band, they should have just had the music recorded, then naturally projected their voices.

this photo is from the atlantis productions website
i'm not sure when i was able to get over that fact.  most probably it was towards the end of the first act and/or when act two began.  since i don't want my money go to waste, i tried to look past, or should i say hear past, the microphones.  so, here are the jagged thoughts regarding the show:

• sitti can sing other than bossa nova songs. but during her solo (The Dark I Know Well), Bea Garcia swallowed her whole.
  
• the main cast was eye candy.  were there even auditions?  there are rumors that atlantis productions pre-cast.  how true?  i'm not sure.  but based on the cast, i would most likely belive it.
  
• Nicco Manalo's portrayal of Moritz during the first few scenes gave me the impression that the character was gay.  i almost believed that the character was gay until the scene with Ilse.
• what i do love about this production is their transition from one scene to another.  kudos to Chari Arespacochaga on that one.  i think it was clean, well thought of and systematic.
• i still think Nicco Manalo could be a good actor.  but even with a microphone on hand, i could not understand some words in his songs.

• the last part of act one awakened all of our senses (specially lemon) because of the sex scene, I Believe.  and it was cool that act two began exactly where act one left off.  there was butt exposure.
  
• Bea Garcia played the role of Ilse brilliantly.  she's my favorite among the cast.  i would like to see her in other theater productions.  
• Kelly Lati doesn't know how to cry.  Or even stage cry.  Her sobs during the time the mother was guessing who's the father of the child Wendla was carrying, did not make enough distinction between the sobs for the boys and the one for Melchior.  She also did not cry during the scene wherein Wendla asks Melchior to hit her.  
• i love Jett Pangan's agony as the father of Moritz during the song Left Behind.
• my favorite song and scene was the one for Totally Fucked.  this is when i concluded that Bea Garcia is brilliant.
• runner ups for favorite song would be Those You’ve Known and The Song of Purple Summer.
• i'm not sure how much i like or not like Joaquin Valdes.  he is another eye candy but there are times that his voice is creaky whispery falsetto
  

 after the curtain call, cast sang Seasons of Love from Rent.  they asked for donations to be able to assist Red Cross to help those devastated by the typhoons.  again, Jett Pangan was having trouble with his lapel.  even so, he was able to sing it beautifully.

if you are rich and have nothing to do, i could mention the play to you, but most probably i would just ask you to treat me.

the run is until October 18.  i hope you'll enjoy it more than i did.