What theater does to us

It's been a week since I watched Ballet Philippines' (BP) restaging of the 80s pop ballet hit "Rama Hari" at the CCP and I'm still humming "Magbalik Ka Na Mahal," that haunting melody that speaks of longing for a loved one from the depths of one's soul. There's a movie in my mind still playing, that of Rama and Sita dancing with the people of Mithila as lead singers sing "Day da day da day da..." I still ache in my thoughts with Rama as he pours out his soul in the song "Tagistis ng Ulan," while he ponders Sita's fate. 

 

And a week after watching it, I still want to watch it again, if only time (mine and BP's—their last playdate was Dec. 9) would permit it. 

 

Ah, time. It's the reason I wasn't able to watch this year "The Sound of Music" at Resorts World, "Phantom of the Opera" and "Stageshow" at the CCP, "Mind's Eye" at RCBC Plaza, and more. They say the chandelier at "Phantom" wasn't quite the same as the original, and I wouldn't have been able to tell. "Stageshow" was “something rare and wonderful,” said our critic, and I couldn't chime in.

 

That got me thinking: how many of us do make time for theater? 

 

And why make time for theater when there are a gazillion other things to do, from cleaning the house to studying and working, from doing the groceries and paying the bills to eking out a living day in and day out in this hard life?

 

The answer may be in that last phrase: this hard life. Yes, life isn't easy so maybe we need a little time at the theater once in a while.

 

Because by watching theater, we feed our soul, and we water that  garden of emotions in our hearts. We take a step back and see how life is from other people's points of view. Too often, we think the world revolves around us.

 

There's something fascinating, for instance, about watching Bart Guingona, Audie Gemora, and Jaime del Mundo trade barbs and views over the art (or non-art) of the abstract white painting one of them bought in the play "Art" I watched years ago. I felt for Lea Salonga as she sang "I'd Give My Life For You" in "Miss Saigon" staged in Manila before. I tapped my heels to the beat of the lively "They're Playing Our Song" and marveled at how Lea Salonga could sing "Fallin'" so effortlessly, oh so perfectly in that same production. 

 

I still can recall how wonderful Jenine Desiderio sounded singing "Lones, nang kita'y masilayan..." as an abused housemaid in "Fire Water Woman," never mind that she wasn't the lead star of the musical. And I still chuckle up to now remembering how cute a couple Ricky Davao and Tricia Amper made in "Bongbong at Kris," which I watched in the 80s at the CCP Little Theater.

 

We laugh and cry, sing and hum after watching a play or musical, and we are reminded that there's more to life than squeezing in the crowded MRT each working day, meeting that nth deadline at work, and braving the Friday payday traffic on EDSA. There's got to be something more than the bickering we see and hear in the daily telenovelas on TV which mirror real life, the petty and heinous crimes we report, and the tragedy such as that brought by Typhoon Pablo that we hear about. I believe that God must have something more in store for us in this life.

 

And so there's hope served at the theater, a zest for life that could be imbibed, a lift for all of us who need it. We walk away with more spring in our steps, with a smile on our faces, with a song in our hearts. 

 

So, I hope to see you at the theater soon. Let's both make time for it, shall we?