Ballet PHL’s ‘Manhid’ mixes comic books, musical theater, political ideas

Salman Rushdie’s second novel, the “Midnight’s Children,” provided the seeds and inspiration for the growth and development of the original production by UP Tropa of “Manhid,” which premiered at the then UP Diliman College of Arts and Sciences in 1991.

Published in 1981, the acclaimed Midnight’s Children won the Booker Prize for Fiction, the James Tait Black Memorial Prize for fiction, an Arts Council Writers’ Award and the English-Speaking Union Award.

In 1993, Midnight’s Children was judged to be the “Booker of Bookers,” meaning “the best novel to have won the Booker Prize for Fiction in the award’s 25-year history.”

Almost 24 years later, “Manhid” returns to the stage. This time, a considerably more colorful production at the national theater, with professional ballet dancers, actors, and actresses, singers, and a famous rock band to support it.

PHL pop culture, political issues 

Each Manhid show will be accompanied by a live musical performance by the Radioactive Sago Project, taking over from the Eraserheads, which was the production’s live band in 1991.

“Manhid: The Pinoy Superhero Musical” was similarly animated by comic book superheroes from 1960s to the present.

           
Ballet Philippines’ Manhid introduces a new generation of Filipino folk heroes and superheroes specifically “redefined” in this era of exploding social media and android phones.

           
In an interview, Paul Alexander Morales, BP artistic director and Manhid 2015 director and co-choreographer, said “it is fitting” that Manhid is brought back to the Cultural Center of the Philippines with Ballet Philippines. Morales was the Manhid 1991 director and choreographer.

           
“Manhid’s message against apathy and ignorance and its call for a critical nationalism is still as relevant today, as it was when it premiered in 1991,” Morales said. Manhid’s re-staging coincides with the 29th anniversary celebrations of the February 1986 “People Power” revolution.


New cast

           
Asked about the new cast of performers, Morales said the 2015 production is “blessed to have a great cast.”

           
“The Ballet Philippines is an open company. It is good for the dancers to spread their wings. BP believes in the cross-pollination of the arts. It is through collaborative works that artists from different disciplines begin to understand each other,” Morales said.

           
The BP dancers are supported by actors, actresses, and singers from other companies. In the 2015 re-staging, BP dancers will break out in song while theater talents will showcase their dancing skills.

           
“As the days and nights of rehearsals progress, the entire cast is becoming a more cohesive, a tighter group, and they begin to share with each other,” Morales said.

Updating for the new era

           
To make the 2015 Manhid story more cohesive and accessible to the young audience, playwright Rody Vera was requested to join the creative team. Meanwhile, a new choreography is expected during the opening night on Feb. 20.

           
Aureaus Solito (now known as Kanakan Balintagos), composer and writer of the 1991 production, composed a new song (“Awit ng Buhay”)  for this year’s re-staging.

           
Balintagos, the main author of the work, is the multi-awarded film director of “Ang Pagdadalaga Ni Maximo Oliveros” and “Busong.”

           
Noted film, television, and stage composer Vincent de Jesus also co-composed the musical. Morales shares the choreography with Alden Lugnasin, BP’s resident choreographer.

           
Manhid is a musical take on comic books. It is divided into three “books” that are patterned on the “classics” of the comic book genre. The first book is the “origin issue,” the second book is the “dark/crisis” issue, and the third book is the “all-out good versus evil battle episode.” 

           
Good vs. evil

The play is about the battles of two groups of superheroes: the Maragtas headed by tabloid writer Bantugan Buenaventura and the lady activist Lam-ang Panganiban versus the Tulisan ng Bayan headed by General Apolaki Regalado.

           
The Tulisan are employed by Mamalahim-ma a demonic Minister of Humanity who plans on enslaving whole generations of Filipinos with her epidemic of Kamanhiran.

           
The heroes and villains, as children of their native land receive their powers when they were named after the gods and heroes of Philippine myth as a protest for the Masaker ng Taong Bayan.

           
In their battles these opposing teams fight for the future of the Philippines.  

           
Leading the cast of superheroes as Bantugan “Tag-inip” Buenaventura is Sandino Martin, who recently won Best Actor at the Cinema One Originals Awards Night for his role in “Esprit de Corps.”

           
Bantugan is a journalist with the power to communicate with the other superheroes through his dreams. Alternating the role is Ballet Philippines Apprentice, Mark Anthony Grantos.

“MANHID: The Pinoy Superhero Musical” will have a three-weekend run at the CCP Main Theater on February 20-22, February 27-March 1, and March 6-8, 2015. — VC, GMA News


For bulk reservations, show buys, and inquiries, visit the website or call Ballet Philippines at 551-1003. For tickets, call the CCP Box Office at 832-3704 or Ticketworld at 891-9999.