'Eto Na! Musikal nAPO!': 7 things you need to know

Aegis with Rak of Aegis. Sugarfree with Sa Wakas. The Eraserheads with Ang Huling El Bimbo. There seems to be no signs of a slowdown in the trend of showcasing the songs of influential and beloved OPM artists in a stage musical.

The latest announcement comes from Globe Live and 9Works Theatrical, who are bringing the songs of Apo Hiking Society to life via the musical Eto Na! Musikal nAPO!

For anyone who grew up with the music of Danny Javier, Jim Paredes and Buboy Garovillo, Eto Na! promises to gather their biggest hits and their most memorable songs in the musical from the same groups that brought audiences Disney’s Newsies and A Christmas Carol.

At the press conference held at the Maybank Performing Arts Theater in Bonifacio Global City on Tuesday, June 26, writer and director Robbie Guevarra revealed a few details about the production ahead of its big opening in August.

1. It was Buboy Garvillo who thought of a musical 

Guevarra credits Garovillo, who, during a break in rehearsals for 9WT’s production of Grease in 2013, casually mentioned that the group should consider producing a musical featuring the songs of the APO.

“But at that point I actually already had an outline,” Guevarra said. “Because back in 2003, I was in a (political comedy) show called Electile Dysfunction with him (Garovillo) and he would always tell us about the story of APO. And he would say that their story would make a good play or musical. He probably forgot about it already when he mentioned it again during Grease.”

2. The script took two weeks to write 

“I wrote it in the summer of 2013,” Guevarra said. “But I had help from the guy who was an even bigger fan of the APO’s music than I was: Jonjon Martin. I would tell him, ‘This character gets into an argument with that character, what song would fit here?’ And he would tell me (snaps his finger) just like that.”

3. There will be at least 15 APO songs featured in the musical 

“You can’t fit 200 plus songs in a two-hour musical,” Guevarra said. "So we had to trim it down to 15 to 20 songs.”

The director added that the script is still undergoing constant rewrites and tweaks so we probably won’t know the final list of songs until opening night.

“I just wrote Version 21 this morning while the members of the cast were doing their make-up,” he said.

Mark Bautista leads the cast

4. But for sure, "Panalangin" will be there 

Based on the preview, we can expect “Panalangin,” “Blue Jeans,” “Batang-Bata Ka Pa,” to be there for sure. “Pumapatak na Naman ang Ulan,” “Paano,” Awit ng Barkada,” “Mahirap Magmahal ng Syota ng Iba,” “Bawat Bata,” “When I Met You,” “Doo Bidoo” are also safe bets to make it.

5. It's set in the 1970's

Eto Na! tells the story of a college barkada set in the 1970's, the so-called Golden Era of OPM. It tells the coming-of-age of seven friends who join a songwriting and singing contest and experience heartaches and heartbreaks along the way.

Of course, there are relationship problems, particularly with their respective girlfriends, parents, teachers and each other.

Because its set in the 1970s, when the country was under Martial Law, there will be political themes.

“I initially wanted to steer clear of that because my own family had a bad experience during Martial Law,” Guevarra said. “But given the current landscape, it’s an ‘unignorable’ circumstance.”

Kapuso artist Rita Daniela is also in the cast

6. Mark Bautista leads the stellar cast

“Eto Na!” features a mix of musical theater veterans and neophytes, led by pop star Mark Bautista as Rick and GMA-7 artist Rita Daniela as Anna.

Also in the cast are Jobim Javier (son of APO member Danny Javier) as Butch, Sab Jose as Michelle, Alfritz Blanche as Sonny, Marika Sasaki as Jane, Jon Philippe Go as Ray, Jef Flores as Jaime, Jon Abella as Donnie, Raul Montesa as Ray’s dad and Neomi Gonzales as Ray’s mom.

The rest of the company includes Vyen Villanueva, Gian Gloria, Shalee Vicencio, Peachy Atilano Guevara, Anton Posadas, Jourdan Bartolome and Derick Gozos.

7. The original APO are heavily involved in the production 

According to Guevarra, Javier, Paredes and Garovillo all seemed to be heavily involved in the production, with the creative team running the story and script with the trio, who then gave their input and suggestions.

“They never forced anything on us,” Guevarra said. “They only made suggestions, which we mostly kept because they were expectedly brilliant.”

Paredes himself was at the press launch and he had this to say: “Over the years we’ve had no less than 20 people approach us with some kind of proposal to turn our songs into a musical. But nothing quite excited us. And most of them never even sent us a script. (9WT and Globe Live) were the first that we felt made a serious effort in wanting to do something with our music. I attended a few rehearsals and I’m excited and pleasantly surprised at what they were able to do with our songs.”

That’s certainly a ringing endorsement if I ever heard one. — LA, GMA News

Eto Na! Musikal nAPO! Will run from August 3 to 26 at the Maybank Performing Arts Center. Tickets can be purchased via Ticketworld.com.ph