codependency

Paul! Paul! The Musical

I had to go watch Saint Paul Pasig's musical: Paul! Paul! The Musical
Why? So I'd meet Trisha's classmate whose prom date is me. I dunno the right word for it... I don't recall... was I asked or set up?

It was in the Meralco Theatre.
I'm just like... woah. Damnit... them nuns and their high budget school stuff. Don't you wish Xavier would at least give us some money to build bigger sets or something? And to think the place was full... halos.

Sadly, I believe that the venue was way too big for them. The show wasn't really good, in my opinion. I mean... the plot wasn't dragging, I'd like to believe. It went somewhere, it had direction. (Why wouldn't it? It's based on Saint Paul's life.) But the writing, the dialogues, the scipt... otherwise. Not really that well.

Paul Reyes is a lawyer, not necessarily on the good side. He has everything he could ever want, all the money, all the fame, all the girls. (First of all... lawyer... with crooning fans?) However, he doubts his own profession. After having sentenced Stephen (an allusion to either Saint Stephen or Christ) to death, he suddenly lacks the same conviction he used to have. There goes to road to change when he is suddenly involved in a car crash.

The lead actor was wasn't that bad... to say. I mean, he's have a really good performance if it weren't for one thing: the things that came out of his mouth. His accent was bad. But he shouldn't worry, everyone else's was. It wasn't like a bad American accent... more like a bad English accent. (Not the people from England. But the language.) They all sounded like true hardcore Filipinos. Back to the lead... his singing voice was also quite annoying. Add to that, it didn't even fit it... he had that operatic feel (if I could call it that?) against everyone's Gospel school voice.

The whole thing was reminiscent of Gospel school. Not a Gospel choir... Gospel school. Each song felt that way. It was tiring and annoying.

The cast was big... and I mean really. But they kept coming out of the stage too much. I thin that was one of their weaknesses. They had a choir offstage (orchestra area) who sang all the parts... meaning all the voices were the same. Take for example the scene where the activists were against the rich girls. They had the same voices because the choir was singing both parts. I couldn't understand. Add to that, people enter the stage just so that the whole stage was dancing. Whatever happened to spotlight on one person. They really enjoy filling their stage with useless roles. There was just an excess of them.

Characters couldn't be established. There was no "big entrance" for them. When the real lead actor came in, I didn't think much of him. None of the other people too. The script needed to build up the hype for each character if they wanted them to enter at a latter part. That's the reason it wasn't effective. The characters didn't stick early on. It was only when they kept appearing onstage that you realize... "ahh, they're the leads. Damnit, I've been following the wrong person."

The only standout performances, I'd like to believe, is that of Ana... the activist girl. And maybe that journalist woman. Of course, the comic relief people were noteworthy too--Barnabas, assistant girl and three fangirls.

Technical side... they had good lighting equipment. What're you expecting, Meralco Theater? But lighting was bad. Sorry. I'd note that. I was Stacey's apprentice, after all. :)) Usually, I wouldn't mind... but watching the actors was boring so I was looking around... and I noticed it. Lol. Too bad for them.

However, I stil commend them though. That was a HUUUUUUUGE cast and crew. It's definitely hard to make it. So, kudos to them. They made a good enough show for a high school production... though I expected more since it was in the Meralco Theater.