CCP
Showing posts with label CCP. Show all posts
Showing posts with label CCP. Show all posts

The Legends and The Classics Encore


Seeing them so happy in the box, and I know the cost was worth it. :)
One day, I suddenly had the urge to watch Cecile Licad perform. I don't know why she suddenly popped into my mind. All I know is that one minute I was thinking about her, and the next minute I was searching online if 1) She's actually in the Philippines, and 2) If she's going to perform anywhere any time soon. I soon stumbled into Ticketworld about her upcoming concert, The Legends and The Classics Encore, with fellow multi-awarded, internationally recognized Filipina performers, Lea Salonga and Lisa Macuja.

I know my parents also want to watch them perform, so I started begging them to watch the show with me. Since the show is scheduled for 8PM, I needed a safe ride to and fro CCP. Luckily, my parents and sister agreed to watch it with me. I was so excited, especially since I've never seen Lisa Macuja perform as well, and she's retiring this year already! It was my last chance.

Due to the death of my uncle last week, my dad flew to Davao, so we had one extra ticket. With some time management, we managed to get my eldest sister, ate Apple, to free up her schedule and watch with us for free.

Since watching The Phantom of the Opera from the balcony seats (it was one thing I sorely regret until now), I have decided that I will watch future shows somewhere closer to the stage. Because the tickets were a bit pricey, my parents and ate Mako only wanted to get the lower balcony seats, which cost P2000. I then offered to upgrade our seats to Upper Box seats instead, which was my hitting two birds with one stone moment: ate Mako and I once pledged that we will watch a show in the Upper Box seats, and I'm now nearer to the stage. Hurrah! My mom said that instead of paying P6000 for my ticket and their upgrades, I should just purchase the P6k orchestra seat for myself, but I thought, where's the fun in that?

I'm glad I chose to upgrade their seats instead. It was truly a night to remember!

First, because having our own box was just fun. There are six seats per box but the two seats remained vacant throughout the whole 2.5-hour continuous performance. My mom had quite a jolly time switching from seat to seat as she tried to find the seat that would enable her to see the stage the most (we're all pretty fun-sized).

Second, it was incredible seeing all three spectacular stars in one show! Us four were just in awe the whole time, listening to Lea's amazing voice, and we were entranced by Cecile's total performance on the piano, and Lisa Macuja's emotion-inducing performances.

I've seen Lea before in Miss Saigon (we won orchestra F6 seats!), so I already know that she's an incredible performer. But it was such a treat to see Cecile Licad, oh I can't even describe how much! I recalled my music teacher in college once told us that if we ever have the chance to watch Cecile Licad's performance, we should do so because she's truly something. Cecile Licad just intrigued me. She looked like this awkward, beautiful, soft woman (and sometimes, she seemed unsure if she should join the two other ladies at the center of the stage), but as soon as she sits down, by golly, she transforms into something else. As she played, her fingers racing across the keys of the piano, she would look at Gerard with huge eyes, as if daring him to battle with her. You can see her (well, I was aided by binoculars the whole time) say "pam pam pam pam" as she pressed on the keys. And no matter how she hard or scary she looked like while performing, the notes sounded so melodious. And after the performance, it seemed like all that confidence would just drain away and she'd be this awkward woman once more. She seemed so shy, but put her in front of the piano and you cannot find a more confident pianist. There were times when I would just sit back, relax, close my eyes, and simply listen to the music. At that moment, while listening to Cecile Licad perform, I truly felt that music is one of the greatest blessings in life.

Watching Lisa Macuja was like a dream come true. I've always been interested in her, more so since I watched Giselle, and I just kept imagining how it would be like to watch her perform. She seemed so lithe and she made it look so easy, spinning on her toes and doing all those leaps like she weighed nothing. It was enjoyable to see her end each of her performances with a proud and strong lift of her arms like the letter V. The most surprising treat was when she danced the swan song from Swan Lake, one of her most famous performances. I wanted to cry when I realized I will never see our very own (and sole) prima ballerina take to the stage as the black swan (or even the white, cause she's awesome like that).

Lea, Lisa, and Cecile only performed together a few times, to a few popular Filipino songs (at least popular to the older generation). As I mentioned, it was a continuous 2.5-hour performance. I didn't time them but each star had her time to shine without overshadowing the other. I didn't feel like I wanted to see more or less of one of them, which speaks for the good management of the show's director.

It was so energizing to see all three of them on stage. Lea, despite just standing by the corner most of the time, could certainly hold her own and project a presence even without moving much. I enjoyed hearing her lilting voice. My mom was very happy when Lea sang one of her favorite songs, Memories, from the Cats musicale. Lea performed songs from her various Broadway roles, and I was so happy that even if I never got to see her perform in all her shows, I was still able to hear her sing her pieces.

It was also my first time to hear the Philharmonic Orchestra (choirmaster: Gerard Salonga) perform live. They were the main musical background of the three ladies, except for the times when Cecila Licad would do her solos. One of the violinists, Tito Rodel, is my sister's ex-choirmaster, and he was surprised to see us there. It felt nice to surprise him, too :)

I'm so grateful that I received so many blessings this year - and getting to watch The Legends and the Classics Encore is definitely one of the best so far.
Read More

My first ballet show: Giselle


My sister asked me to watch the ballet Giselle in CCP with her, as part of the "cultural enrichment" thing we are both doing this year. Of course I agreed because I like ballet, although I've never seen a performance before (I did a year of ballet 18 years ago, and I still reminisce about it until today!). I did a bit of negotiating with her, since she just wanted to buy the cheapest ticket, P400, for the 2PM show. Since that was where we sat when we watched The Phantom of the Opera (and I regretted it since we all had poor eyesight), I argued that we would be better able to watch if we sat a little bit closer. After a few more days, she finally relented to sit in the orchestra section, costing P1000, although we paid a total of P2110, since we bought via Ticketworld's online portal and they had a 3% service charge (P60) and a P50 pick-up fee in CCP.

Note: If you're using someone else's card (your mom/dad's, etc), you have to bring the card you used to purchase the tickets along with the online ticket confirmation letter Ticketworld sent to your email, an authorization letter from the card owner, the card owner's two valid IDs, and your own valid ID.

The commute:
It was a rainy Saturday, and I was still recovering from a upper respiratory tract infection, so my dad drove us to Sucat via West Service Road. From there, we crossed through the bridge and rode a UV Express FX bound for Lawton via SM Moa. We paid P40 and asked the driver to drop us off at CCP.

If you will ride from Sucat to CCP, you will be dropped off across CCP, and you can either just cross the road and walk to CCP, or ride the orange jeep that goes around CCP. The jeepney costs P8. We rode the jeepney because it was raining cats and dogs, and we don't want to risk crossing the avenue with all the speeding vehicles.

For the way home, we just walked to the corner of the CCP block and hailed a passing FX bound for Sucat. We paid P45.

The show:
 
While waiting for Giselle to start.

Since it was my first time to watch ballet, I didn't really have any other show to compare it to. Watching ballet, I learned, is vastly different from watching other shows. You really have to understand the different movements of the ballerinas to know and appreciate the story. Thankfully, one of the heads of Ballet Philippines gave a speech prior to the show and taught us the different ballerina motions for you, me, I promise, dance and death/die.

I admit I fell asleep right at the crux of the story in the first scene! I'm not used to watching plays without dialogues or singing, so I didn't know what happened. I thought a battle between the two suitors of Giselle, has occurred and that the one she loves was dying, that's why Giselle committed suicide. I didn't read the story beforehand because I wanted to see if I will understand the story based on the ballet dancing itself. My sister, who stayed awake throughout the play, corrected my story. From what she understands, the show is this:

Giselle is a peasant girl who is in love with this rich guy who seems to be a prince. But there is a hunter, who is also pursuing Giselle. Giselle's mother prefers hunter guy (HG) and dislikes rich guy (RG), but Giselle and RG are in love. They keep dancing and dancing, since they both love to dance. HG discovers that RG is actually a royal and shows a sword to Giselle, but Giselle doesn't believe him. Then a princess arrives in the scene, and confirms that RGs is indeed betrothed to her.

Giselle goes mad with grief and betrayal and dies of a broken heart.

In the second act (which I stayed awake for throughout!) HG visits Giselle's grave. The queen of the dead arrives and tells him to dance. HG dances until he dies. RG then visits Giselle's grave, and the Queen of the Dead also tells him to dance to his death. Giselle, who has loved him and forgiven him even after death, dances and supports him and saves him, until dawn breaks, and the power of the Queen of the Dead is broken. RG is then saved and Giselle goes back to her grave.

I had to Google the real story and found out that my sister's interpretation isn't entirely accurate. Visit the page for Giselle in the Ballet Philippine's website to read the full story.

Denise Parungao as Giselle.
The ballerina for Giselle's part in the 2PM show was Denise Parungao. She danced beautifully and was very light on her feet. She was very graceful and gave justice to the part. Watching her, I remembered my late schoolmate, Mary Saludares, who was also a ballerina but she died a few years ago, much too young, in a tragic accident right on the brink of her career. I also regretted that I never watched Lisa Macuja's ballet performances.

The photo on the left is Denyse walking towards a guy who was holding out a bouquet for her. He kissed her on the forehead and the crowd went wild with hoots! I don't know if he is her boyfriend though. Maybe?

The other dancers were also very graceful, although for the chorus dances, they weren't moving in synch with each other at all times. Some lifted their hands a second earlier than the others, or lifted their legs, etc. Still, the performance was beautiful.

After the performance, I just walked around the foyer. I found myself standing beside a group of girls who were talking about Denise, and how excited they were to see her. I realized I was standing beside a cordoned off area, and saw a table with pens. I realized that the dancers were going to do a signing of the program booklets, and I was right in front of their table! Prime spot to take a photos and see them up close.

The whole ensemble of the 2PM show of Giselle slowly walked down the stairs. Wait, did I mention Bembol Roco is part of the cast? I didn't even recognize him, but he is not visible from this photo.

The Giselle ensemble.
Sitting on the table, from L-R: Marvin Arizo as Hilarion (Hunter Guy), Earl John Arisola as Albrecht (Rich Guy), Denise Parungao as Giselle, and Ma. Celina Dofitas as Myrtha (Queen of the Wilis).

They all danced beautifully. I initially thought Celina Dofitas was one of the other Giselles in the other shows because she wsas so lithe and graceful.

Left to right: Hilarion, Albrecht, Giselle, and Myrtha.
I'm glad we bought the orchestra seats. It was a really nice experience to watch ballet, and I am grateful to the 2PM ensemble of Giselle for the wonderful performance and making us feel the money and the rain and flood-drenched clothes were all worth it.

Till my next adventure,
Read More
Subscribe to: Posts (Atom)