Tara’s Thoughts On: PETA Theater Center’s One More Chance the Musical

When PETA’s One More Chance the Musical was announced last year, my first reaction was “WHY?”

Now, hear me out—I don’t want to be a hater, but I think most of us who loved the Star Cinema movie when it first came out have grown older and wiser, and realized that a) Popoy, the male MC, was a toxic sadboi, and; b) his HFN with Basha wasn’t rightfully earned. Which is my way of saying I wasn’t exactly thrilled at the prospect of seeing it interpreted as a musical, even as a casual fan of Ben&Ben’s music.

But this IS still a PETA production, and from experience, I rarely leave a PETA show disappointed, so I decided to watch it at least once. Thankfully, I was able to get tickets now after being unable to snag some during their first run.

One More Chance tells the story of Popoy and Basha, an engineer and architect, respectively, who have been together for five years. They’re getting married soon, and everything they’re doing career-wise is geared toward that milestone. Plus their dream house, which Basha designed.

As the show opens, we see cracks in their relationship, owing mainly to Popoy disregarding Basha’s feelings. She is burnt out and unhappy in the firm they’re both working at, and wants to leave it all behind to venture into something else entirely—a t-shirt design business that Popoy thinks is simply a distraction from their end goal. Things come to a head when seemingly minor inconveniences pile up and aggravate Basha’s feelings of being unheard, and she decides to end their relationship.

Completely lost without her, a stubborn Popoy tries to win Basha’s heart back, eventually hurting not only her but also his relationship with their shared circle of friends. Will Popoy and Basha ever get their Happy Ever After? And when they do, will they be back in each other’s arms, or in someone else’s?

This review contains spoilers.

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Tara’s Thoughts On: The Sandbox Co.’s Little Shop of Horrors

Listennnnnn.

I’m not a fan of the horror and gore genres, but put it in a musical and inject into it a dose of campiness and dark humor and I’ll most probably give it a try. (And it also kinda helps if I have a friend in the cast, ‘cos honestly that was the case here.) So yeah, we watched The Sandbox Co.’s Little Shop of Horrors over the weekend, and had so much fun!

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Tara’s Thoughts On: 9Works Theatrical’s RENT

I was in my early 20s when I first encounted the musical RENT in its movie iteration. I’m not sure why, but it took me a bit of time warming up to it. Perhaps I felt too removed from the themes of the musical at the time, or because the music didn’t quite capture me at first listen. But the more I got into the material, the more my appreciation for it grew. However, it wasn’t until a week ago that I was actually able to see RENT on stage! My gosh, finally!

RENT is a Jonathan Larson musical about eight New Yorkers who are struggling with life in general as they are faced with challenges related to their careers, relationships, drug addiction, and AIDS. It came out in 1996 and is still one of the most enduring musical productions to date.

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Teatro Lakambini has a new face!

Waiting in the Wings has a new cover! How much do you lab it?

Say hello to the new cover of Waiting in the Wings! The cover now features MNor Madamesila and Gio Gahol, photographed by Chi Yu Rodriguez. Design and lettering by Miles Tan.

It’s been six years since the release of Waiting in the Wings, my romance novella set in Manila’s musical theatre world, and while I didn’t have any urgent plans to change its cover, the idea had been simmering in my mind for a while. In February this year, PETA Theater opened its doors to a new Filipino musical entitled Walang Aray (an adaptation of Severino Reyes’ Walang Sugat), and it captured my heart instantly and prompted all of this madness.

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