Tiny Beautiful Thoughts: An interview with Mr. Rody Vera

I LOVE the theatre. I might not have the means to see every single show running in my city at a given time, but when I do get my chance, I always have a great time.

This weekend, I’m looking forward to discovering a play for the first time! It’s a straight play called Tiny Beautiful Things, which is a stage adaptation of the book with the same title, penned by American author Cheryl Strayed. In Tiny Beautiful Things, an anonymous advice columnist named Sugar encounters a colorful variety of personalities as they talk about their struggles and seek her advice through the letters they send her.

The local staging of Tiny Beautiful Things is brought to us by The Sandbox Co., and stars Iza Calzado as the advice columnist, Sugar. She is joined by Rody Vera, Gabby Padilla, and Ketchup Eusebio as the letter writers. Rounding out the cast are Brian Sy and Regina de Vera who also play letter writers at certain performances.

Earlier today, I had the honor of having a virtual interview with Mr. Rody Vera, who plays Letter Writer 1. I may have spent several seconds fangirling because he wrote PETA’s Walang Aray, which I absolutely LOVED, but we of course talked more about his role in Tiny Beautiful Things, his thoughts about how the Filipino audience will be able to relate to the material, and This experience working on the production.

Check it out below.

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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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Buy tickets to Maxie the Musicale 2020!

SAVE THE DATE: August 1, 2020 / Saturday / 3:00 PM

Keep us in mind for tickets! Our Ticket2Me page will be up very soon, but you may direct inquiries to the numbers above.

ABOUT THE SHOW

Maxie The Musical tells the story of an effeminate, adolescent boy Maxie growing up in the slums of Manila, and who is deeply loyal to his family of petty thieves. His world revolves around taking care of his father Paco and two brothers Bogs and Boy, who love and protect him. When Maxie meets a young, handsome, and idealistic policeman Victor, the two quickly form a friendship and Maxie begins to realize that he can have a better life, which soon incurs the ire and disapproval of Maxie’s family. Torn between his emerging affection for Victor and unquestioning devotion to his father and brothers, Maxie The Musical is a tale of lost innocence and redemption amidst poverty and corruption.

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Nineteen Firsts in 2019 (Part 2)

Aaaand here we are with part two of my yearend happy post! Just to recap, I’ve had 19 wonderful firsts this 2019, and here’s the first half of the list in case you missed it.

Whew. Pretty packed year, huh? (I mean it is, for me.) Why don’t we go ahead and finish this list, starting with #11!

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