I just watched Audie Gemora in Repertory Philippines’ Man of La Mancha this evening and was reminded why theater can be a much more powerful medium for storytelling than film sometimes. I haven’t seen a really noteworthy play in over 2 years (the last one was Miss Saigon at the CCP) and I was thoroughly impressed by this tight little production. I have to say that very often it comes down to how good your actors are, and Gemora in the dual roles of Miguel de Cervantes and Don Quixote is fairly astounding.
People who know me have been made painfully aware of how much I dislike musicals (i think I may be one of the few people in the world that fell asleep while watching Moulin Rouge), although I think it’s really just because I don’t like how they translate to the film medium. Musicals in the theater have this raw energy that you just can’t capture with a lens, and when you’re watching such a fine ensemble of talented actors, it’s impossible not to be drawn into the performance.
I think one of the things I really enjoy with the theater is the fact that there’s a lot more audience-participation, in that a lot of things are left to the imagination. You can see this in action with set design & lighting, where a few well-placed props and a bit of tinted lighting can transform a 5 by 7 meter stage into a convincingly different locale. One of the best examples i’ve ever seen was in Dulaang UP’s St Louis Loves Dem Filipinos during the late 90s, where the set shifted from modern-day Manhattan to the St. Louis World Fair in 1904 to the mindscapes of the narrator with a little more than mood lighting and gossamer drapes.
You can catch Man of La Mancha at the Globe Theater in Greenbelt 1, with twice-weekly showings through the month of December.