BOOK NOW: The Producers
Nov 15-Dec 15. If you have friends in a theater production and want to wish them luck, don’t. Rather wish them the worst. Mel Brooks actually wrote a song about that for The Producers and you can find out what it says when Repertory Philippines stages the Tony Awards-winning musical next month. Onstage, 2/F Greenbelt 1, Makati City; +63 2 5716926, www.ticketworld.com.ph. PHP700, PHP1,000, PHP1,500.
Macbeth
Oct 22. Yes, theatre has its superstitions. This brings me to one of my favorites. It has to do with a screening of a National Theatre production of Macbeth, sponsored by the British Council today as part of the UK-Philippine Friendship Week. You can get tickets for that screening at SM ticket outlets, and you have to be at SM Aura Premier Theatre 2 by 6:45 PM. It stars Kenneth Branagh in the title role. However, one is not supposed to mention the name of the play, nor that role. It is allegedly cursed, so theatre people in some places refer to it as “the Scottish play.” 7pm. SM Aura Premier Cinema 2, Bonifacio Global City; www.smtickets.com. PHP400.
Closer
Oct 26 & 27. Wrapping up its run the Red Turnip production of Closer, the Patrick Marber play that became an Academy Award-winning film. It’s definitely as emotionally hard-hitting as it is expected it to be, and I have been told that it gets better with every performance. 3pm & 8pm. Whitespace, 2314 Chino Roces Ave Ext, Makati City; www.ticketworld.com.ph. PHP1,000-PHP1,200.
SOS: Showcase of Original Shorts
Oct 28. Joel Trinidad, who is set to play Franz Liebkind in the musical, is directing a series of his short plays, called SOS: Showcase of Original Shorts. And his fellow producer/actor Giselle Toengi is part of the ensemble. The project is, as Trinidad puts it, an experiment. “We know that the audience for theatre is not expanding,” he told some members of the press after the play, “so we thought, instead of bringing the audience to the theatre, why not do it the other way around?” The five plays for this run are short one-act genre comedies, right in time for Halloween. (I won’t spoil it by telling you which genres he used, but there’s a super-villain one there.) Trinidad hopes that if this becomes successful, and yes, these plays are mainly enjoyable, it could travel. I asked him what was the worst thing that could happen in one of these “bar runs.” He told me, “A bar fight, maybe?” 10pm. Caixa Bar and Restaurant (Malugay Street, Bel-Air, Makati). PHP450, with a free drink.
Rodger & Hammerstein’s Cinderella
Till Nov 17. Karylle plays the abuse fairy tale princess (with Julia Abueva and Jenny Peña as understudies) and Christian Bautista as prince charming. Newport Performing Arts Theater, 3/F Newport Mall, Newport Blvd, Pasay City; +63 2 8366000, www.ticketworld.com.ph. Thu 8pm, Fri 4pm & 8pm, Sat & Sun 3pm & 7pm.
Photo: Showcase of Original Shorts
This will become a regular feature on Coconuts Manila, so if you have any theatrical productions coming up, or know of any, please let us know! And to those whose plays are coming up, break a leg.
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