The last run of "Ang Huling El Bimbo" musical will be tomorrow, September 2, 2018. This musical has been on show since July 20, every Friday to Sunday at the Newport Performing Arts Theater in Resorts World Manila. My boyfriend got us a ticket to watch this ingenious musical last August 18 and I would say that I enjoyed the quick trip back to the university life where friendships and dreams are formed.
The musical features the most iconic songs of the '90s band Eraserheads in a story where it perfectly fitted. What I didn't expect from this musical is how it tackled topics as heavy as rape, death, police corruption and the government's wars on drugs. I think it took us away from what we expected to be a warm musical about friendship while jamming to our most favorite Eraserhead songs. My boyfriend was the real fan so I had to memorize some of their songs prior to watching with the hope that I won't be left out when the audience starts singing but the characters just left us in complete awe. We were all just satisfied by watching them do all the singing while we were left sitting at the edge of our chair, wondering how the story will go.
I am so proud to witness so many exceptional Filipino talents showing their singing and acting prowess on stage. I would say that every single one performed like they were the main character in the story. But there were two talents that I believe stood out, Tanya Manalang and Gian Magdangal.
*Spoiler Alert. To avoid you hating me, you may skip to the next paragraph.*
Tanya Manalang played the character of the young Joy, a happy and lovable character that ended up being raped. This resulted to her being estranged from her friends, Hector, Emman and Anthony. Tanya Manalang's performance was really praiseworthy because of her powerful vocals which is also something that I appreciated with Gian Magdangal, playing the character of the adult Hector. Hector is Joy's friend who remained haunted by the fact that he wasn't able to do anything to protect Joy and that he never really got to say that he loved her.
Some critic would say that the story was something very common. In fact, the story can even be considered as simple but the way that it was delivered in that musical made it worth the standing ovation. There's nothing more amazing than how smoothly the songs of Eraserheads been incorporated in the story. It was like the songs were made to fit the story and the story was made to fit with the songs. It was just so incredible. Also, you can't expect nothing less with the stage production of the Resorts World Manila. Everything was just so detailed. From the famous Aling Tonyang's store that were built in so much precision, to the road trip to Antipolo wherein a real car was brought onstage. The stage was incredible.
All in all, I would say that this is really worth your time and money. Although they made me cry, I would say that I really had fun and that it taught me a very important lesson- never forget who your friends are no matter how busy or no matter what problems would come your way. For a relationship lost can be so hard to retrieve, just like life.
If you don't have anything planned this Sunday, make sure to catch the last show for the "Ang Huling El Bimbo" musical. You can still get your ticket at ticketworld.com.ph. Hope you enjoy it! And I'm looking forward to support more Filipino musicals in the future!
P.S. Thank you for my wonderful boyfriend for making this experience possible!
