La Boheme in Manila

The first time I heard the song "Seasons of Love", I automatically got interested to find out more about "Rent." Eventually, I ended up becoming a fan. I wasn't able to watch its local staging though. My only basis then for loving the musical is but I made sure to catch the movie (I even watched the premiere night).

Being fan (RENThead), it's just normal to be interested to know more about the opera it was based. And when I found out the Philippine Opera Company is staging "La Boheme", I knew there's something to look forward to this year. Although I'm a theater-goer, this thing is different as it's an opera which is why it's a new thing for me.

We're really planning to watch the Opera. In fact, I checked the ticket prices and availability via ticketworld some weeks ago. The show is kind of pricey but it's theater and it's opera so it's fine. But when we found out about the rehearsals preview for bloggers (courtesy of The Bachelor Girl), we decided to register for two well, three reasons: (1) if the rehearsal will go smoothly (meaning very limited pauses), we somehow be able to watch the show for free (frugality, hehe), (2) if it's really a rehearsal with lots of breaks/cuts, we would at least have an idea if it's worth watching, and (3) we have something to write about.

Erase first reason. We weren't able to watch the full rehearsals (we have watched acts III and IV). And of course, it was REALLY a rehearsal (with cuts), which is actually good because it was a learning experience (more on this for another post) and we have more reasons to watch the show. The preview made me realize that this is something I shouldn't miss. We are DEFINITELY watching the OPERA (hoping that there are still good seats though). As for the 3rd reason, oh this post is a proof and will probably write another one after watching the opera (and probably the learning experience post with points from Director Floy Quintos).

Why watch the show:

>> It's a rare event.

>> It won't just give you goosebumps. Sagad sa buto ang tama at dagundong ng musika.

>> Oh yes, the opera is in Italian. But you don't have to understand the language to fully appreciate the opera. The key is to listen to the music attentively. You'll be able to get the emotions it wants to communicate. Oh it'd help if you read the synopsis of the Opera, of course.

>> Mahusay! The Filipino opera artists are just so brilliant. Some may think that listening to opera is boring (due to much vibratto) but that ain't true. Not a bit of the moment during the preview did I find myself wanting to sleep.

>> If you loved RENT, you'll for surely love La Boheme. Malamang :)

>> Same story, music, characters, with a Pinoy touch (the artistic directions of Floy Quintos). I've seen a bit and it's really intersting (a material from the 1800 made to fit today's audience).

More information about the show from Karla Gutierrez.

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Thanks to Lorna aka The Bachelor Girl and to the Philippine Opera Company.