Another night at the theater, I was out with a friend to see Godspell at Circle in the Square. Being just a few steps away from my place of employ, one or two members of the cast and the musical director Stephen Schwartz frequents the restaurant for drinks after their last show of the day so some of the faces were familiar.
One other face, though, was familiar but for a different reason altogether. I can sense a Filipino from a mile away. They don't even have to speak. Plus, I've read about Anna Maria Perez de Tagle debuting on Broadway in several Filipino TV shows and news articles. I immediately pointed her out to my friend and saw several Filipino faces in the audience
I was so ready to see another musical after watching a depressing play a few weeks ago. What better way to banish all negative thoughts than to see a frenzied, bubbling-over, highly-caffeinated, culturally diverse bunch of young 'uns bouncing and trampolining across the stage playing Jesus' disciples. Even Jesus, played by Hunter Parrish, was a kid himself too.
We had front row seats and from John's baptism of Jesus, we were bombarded with several things going on at once and didn't know where to look. Then, I felt uneasy and a tad impatient. In spite of all the contemporary jokes and over-the-top, makes me tired just looking at them antics of those young people on stage, they still managed to sound olden days, Ten Commandments preachy. It's not just because most of its language was adapted straight from the Bible. Of course, I don't know how anyone can do a show about Jesus and his disciples without sounding preachy and homily-like. One can't help it, I guess, but they lost me there. I'm going to hell.
And while I enjoyed certain parts like Telly Leung's take on famous movie lines and Anna Maria's Day by Day, I found some of the contemporary jokes referencing Donald Trump, Lindsay Lohan, Facebook and Occupy Wall Street way too corny and forced.
