Friday, October 17, 2008
Who needs a microphone when you're Cherie Gil?

Or Maria Callas, for that matter.

I left the theater so amazed that I considered titling this article "CHERIE GIL IS SO FRICKING COOL." Heh. I don't think I'll ever tire of being too excitable for anything. I'll either love something obsessively (Altar Boyz, Rowena Vilar, Felix Rivera) or hate it with a passion (Mulan, Jr., and one Dogeaters actor that I'm not going to name), but I'm proud to say that I've never felt lukewarm about any show I've seen. My fire burns on strong after seeing, on invitation from Fairy Godmother Lorna Lopez, a dress rehearsal of Terence McNally's Tony award-winning play Master Class, starring the divine Ms. Gil. And I didn't hate it, obviously.

The amount of love a fan has for an artist, in my humbly fangirlish opinion, boils down to two things: talent and personality. (Looks if you're shallow, but I think that would make it different from "love," at that point.) Both are required, certainly, but you could mix them in varying proportions and come out with a different brand of appeal. You've got the Spring Awakening cast, so loved by their fans, who gush about how sweet Jonathan Groff is at stagedoor, et cetera. Then on the other hand, there's Patti LuPone, and when you see a show starring Patti LuPone, you're not really thinking about what she'll be like at stagedoor, you're there to watch Patti fucking LuPone.

Copious amounts of one could cover up a glaring lack of the other. John Gallagher Jr. could hit a flat in the most important part of "Don't Do Sadness," or maybe Matt Doyle might forget a line, but you don't care and you'll still come back to the Eugene O'Neill for the sixteenth time next Saturday because my GOD they're such nice semi-famous people! Patti LuPone could be the biggest asshole you ever met, and you'd still love her because she is LuPWNAGE, baby. (Don't quote me, though, I heard she's actually a nice person offstage. Main point being that it wouldn't matter either way.)

Cherie Gil is a case for the latter, like you haven't guessed that already. After what was supposed to be an hour-long Starbucks chat with an old office friend stretched into a five-hour session, I was already freaking out on the taxi ride to the RCBC Plaza. What I love about theater is that it waits for no one, it's admirably disciplined and has never heard of "Filipino time." Theater willingly waits for Cherie Gil, though.

I showed up at 4:30pm, on the dot, worriedly tapping my Mary Janes as the elevator ascended to the fourth floor. The barely-occupied Carlos P. Romulo auditorium was so quiet you could hear a pin drop. Director Michael Williams, champion of theater in the south metro, is seated front and center, overseeing the image transitions projected onto the wood panels, and giving (or withholding) his approval for various cast members' outfits.

A crew member comes out. "She'll be ready by 5:30."

"What?"

"Even the make-up artist says so. We are starting at 5:30." She retreats.

The guests' consensus to this turn of events?

"That is so Maria Callas of her!" one giggled.

Indeed. And a few minutes after 5:30, she walks onstage, tall and majestic, every click of her high heels resonating against the theater walls. Once you're watching her, you forget that you waited more than an hour to see this.

By the intermission, I squealed, "This is totally worth it!"

Knowing as little about Philippine cinema as I do, I didn't really know what to expect when I found out that the Philippine cinema icon Cherie Gil was starring. The name only registered to me as "Ooh, famous person." So I sing her praises now, and this is exclusively based on her performance, not her name. Theater fans tend to be skeptical when a performer of a different medium attempts to transition into theater. It's usually less than successful, like how pop star Christian Bautista's limitations were highlighted in the recent production of West Side Story, but Ms. Gil more than proved she could rock the stage when she essayed the role of stern Sister Aloysius in Atlantis Productions' 2006 production of Doubt; to quote Gibbs Cadiz, "Gil’s deliciously rococo acting in local movies (Valentina, anyone, opposite a hapless Anjanette Abayari in “Darna: Ang Pagbabalik?”) prepares no one for the extraordinarily subtle work she delivers in Doubt."

The role of La Divina herself, Maria Callas, the larger than life Greek-American opera legend, is more along the lines of what Ms. Gil usually plays in Philippine movies. However, it still requires the same great amount of subtlety and depth as that of Sr. Aloysius. Ms. Gil has big shoes to fill, as this role was originated by the legendary Zoe Caldwell (and, coincidentally, later played by the also legendary Patti LuPone). But, and I've already mentioned like five times now, Ms. Gil knocked it out of the ballpark.


[L-R: So much legendary-ness that I can't even see straight. Patti LuPone (1996) and Cherie Gil (2008) as Maria Callas.]


With her onstage, one tends to forget that there are other people in this play, too, but they do well with what they are given. Two sopranos and one tenor are the students in the master class: Florence Aguilar as Sophie de Palma, Deeda Barreto as Sharon Graham, and Jack Salud as Anthony Candolino, all accompanied by Ceejay Javier as Manny on the piano. None are as strong as the play's star acting-wise, but more than make up for that in vocal ability. Zobel folk will be amused to find that George Schulze was hilarious as the stage hand, although Michael Williams will be playing the role in the five-show run.

And I must remember that this is supposed to be a review of the Master Class rehearsals, not a love letter to Cherie Gil, awesome though she may be. Her performance alone makes it more than worth the price of admission, but the material itself enhances that five-fold. It's wisdom flavored with humor, served with a wry, biting delivery by the maestra Maria Callas. She doesn't hold back, and she won't let you leave the stage until you've got every note and emotion perfect. Harsh as it may be at times, this only stems from the sort of dedication displayed by somebody who truly loves his or her craft without abandon. Brief flashes of Callas' illustrious life and career trickle through the lessons, though this is still, first and foremost, about the art.

Going into writing this article, I knew that Master Class was going to be a hard sell. My peers and I are more inclined to go for easy, palatable, modern fare like Avenue Q or West Side Story, and the poster and synopsis wouldn't really sway the average 18-year-old to see it. So what's the pitch, then? It may not feature cute leading men or LSS-ready ditties, but it is sharp, witty and most of all, enlightening. I walked in not knowing or liking opera in the least, and I left the theater with a newfound respect for it. Anyone from 9 to 90 can appreciate art, and this is art, performed, discussed, dissected, for the people lucky enough to witness it.

Also: Dudes, it's Cherie Gil. Frickin' go already.

MASTER CLASS will run at the Carlos P. Romulo Theater, RCBC Plaza, Makati on October 17, 18, 23, 24 and 25, 2008 at 8:00 p.m. Directed by Michael Williams.
JC got bored @ 7:26 PM

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