Best Musical 2011 Nominees: MyFABE Theater Awards

I started watching local theater, seriously again this year.  I saw thirteen different plays and musicals this year and from those, I have come out with my own MyFABE Theater Awards for 2011. 

I have mulled over this list for the past 11 months and in my opinion, these are the five best musicals for 2011.

BEST MUSICAL

Care Divas

In the Heights

Next to Normal

Sweet Charity

Zsa Zsa Zaturnnah

The winner will be announced on December 31, 2011.

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Care Divas Tops the 1st MyFABE Theater Awards

The musical comedy-drama Care Divas topped the 1st MyFABE Theater awards winning five awards - Best Musical, Best Director - Musical for Maribel Legarda, Best Actor Musical for Melvin Lee, Best Supporting Actor Musical for Ricci Chan and Best Songbook for Vincent de Jesus.

This year's Best Play, Bawal Tumawid Nakamamatay won four awards - including Best Director for Joey Paras who also won Best Script, and Best Actress in a Play for Kiki Baento.

The surprise of the night was the four awards for 39 Steps.  They got two acting awards for Liza Infante (Best Supporting Actress in a Play) and for Juliene Mendoza (Best Supporting Actor in a Play).  They also grabbed two technical awards - Best Costume Design and Best Production Design.

The queen of local theater, Menchu Lauchengco-Yulo, won Best Actress in a Musical for her turn as a woman sinking into madness in Next to Normal. Veteran actor Siegfried Sepulveda won the Best Actor in a Play award for his turn as a retiree in The Valley Mission Care while veteran actress Pinky Amador snatched the Best Supporting Actress in a Musical award for Zsa Zsa Zaturnnah.

Mga Lobo Tulad ng Buwan won for Best Lighting while Sweet Charity got the Best Choreography award.

Only plays and musicals that I watched this year are qualified to be nominated in the said categories.  Winners are basically the personal choice of moi, the blogger!

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1st MyFABE Theater Awards: Best Musical

Five entertaining musicals are nominated for Best Musical this year.  Care Divas sings about the plight of a group of cross-dressing caregivers in Care Divas.  In the Heights explores the lives of the Latinos based in New York.  Next to Normal brings forth raw madness while Sweet Charity brings us back to the swinging 60s!  Finally, Zsa Zsa Zaturnnah brings us again to the world of Pinoy superheroes.


BEST MUSICAL


Care Divas

In the Heights

Next to Normal

Sweet Charity

Zsa Zsa Zaturnnah

And the award for Best Musical goes to...............Care Divas from PETA!

1st MyFABE Theater Awards: Best Director - Musical

Maribel Legarda gets two nominations this year for directing William and Care Divas.  Bobby Garcia gave us the forlorn Next to Normal.  Robbie Guevarra directed the buoyant Sweet Charity and Chris Millado gets our nod again for Zsa Zsa Zaturnnah.

BEST DIRECTOR (MUSICAL)

Bobby Garcia - Next to Normal

Robbie Guevarra - Sweet Charity

Maribel Legarda - Care Divas

Maribel Legarda - William

Chris Millado - Zsa Zsa Zaturnnah

And the award for Best Director - Musical goes to............Maribel Legarda for Care Divas!

1st MyFABE Theater Awards: Best Actor in a Musical

Five adept actors are nominated for Best Actor in a Musical.  Vincent de Jesus and Melvin Lee are both funny and poignant in Care Divas.  John Moran was boorish and a bully in William.  Jett Pangan was adroit in Next to Normal while Myke Salomon played the yummy pharaoh in Aida.



BEST ACTOR (MUSICAL)

Vincent de Jesus - Care Divas

Melvin Lee - Care Divas

John Moran - William

Jett Pangan - Next to Normal

Myke Salomon - Aida

And the award for Best Actor in a Musical goes to...........Melvin Lee in Care Divas!

Moi with Melvin Lee who played Chelsea here in Care Divas!

1st MyFABE Theater Awards: Best Supporting Actor in a Musical

The supporting categories are normally the most competitive since there are so many good actors to choose from.  The following have been nominated for Best Supporting Actor in a Musical.

Ricci Chan sang his heart out as an abused OFW caregiver in Care Divas.  Miguel Hidalgo was hot and sexy (I love his chest hair haha) as the illegal Palestinian guy in Care Divas.  Gabe Mercado was the irrepressible sidekick of Zsa Zsa in Zsa Zsa Zaturnnah.  Felix Rivera played the dead son in Next to Normal while Josh Santana was a revelation as the loyal subject to the pharaoh in Aida.


BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR MUSICAL

Ricci Chan - Care Divas

Miguel Hidalgo - Care Divas

Gabe Mercado - Zsa Zsa Zaturnnah

Felix Rivera - Next to Normal

Josh Santana - Aida

And the award for Best Supporting Actor in a Musical goes to........Ricci Chan of Care Divas!

1st MyFABE Theater Awards: Best Songbook

The following are the nominees for best songbook.  The songs in Care Divas capture perfectly the OFW experience of our caregivers in Israel.  The aspirations of the Latinos in New York are sung In the Heights.  A woman freeing herself from madness is sung in Next to Normal.  The bubbly Sweet Charity gives us the quirky sounds of the sixties while the camp songs of Zsa Zsa Zaturnnah was updated for today's Twitter and Facebooke world.

BEST SONGBOOK

Care Divas

In the Heights

Next to Normal

Sweet Charity

Zsa Zsa Zaturnnah

And the award for Best Songbook goes to.........Vincent de Jesus for Care Divas!

MyFABE Theater Awards: Nominees For Technical Categories

I started watching local theater, seriously again this year.  I saw thirteen different plays and musicals this year and from those, I have come out with my own MyFABE Theater Awards for 2011. 

I have mulled over this list for the past 11 months and in my opinion, these are the five best performances for each technical category -

BEST SONGBOOK

Care Divas

In the Heights

Next to Normal

Sweet Charity

Zsa Zsa Zaturnnah

BEST SCRIPT

Vincent de Jesus - Care Divas

Russell Legaspi - The Valley Mission Care

Joey Paras - Bawal Tumawid Nakamamatay

Floy Quintos - Fake

Pat Valera - Mga Lobo Tulad Ng Buwan

BEST LIGHTING

39 Steps

In the Heights

Mga Lobo Tulad Ng Buwan

Next to Normal

Zsa Zsa Zaturnnah

BEST COSTUME DESIGN

39 Steps

Care Divas

Fake

Sweet Charity

Zsa Zsa Zaturnnah

BEST PRODUCTION DESIGN

39 Steps

Fake

In the Heights

Mga Lobo Tulad Ng Buwan

Sweet Charity

BEST CHOREOGRAPHY

Care Divas

In the Heights

Sweet Charity

William

Zsa Zaturnnah

The winners will be announced on December 31, 2011.

Best Supporting Actor - Musical 2011 Nominees: MyFABE Theater Awards

I started watching local theater, seriously again this year.  I saw thirteen different plays and musicals this year and from those, I have come out with my own MyFABE Theater Awards for 2011. 

I have mulled over this list for the past 11 months and in my opinion, these are the five best performances by an actor in a supporting role in a musical for 2011.

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR MUSICAL

Ricci Chan - Care Divas

Miguel Hidalgo - Care Divas

Gabe Mercado - Zsa Zsa Zaturnnah

Felix Rivera - Next to Normal

Josh Santana - Aida

The winner will be announced on December 31, 2011.

Best Actor - Musical 2011 Nominees: MyFABE Theater Awards

I started watching local theater, seriously again this year.  I saw thirteen different plays and musicals this year and from those, I have come out with my own MyFABE Theater Awards for 2011. 

I have mulled over this list for the past 11 months and in my opinion, these are the five best performances by an actor in a musical in 2011.

BEST ACTOR (MUSICAL)

Vincent de Jesus - Care Divas

Melvin Lee - Care Divas

John Moran - William

Jett Pangan - Next to Normal

Myke Salomon - Aida

The winner will be announced on December 31, 2011.

Care Divas Encore!

When I told my bff Mabel about the play Care Divas, she wanted to see it!  Unfortunately, when I told her about it, it was also the last weekend of the musical.  However, last week, one of PETA's marketing guys texted me and said that they were doing an extra weekend this past weekend - and asked if I wanted to buy some tickets.  I immediately said yes, and last Saturday afternoon, I accompanied Mabel to see this really funny yet issues-charged musical.

The truth is, don't let all that glitter in their costumes and their acerbic gayspeak distract you from the real issues the musical is addressing.  There are actually two points of view being examined in the story.  The situation of our OFWs in Israel, and how the Israelis themselves are coping with having to live in a region surrounded by their 'enemies'!  Mabel even commented that the writer really knew what he was writing about since nothing in the script was phony.  The writer knew details which only someone who actually worked in Israel would know, since some parts of the script were in Hebrew!  One of my favorite scenes was between the son and his Mom who was allowing one of the Filipinos to work illegally in their house.  The son felt ashamed that his mother was using people - in this case, Palestinians and Filipinos - without paying them proper wages.  Now that is a STATEMENT, if there was one.

Anyway, although the themes were heavy, five gay caregivers can put fluff and feathers and wrap it around the iron-clad themes of OFW abuse and the treatment of gay workers in Israel.  I did have a grand time again, and actually bought the cast recording.  There are some songs there that I actually like.  I wouldn't be surprised if PETA restages this musical again and again.  The show I went too was full!

Theatre Review: Care Divas - An Earnest Look at A Unique Kind of OFWs

Last Sunday, I brought Mama to watch the second to the last show of PETA's Care Divas, which some of my friends from the CCP has been telling me about. It's funny that I didn't know about this play, since the PETA theater is just a five-minute drive from the house! And I pass it almost everyday!

Anyway, Mama and I enjoyed the show very much! Mama could easily have been one of the divas in this play! Yun lang, wiz me pics kasi ako ang photographer, and we had to muscle in with many other fans who wanted their pics taken with the divas! I actually wanted to have a picture with the sole young guy in the cast, bwahaha! Oh well, missed opportunity.

The musical is very well-written and very well-performed and it's based on a very interesting premise. Five Filipino trannies who couldn't be themselves in the Philippines decide to work in Israel as caregivers, and there, the Israeli society accepts them as they are - trannies working as caregivers! There's some semblance of truth to that. Here in the Philippines, trannies are only accepted if they work in comedy bars. I haven't heard of any tranny working as a nurse. At least, it's not widespread.

Anyway, apparently in Israel, it's not a problem with them. As the musical wears on, they sing about their travails as OFWs there, the constant badgering from home for more money, the constant hide-and-seek with the immigration police for the illegals in their group - and the tragic love affair between one of them and an Arab illegal worker, and their dream to be performers in a big bar in Tel Aviv - which they realize but not in the way they wanted! Such heavy themes really, but it is made lighter and palateable since these divas make them funny and light-hearted!

There's even a scene where the mother chastises her son for supporting the Palestinian settlers!! Reminds me of that ship which the Israelis bombed because it was helping Palestinians! The debate rages even inside their own society!



Well, that Sunday morning was just pure fun and although I can wax another essay on my opinions about Israel and Palestine, I have a feeling their conflict will never end. Not in my lifetime, I think. There's just too much hatred still. However, Care Divas exuded understanding, love and concern and a better understanding of how trannies want to live their lives as themselves and become productive members of our society. We all want that, don't we, with or without that thick mascara and false eyelashes!