Miguel Faustmann Plays Scrooge in A Christmas Carol

One of the grand masters of contemporary Philippine theater, Miguel Faustmann, plays the unforgettable Christmas character of Scrooge, in the picture here with the adorable boy actor who plays Tiny Tim. It seems that in this picture, he looks straight at me taking his photo!

He, along with a big cast and a guest choir, is performing A Christmas Carol at the BGC Amphitheatre this Christmas season.

He has already played a gamut of roles including one in the gay play, Next Fall, which he did for the Repertory, a few years ago.

Celebrating Christmas with a Charles Dickens' Classic

The Charles Dickens' classic A Christmas Carol is always a good way to celebrate the Christmas season - it being a timeless tale of forgiveness, generosity and togetherness.

The Philippine theater season normally ends before Christmas, but one of my favorite local theater companies, 9 Works Theatrical, pushes the envelope this year by staging a Christmas play in the normally busy shopping season!

This time, they are staging the play in an outdoor format, in the BGC Amphitheater, so that families can easily segue their Christmas shopping or pasyalan with watching the musical.

It is a musical and the revered Alan Menken (Beauty and the Beast, The Little Mermaid) provided the music for it.

It is probably the grandest production 9 Works Theatrical has ever did and the sets, the production design, and the costumes all combine to make it a wonderful theater experience!

There's a surprise in the ending where you'd wished you were seated near the stage (we were!) and I took many photographs of it and it was quite a magical experience!

Theatre Review: Next Fall Hits Close to the Heart

With the legendary Miguel Faustmann - god, he's such a good actor- y el es un hispanohablante tambien!

With Niccolo Manahan, a new discovery, at least for me, he's really cute in person and tall haha!

One of the stalwarts of local Philippine theater, Bart Guingona - this guy can play anything!

With co-theatre buff MM, whose season tickets allowed us to have center second row seats - lovett!! thanks MM!!

It's great to see a gay-themed play from time to time.  Well, it rarely happens here in Manila, but when I travel abroad, like in London, there are gay-themed plays everytime, especially during the summer.

So anyway, we have been quite lucky lately that the Repertory Philippines decided to stage the gay-themed play, Next Fall.  The play has a very New York feel to it - from the stage props to the way the characters talk (since the play was originally an off-Broadway play in 2009) - and the Rep did a great job in achieving both that look in both the stage and in the way the characters act.

I think I understand why the Rep brought the play here.  In a country which is predominantly Roman Catholic, it would be a good dinner conversation topic to find out how the local gay men deal with their own feelings towards reconciling their religion with their being gay.  And that is the theme which permeates this play - the very interesting relationship between a guy who has a deep Christian faith, and his lover, who maybe labeled an atheist, who does not really care about his lover's faith - or so he thinks.

Well, you'd have to watch the play to see how the whole thing pans out.  If you are homophobic or feel uneasy about two grown men being tender to each other (kissing, horsing around) - better steer clear of this. But if you want to experience how the other half lives, then be brave and watch this one!

Related articles

• Theatre Hunk: Hugh Dancy in Venus in Fur
• Theatre Review: 'Next Fall' Hits Close to the Heart
• Theatre Review: Find Your Kind of Love in 'Fireflies'