Spotlight: Ang Huling El Bimbo

The Musical You Did Not Expect

Ang Huling El Bimbo is the new production showing in Resorts World Manila. An original Filipino musical using the songs of the prominent 90s band Eraserheads, the musical is full of 90s nostalgia which will have many humming the timely classics that served as the theme song of our adolescents but at the same time have you relating to the emotional story of friendships formed and lost.

PLOT:

Ang Huling El Bimbo tells the story of three college dorm mates Hector, Emman and Anthony. They all come from different backgrounds. Emman is a scholar who came to study in Manila from Lipa. Emman comes from a rich family who is told to get his act together or else he'll be shipped to the States. Lastly, Anthony a rule abiding young man whose father is a strict military officer.

The three meet Joy who works for her aunt's canteen, the usual hangout spot of the boys. A year younger than the trio, Joy is easily accepted as part of their group and they journey through college with many fun memories, heartbreaks and self-discoveries.

But alas, not everything can have a storybook ending and as graduation for the three boys looms over them, something dark and unexpected strikes that prove to be an end to the once great friendship of this quartet.

Fast forward to the present, and yet another tragedy will bring them all together. Will friendship over come pain and loss or will this truly be the final page of their once great friendship?

THOUGHTS:

I've seen quite a number of productions in Newport Performing Arts Theatre, and never have I been disappointed with it's stage production/design. Like many of their earlier productions, El Bimbo's set is simple and yet with it's LCD and rotating stage it will amaze you on the ingenuity of the set and production designs.

One such stand out would be the "Alapaap" sequence where the quartet seem to be flying across the stars. Not to mention, having a real [thought not necessarily functioning] automobile as a prop is always a plus.

What I initially thought was a huge gamble was the reimagining of the songs. Musical Director Myke Solomon was brave to say that he would change the arrangement of songs by Eraserheads. Yes, that is not uncommon for musicals. But these are songs that defined a generation...

And yet Myke Solomon created versions of these timeless songs that were noteworthy and gives you a deeper meaning to the lyrics of Ely Buendia. 

Notable standouts were "Pare Ko" with the amazing choreography of director Dexter Santos. It transported me to my own college days and it gives you the feeling story-wise on how deep the shared bond that the three main characters have.

Another heart wrenching stand out was "With A Smile" in the beginning of Act 2. I have always associated that particular song with a positive outlook on life or optimistic view. That was true for the first part of the song, as this was the music playing as the story tells us that it was graduation day--and yet the story gives you another reality check as the song goes to a darker and more somber tone of music that you have never heard before in any version of With A Smile. What was once an optimistic song about never giving up, gives you a reality check that there will be times that you can't win and just accept what your life is...that the only thing you can do is put on a mask of a smiling face and try to survive each day.

But as much as they were amazing standout performances from the cast and crew, the show had some faults.

First, I think I've finally come to the conclusions that drums are not meant for musicals. Most of the songs that featured said instrument drowned out the vocals and I couldn't fully appreciate the performances, notably of OJ Mariano who I was very excited to hear. There were a lot of instances were the music drowned out the singers when musicals should have the harmony of both music and lyrics working together to tell a story.

My next apprehension would be the story and it's pacing. Granted it was genius of Mr. Dingdong Novenario to have created an entire story out of the lyrics of one song (because as the cast sing the title song, the audience will realize some key points of the show originating from Ely Buendia's lyrics). But his genius extends to that particular part of the show wherein the audience would conclude that we've come full circle from the beginning of Act 1 to that medley of scenes in Act 2 which had me thinking 'Oh that's how it started.' 

And yet, with those genius moments, shortcomings were present. The pace of the story was a bit hard to follow with the back and forth jump from past and present. The transitions of the production team helped in a sense but there were times that the jumps were a bit excessive and too fast for the audience to truly grasp where the story was heading. If this had been a movie, I think the time jumps would have been cleare, but seeing as this was a live stage show, time jumps are a bit hard to pull off.

Lastly, the pacing. The story wasn't consistent in grabbing the audience attention. There were times that you felt like this was dragging along, wishing for a fast forward button and yet, there were other times were the intensity of the story had your undivided attention because if you blinked, you might have missed a key point.

OVERALL:

Ang Huling El Bimbo is not something for the fainthearted. If you expected to have a feel-good time and humming along to the songs of the Eraserheads, I'd advice you to just look for videos of their reunion concerts online. Because this is not what it was. As many have said, this was not the musical you were expecting.

The main theme of this, as many must have felt, is friendship. 

Reality check, there are friendships that will not last forever. Friends come and go. No matter what shared bond you have with one another, there will be something that will either solidify your bond for years to come or shatter them as thought they never happened.

These days, many friends gather because of tragedy. Many people joke that we only see each other when someone is in the hospital or when someone in the mutual circle dies. This isn't just true for family members or for older generations. These days, reunions happens during tragedies and it is sad to think that this can be the only reason why people gather.

One of the main reasons why El Bimbo resonates with a lot of people, is because of their take on relationships, specifically friendships that were formed, lost and reunited.

People relate to these characters because in one aspect or another, there was a time that we were like Hector, Emman, Anthony and Joy. We also had those glory days back in college. Then we were hit with the reality of jobs, marriage and responsibilities that friendship was pushed back in our minds. And yet what we do not realize is friendship will forever be one of the things that will help us get by. That shared bonds like those we formed in college will get us through even during the darkest of times.

As the Eraseheards and the cast of Ang Huling El Bimbo sing it themselves "Huwag kang matakot, 'di mo ba alam nandito lang ako...sa iyong tabi. 'Di kita pababayaan kailan man."

Details:

Ang Huling El Bimbo is currently running until September 2. Get your tickers from TicketWorld or by contacting Resorts World Manila.

Run time: More or less 3 hours with a 15 minute intermission number.

Souvenir Program is priced at 300 with souvenir shirts at around 900 or so.

There is a meet and greet/photo opportunity with some of the cast after each show.

Disclaimer: You probably shouldn't bring your young children to watch the show given it's dark themes and some foul language.