Bituing Walang Ningning The Musical Review

I have always loved watching plays and musicals. That's why when a colleague scored VIP tickets and invited me to watch a musical with her on a week day at the Newport Performing Arts Theater, Resorts World Manila, I immediately said yes even if I usually sleep early on weekdays, the venue was far from home and I had no idea how to get home by myself late at night.

The musical was Bituin Walang Ningning, a rendition from the wildly popular original same-titled movie of the 80's starring Sharon Cuneta and Cherie Gil and featuring the classic line "You're nothing but a second-rate trying hard copycat!" delivered by the latter whilst emptying contents of her wine glass to the former's face. The story revolves around a sampaguita vendor girl who is a huge fan of a singing star but later on rises to singing star fame herself with the help of her singing star idol's manager/boyfriend who planned the whole thing to coerce his superstar girlfriend into settling down with him.

As someone born in the 80's, I'm always excited and nostalgic for anything throwback in the era when I was born so I thought it was the perfect way to celebrate Throwback Thursday last January 7.

Me with Auntie (Jon Santos) and Dorina (Monica Cuenco)

That's why I was glad that they did not try to modernize the movie into today's era but portrayed it in the 80's. The teased big hair and fishnet stockings of Cris Villonco (who played Lavinia Arguelles); the classic poster carrying and waving of fans, Kuya Germs and his entertainment show, and the adorning of sampaguita garlands on the celebrity idol's neck were all very 80's, not to mention the flashing of testimonials of approval to the rising star Dorina Pineda (portrayed by Monica Cuenco) from 80's music singers Basil Valdez and many others in the 80's.

Because I was used to watching plays and musicals with old-fashioned, constructed real backdrops, I was disappointed to see that most of the backdrops of the play were projected into the screen instead of the actual back drops, but at the same time it made sense since in today's era it would cut costs to do that instead of having actual backdrops so that the artists and talents can raise more money. Still I missed the old school, carpentered back drops of yester years.

Despite not having actual backdrops as I had hoped to see, all in all Bituing Walang Ningning the Musical was a pleasure to see. I understand how the Resorts World production team need to import the movie from another era even though there are lots of other telescripts and movies to choose from because the script featured the hardships of unrequited love and harboring feelings for someone who loves another person (Dorina loving Nico who loves Lavinia, Gary loving Dorina who loves Nico and Nico finally loving Dorina whom he thinks is in love with Gary), in other words a "hugot" or "feels" twist to the plot, which is very popular in today's generation.

Me with Gary (Ronnie Liang) and Nico (Mark Bautista)

Apart from the "hugot" twist to the plot, what made both the movie and the musical epic was the 2 songs featured in the original movie composed by musical genius and fellow Aquarian Willy Cruz complete with heart wrenching lyrics and grand orchestra playing that can bring out the "hugot" and "feels"in everyone in the audience: the legendary "Pangarap na Bituin" and  the musical's hugot song offering, "Sana'y Maghintay ang Walang Hanggan". The musical also featured another Willy Cruz song sung by Sharon Cuneta that was not featured in the movie, "Kumusta Ka".

Basically, the difference between the movie and the musical was that the movie used popular English songs sung by foreign artists to be sang by Sharon Cuneta and Cherie Gil such as I Just Called to Say I Love You, I Can't Wait Forever, Total Eclipse of the Heart, etc. While the musical focused on OPM songs. Also, the theater version had more comic moments care of comedian Jon Santos (who played Dorina's auntie) and also featured punchlines delivered by the rest of the cast.

Regarding the quality of the talents' voice, the songs sung by Lavinia were not enough for me to fully appreciate Cris Villonco's voice. Meanwhile, I can hear a bit of the original Dorina (Sharon Cuneta) in Monica Cuenco's voice. Her voice can really go loud and powerful but there are times when it breaks a bit in the beginning although it goes full force in the middle. Of course her little inconsistencies is forgivable for a first timer in theater performances.

Even though I complained earlier about the projected backdrop for most of the scenes in the musical, I was quite happy with the backdrop they used for the two main scenes of the musical where Dorina Pineda sang "Pangarap na Bituin" and the stage was dimmed and suddenly filled with twinkling stars. They also made her wear a white dress that made her stand out in the dark night of the stage, and the long skirt of her dress was spread around her as she stood on top of the stairs while patterns of stars lit up and danced around her skirt to illuminate her in total Diva/Flores de Mayo Sagala/Star of the Night fashion. If the first main scene featured real looking stars from the skies, the final scene where she once again sang "Pangarap na Bituin" with her idol Lavinia had the stage filled with glamorous huge star-shaped headlights, much like the ostentatious, flashy stage backdrops of TV shows and performances in the 80's such as Loveli-Ness showdowns.

But even the flashing of the huge stars in the background did not stop me from tearing up as Dorina meets her idol on stage to give a touching dialogue and to hang a sampaguita garland on her neck just like old times.