REVIEW: Theater, music, and dance sharing the same breath in REP’s “Peter and the Wolf” and BP’s “Little Red Riding Hood”
For the first time in the country, “Peter and the Wolf” stepped beyond music to become a full-bodied spectacle of theater, dance, and story. Repertory Philippines (REP), the Manila Symphony Orchestra (MSO), and Ballet Philippines (BP) joined forces for “Three Masters, One Stage,” a collaboration designed to pull young audiences into the magic of the performing arts.
The program paired a dance-theater take on “Peter and the Wolf,” with BP’s premiere of “Little Red Riding Hood.” Both tales circle the same primal theme: a child’s innocence pitted against the cunning of the wild, with adults rushing to the rescue.
In this retelling of Prokofiev’s classic, Peter slips through his grandfather’s garden gate and wanders into the meadow. There he meets a bird, a duck, and a cat. Each creature has its voice until a lurking wolf and a squad of hunters turn his carefree stroll into a daring chase.
Jeremy Domingo’s staging stayed true to Prokofiev’s intent of letting the orchestra speak while adding a bold kinetic layer. Each character is introduced with its own musical color: the bird flickers in on a bright flute, the duck waddles to the mellow oboe, and the sly cat slinks to a clarinet. Peter’s light and assured theme belongs to the violins, while the grandfather grumbles in the bassoon. Then the horns sound: the wolf has come. The percussions announce the arrival of the hunters.
The Theatre at Solaire brimmed with children and parents for Sunday’s matinee. Karylle, the celebrity narrator that day, kept the story buoyant with quick wit and timing, shifting between voices with ease. She sat before the orchestra without stealing focus from conductor Marlon Chen, who led the MSO in a vibrant, sharply etched reading of the score.
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What gave this rendition its spark was choreographer PJ Rebullida’s playful mix of ballet, contemporary, and bursts of gymnastic energy. Coming from theater before becoming a dancer, Rebullida understands text and score before shaping movement, and it shows. He resisted the lure of empty bravura, animating each character with humor and precise physical detail. There’s even a sly wink to ballet tradition when the wood nymphs parody the cygnets of “Swan Lake.” Most impressive, he coaxed movement from non-dancers without strain. Elian Santos, as Peter, brimmed with innocence and handled turns and dance sequences naturally. Even the hunters from REP’s acting ranks moved with purpose and style. The animals, danced by performers trained in multiple genres, carried a vocabulary that shifted easily between different styles.
REP’s “Peter and the Wolf” has never felt so alive—music in full flight, story sharpened by theater, and characters that leap in dance.
Stronger Dancing, Missteps in Narrative
Ballet Philippines’ take on “Little Red Riding Hood,” choreographed by artistic director Mikhail Martynyuk, had different musical palette. He developed his score on a mash-up dominated by Camille Saint-Saëns’ “Carnival of the Animals” from 1886, those witty miniatures that conjure creatures from lions to swans, complemented by touches of Rimsky-Korsakov and Edvard Grieg. He even slipped in the “Dying Swan” and “Danse Macabre.” To set this apart from “Peter and the Wolf,” Martynyuk leaned on music with prominent piano passages supported by orchestra, giving the piece a more intimate, almost chamber-like texture.
The Manila Symphony Orchestra played with spirit and precision under Marlon Chen’s baton, but the hall worked against them. Solaire’s acoustics, built for theatrical productions rather than symphonic performance, lacked the bloom and depth that orchestral sound needs. To compensate, the performance relied on microphones to amplify both orchestra and piano, an unavoidable solution, but one that subtly flattened the natural resonance of strings and winds. The issue was most apparent in the piano, which, instead of a concert grand, was an acoustic upright carrying the bulk of the music. It did its best, but in a score that relies on the piano’s color and dynamic shading, the difference was audible.
The Manila Symphony Orchestra performs live music by Sergei Prokofiev and Others conducted by Marlon Chen
The story departs from the familiar Grimm version. Here, the grandmother gifts her granddaughter a red hood, sending her off to deliver a basket, but to whom we never quite learn. Along the way, Red Riding Hood meets a parade of woodland creatures: birds, grasshoppers, a bumblebee. Then comes the Wolf, who in this telling, seems more seducer than predator, coaxing her into an adagio duet that hints at danger without resolving it. Why does he return her dropped basket instead of devouring her? Why, after donning the grandmother’s disguise in the house, does the wolf linger just long enough for woodcutters to storm in and save the day? How did they get there in the first place? Narrative logic has never been Martynyuk’s strength, and here again, it wobbles. The choreography never quite found the dynamic contrasts that would have sustained interest or pushed the dancers to explore the full measure of their newfound strength.
Where the ballet found redemption was in the dancing, particularly the men’s. Under Martynyuk, the technical growth of the male ensemble was almost startling. This performance revealed refinement in line, elevation, and precision that pushed the company closer to the level of its regional peers and, in some moments, hinted at international standards. Long, toned legs, beautifully shaped feet, and an attention to detail gave their dancing a polished authority. The corps looked stronger, more unified, and cleaner in batterie and jumps, with landings as soft as breath.
As the Wolf, Ian Ocampo embodied this leap forward. Noticeably trimmer, he danced with greater clarity than in previous seasons—longer lines, crisp beats, higher jumps that resolved in a gentle, seamless landing. His turns, though done in a wolf mask that must have tested his endurance, held their axis cleanly. Ocampo’s sequences peppered with leaps and multiple turns were executed with an ease that spoke of serious work behind the scenes. Only toward the closing passages did the energy flag, a loss of steam that kept an otherwise excellent performance from perfection.
The Grasshoppers delivered another highlight, led by stalwarts Carlo Padoga and Earvin Guillermo, joined by the ever-reliable Emmerson Evangelio and Mark Anthony Balucay. Their crisp, intricate batterie and buoyant jumps—feather-light in landing yet full of speed—drew gasps from the audience, the lightness revealing strong classical training paired with musical responsiveness.
Jemima Reyes-Ocampo, as Little Red Riding Hood, danced with her signature joy and aplomb, her lyricism shaping the adagio lines with grace. The choreography, however, leaned on schmaltz, offering little dramatic progression and few challenges to her strength. The Wolf’s duet with Red suggested tension but never edged toward menace, its steps too decorative to deepen the story.
The finale, set to “Carnival of the Animals,” delivered a welcome burst of speed and clarity, positions flashing without blur, a final reminder that BP now has the technical strength to tackle major international works. What BP lacks is variety of vision. Until the BP board widens the choreographic lens beyond a single artistic voice, that hard-earned potential risks going underused.
Tickets: P4,107 (Orchestra Center), P3,347.50 (Orchestra Sides), P2,410.20 (Orchestra Back), P2,008.50 (Premium Gold), P1,071.20 (Balcony 1), P803.40 (Balcony 2)
Show Dates: August 1, 8 PM; August 2 and 3 at 2 PM and 7 PM
Venue: The Theatre at Solaire
Running Time: approximately 1.5 hours (with a 10-minute intermission)
Creatives: Jeremy Domingo (REP’s artistic director), Mikhail Martynyuk (Ballet Philippines’ artistic director, choreographer and set designer for Little Red Riding Hood), PJ Rebullida (choreographer for Peter and the Wolf), Music performed by Manila Symphony orchestra conducted by Marlon Chen
Cast:
Peter and the Wolf: Elian Santos (Peter), Zack Flynn (Grandfather), Rexter Nagaño, Chloe Acid (Duck), Maisie Briones (Bird), Kirby Dunzell (Wolf), Don Rivera (Hunter), Shahein Abraham (Hunter), Rolando Inocencio (Hunter), Noel Rayos (Hunter), Gianna Hervás, (Nymph), Jacinta Pascual (Nymph), Michaella Carreon (Nymph), Niño Royeca (Nymph), Luigie Barrera (Nymph), Niña de Castro (Nymph Cover), Maria Ressa (Narrator August 1, 8 PM), Akiko Thomson-Guevera (Narrator August 2, 2 PM), Liza Chan-Parpan (Narrator August 2, 7 PM), Karylle Tatlonghari (Narrator August 3, 2 PM), Tim Yap (Narrator August 3, 7 PM)
Little Red Riding Hood: Jemima Reyes (Little Red Riding Hood), Regina Magbitang (Little Red Riding Hood), Rudolph Capongcol (Wolf), Ian Ocampo (Wolf), Mark Anthony Balucay (Bumblebee), Eduardson Evangelio (Bumblebee), Emmerson Evangelio (Cat), Alexis Piel (Cat), Krystn Janicek (Grandmother), Nicole Barroso (Bird), Danielle Kleiner (Bird), Carl Lacaba (Woodcutter), Cris Jay Malipot (Woodcutter), Andrei Doñesa (Woodcutter), Peter San Juan (Woodcutter), Clarise Miranda (Mother), Alexis Piel (Grasshopper), Mark Anthony Balucay (Grasshopper), Emmerson Evangelio (Grasshopper), Eduardson Evangelio (Grasshopper), Carlo Padoga (Grasshopper), Earvin Guillermo (Grasshopper)
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