Theater Year-Ender 2024: Highlights of the Philippine Stage
It was another banner year for Philippine theater, giving theater fans a robust selection of productions. From big spectacles to intimate two-handers, the year’s offerings showcased the diversity and vitality of the local theater scene.
Here are some of the best of the year from TFM’s Editor In Chief, Nikki Francisco, and TFM Staff Reviewer, Emil Hofileña:
2024’s Top Shows
Melvin Lee’s three one-act plays collection, “Kumprontasyon,” that examines how our culture has been and is continued to be shaped by our collective opinions and even parasocial relationships towards our presidents (or would-be presidents) brought not just confronting plays by Allan Palileo, Guelan Luarca, and Joshua Lim So, it also gave audiences one of the year’s most gripping verbal sparring between Romnick Sarmenta and Ron Capinding.
Just a few weeks before the end of the year, Mad Child Productions put up a limited run of “Nagkatuwaan sa Tahanang Ito“ (a Guelan Varela-Luarca-directed translation of Sam Walsh’s “This House Is for Laughing”)—and surprised us with one of the most unique and unsettling plays of 2024. Behind its deceptively lighthearted marketing, the production was actually a tense, claustrophobic slice of speculative fiction, simply but ever so effectively designed, and performed with an uncanny naturalism by a brilliant quartet of actors. There couldn’t have been a more memorable way to ring in the Christmas season than with existential horror on family and loneliness.
Another one of the year’s most pleasant surprises was from Repertory Philippines. An Off-Broadway romcom anthology written in the ’90s might be a hard sell, but director Menchu Lauchengco-Yulo’s take on “I Love You, You’re Perfect, Now Change” effortlessly bridged that gap. Flowing smoothly from start to finish, the musical was a showcase for its four character actors displaying their full range, and for Lauchengo-Yulo to show off her versatility, with one of the most moving climaxes of 2024.
Adaptations of Shakespeare can be great for many different reasons, and CAST PH’s visceral and painfully intimate version of “Othello“ (directed by Nelsito Gomez) fully brought out the more feminist aspects to the tragedy. With all the drama and violence occurring in such close proximity to the audience, we got to see these actors fully transform into vicious beasts, or give complex definition to the experience of domestic abuse and toxic masculine brainwashing.
The year also marked the return of “Miss Saigon.” The Laurence Connor-directed touring production brought to us by GMG Productions was epic in scale with its big set pieces and stunning stagecraft without sacrificing the human stories evocatively being told within it. We were also finally graced by the much-awaited “SIX” (also a GMG Productions import), a high-energy concert-style production that for all its visual bombast, told six individual and truthful stories of female struggles and strengths.
If there’s such a thing as a canon of Filipino musicals, it should be proud to welcome Barefoot Theatre Collaborative’s sprawling and ambitious “Bar Boys” into its ranks. Meticulously written by Pat Valera and co-directed by Valera and Mikko Angeles, the production wasn’t just a significant improvement on the original film, but an expansion into something far more philosophically compelling. All of its technical stagecraft, earnest performances, and stirring music was in service of exploring the Filipino youth’s perceptions of right and wrong, legal and ethical, in a contemporary post-election climate. And it never preached, but actively challenged the audience on what we truly believe.
Set up on a completely different scale was Tanghalang Pilipino’s “Balete,” an epic adaptation of F. Sionil Jose’s novel “Tree” from playwright Rody Vera and director Chris Millado. With a towering central performance by Nonie Buencamino and masterful visual design—conveying the stubborn persistence of oppressive power structures over the passage of time—the production was that rare play about privilege and systemic societal ills that had much richer and more sophisticated ideas to offer than just performative guilt.
2024’s Top Performances
Topper Fabregas‘ chaotic, darkly funny, and somehow still tender work as Doug in CAST PH’s “Gruesome Playground Injuries” showed audiences his razor-sharp timing, focused delivery, and unfettered emotions that turned the character’s erratic behavior into profound empathy and true care for the deeply scarred Kayleen: a vulnerable, equally affecting Missy Maramara.
The Mirror Studio in Makati bore witness to several other gorgeous performances—most notably, those of Zoë de Ocampo (“Patintero sa Ayala Avenue“) and Maronne Cruz (“Othello”). Spending almost all of “Patintero” solo, de Ocampo’s unnamed Boy lashed out at the hollow world around them with false arrogance and a growing desperation to be heard. Meanwhile, Cruz’s Emilia emerged from a powerful ensemble as “Othello’s” moral center, her exasperation blossoming into proud defiance.
Showcasing character work that went beyond just good accents and different mannerisms: Krystal Kane‘s various women-in-love in “I Love You, You’re Perfect, Now Change” ultimately painted a tapestry of good humor and hope in our universal search for companionship. While Leo Rialp’s turn as the imposing, by-the-book papal nuncio Monsignor Vagnozzi in “Grace” was so convincing in his belief in orthodox religious teaching that even his most infuriating orders felt coated in the promise of salvation. Angela Ken in 9 Works Theatrical’s “Once On This Island” brought both the Disney-esque lightness and the Brothers Grimm-like darkness of the tale as the first bright-eyed and then desolate Ti Moune.
This year also saw Sam Concepcion step into a mature leading man role in PETA’s musical adaptation of “One More Chance,” that gave a performance as memorable and iconic as the original that put Popoy in the cultural zeitgeist. Paw Castillo, stepping in as Cyrano for a few performances in this year’s “Mula Sa Buwan,” compellingly delivered the many nuanced traits and roles Cyrano plays in the lives of his closest friends: from poet, to commander, to friend.
Reb Atadero and Sue Ramirez in The Sandbox Collective’s “Little Shop of Horrors” also delivered performances that stand out. Atadero’s Seymour carried a palpable determination, crafting a character whose moral descent felt earned through his visible struggle between ambition and conscience. Ramirez, making her theater debut, brought depth to Audrey, masterfully balancing the character’s broader comedic moments with genuine vulnerability.
More Noteworthy 2024 Mentions
Productions that effectively transported us to different worlds included “Jepoy and the Magic Circle,” thanks to John Batalla‘s magical lighting design creating an actual portal on stage; the most recent run of “Mula sa Buwan” and its beautiful updated sets (by Ohm David) that heightened the musical’s romance tenfold; and “Little Shop of Horrors” Skid Row-turned-space hangar (by Mio Infante) aided by Joseph Matheu’s lighting design that gave audiences much visual payoffs.
The storytelling in “Bar Boys” obviously would have been incomplete without Pat Valera and Myke Salomon‘s excellent score, mapping out each character’s emotional journey with clarity and sincerity. And the script for “Balete” by Rody Vera devised alongside the Tanghalang Pilipino actors truly felt like a series of memories unfolding and weighing on a weary mind.
All these as well as the dozens upon dozens of shows in the last year had been a joy and a privilege to witness. We can only hope that 2025 will bring even more memorable trips to the theater.
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