Miss Saigon!

For the second time in my life, I got to watch Miss Saigon. And I'm glad I saw it again because it was amazing!!!

Miss Saigon is such an important musical on so many levels for Filipinos, or at least those who were already alive back in the late 80s. The producers of the show were looking for the right people to join the cast and they came to the Philippines to hold auditions. Lea Salonga became the very first person to play Kim, the lead role (or well the lead female role). This was the break that Lea needed to become a global theater star as she won a Laurence Olivier award and a Tony. She was also joined in the cast by many other Filipinos, including Monique Wilson, Isay Alvarez, and Pinky Amador. Music from the show became immensely popular in the Philippines. Many of us knew a lot of the songs by heart and we had cassette tapes of the original London West End or Broadway recordings.

I first watched Miss Saigon back in 2000 at the CCP. I was with my family back then, including my grandparents. We were lucky that we got to see Lea Salonga reprise her role as Kim. As such, when news came that Miss Saigon would be staged again in the Philippines, we weren't as excited to see it as we were with other shows because most of my family had already seen it. However, my nephews hadn't. I asked them if they wanted to see it and after thinking about it for a while, they decided they did. I thought I'd get my mom a ticket as well.

As it turned out, this decision to watch the show again was a superb one because we ended up enjoying the show immensely. I guess it isn't a surprise because it's an amazing musical. It's also been more than 20 years my mom and I last saw it was almost like a new experience for us again. Actually, I guess you could say it was a new experience for us on some level because we got to see the show with the updated lyrics. (I was a bit sad that the song "It's her or me" which I love is no longer part of the show; apparently, it suppposedly made Ellen look too much like the villain so she now sings a different song during that same part.) Seeing the huge helicopter appear on stage during The Fall of Saigon actually took my breath away, even if I knew it was coming and even if I had seen it before.

Our cast included Louisa Vilinne as Kim, Seann Miley Moore as The Engineer, and Nigel Huckle as Chris and they were all great! Louisa was the alternate Kim but she was still amazing (which is as expected because there is no way you could be cast for such a big role if you didn't have the skill and the talent for it). I also never realized until now how difficult Kim's role is because it's such a heavy role. She's going through so much pain, heartbreak, and struggle for most of the show and that has to be so emotionally exhausting to portray, especially while singing live. I also have to mention to Lewis Francis who played John. He belted out the last part of Bui Doi an octave higher. Wow! Needless to say, he got massive applause.

I have to say that for some reason, I was a lot more emotionally connected to the musical this time around. The first time I watched it, I was impressed with the production and enamored by Lea Salonga and her incredible voice. This time, I ended up being more engrossed in the story, witnessing the trials and challenges the characters faced and going on the same journey with them. Maybe it's the fact that I'm older with a lot more life experience, making me relate a lot more to the loss and the sacrifice. Whatever the reason, I found myself very deeply moved by the musical and I had either goosebumps or a lump in my throat (or both) in so many scenes, including the finale.

I'm really happy that well-renowned and award-winning musicals continue to be staged here in the Philippines. I'm also really happy that I got to watch Miss Saigon again.

Visiting the University of Santo Tomas

Because of the 34th Sampung Mga Daliri concert, I got to visit the University of Santo Tomas (UST) for the first time in decades, and the first time as an adult.

The University of Santo Tomas (UST)

I vaguely remember going to UST as a kid. I feel like I was in my grandfather's car and we might have been picking someone up or dropping someone off inside the school grounds and I recall seeing the arch. As such, this trip to UST felt new to me so I decided to walk around the campus and take a few photos right before the show.

UST was founded in 1611

UST is the oldest university in Asia. It was founded by Miguel de Benavides on April 28, 1611 which means it is now 415 years old as of this writing. Wow! The Benavides Monument was built to commemorate this founder of UST. 

Benavides Monument

Plaza Mayor is the central square. In front of it is the main building, which looks elegantly imposing with its Renaissance Revival-style architecture (source: wikipedia). It was a bright and beautiful day when I was there and the windows looked stunning as they reflected the magnificent blue sky.

UST Main Building

I naturally had to take a photo of the Arch of the Centuries, which stands right inside the main gate of UST. It was declared a National Cultural Treasure by the National Museum in 2010.

Arch of the Centuries

There was so much more to see but not enough time and since the Sampung Mga Daliri show was free-seating, I decided to head in to make sure my family got good seats. I decided, however, to take a few more photos of the grounds in the evening after the show. There are two fountains next to the Arch of the Centuries: the Fountain of Knowledge and the Fountain of Wisdom. I believe this photo I took is of the Fountain of Wisdom because the woman at the center is holding a bible and is surrounded by four deer.

Fountain of Wisdom

Understandably, UST and its school grounds are filled with rich history. I've barely scratched the surface of the significance of the different points of interest I've shared in this blog post as there is a lot more to share. The Museum of Arts and Sciences can also be found inside the Main Building. I would surely love to visit this university again in the near future.

34th Sampung Mga Daliri by the UST Conservatory of Music

I just got to watch 34th Sampung Mga Daliri, a concert organized and performed by the UST Conservatory of Music. It features their students, alumni, and faculty as well as the UST Symphony Orchestra, the UST Jazz Band, other ensembles, musical theater, voice faculty, and even music technology.

34th Sampung Mga Daliri

My nephew studies here and this was the second time he was part of the show so my family and I made sure we were there. The first time, he was still a freshman and I think the standard is that all freshmen join the chorale first. This time, he was one of the musicians performing on stage. Amazing!

Aside from the amazing music and the incredible performers, what I love about these shows is that they always have a wonderfully vibrant and eclectic combination of classical music and more contemporary fare. They played Eine Kleine Nachtmusik from Mozart to open the night (well, after the National Anthem that they also performed of course). I loved the amazing piano performances in Rachmaninoff's Tarantella. They also played three pieces from Carnival of the Animals, two of which I was very familiar with: the Swan and Aquarium. While the orchestra was performing pieces from this musical suite by Camille Saint-Saëns, animal images were also projected on the big screen behind the orchestra.

Carnival of the Animals by Camille Saint-Saëns

There was also a special guest cellist who performed during the Swan. The program didn't have this name so unfortunately, I cannot credit him for his powerful and moving performance.

Lead cellist playing The Swan

The show had segments that featured music from the Final Fantasy video game and from Studio Ghibli movies. My nephew was part of the Final Fantasy ensemble and I was so proud to see him performing music from this very popular video game and media franchise.

My nephew performing on stage for the Final Fantasy number

For the Studio Ghibli performance, the conductor and the musicians wore outfits that represented characters from different Ghibli movies. I can't recall now if it was the conductor who came as No Face from Spirited Away then just took his mask off before they performed but I did see Chihiro (also from Spirited Away) in her green and white shirt. (Can you spot her in this next pic?)

Music from Studio Ghibli

There were several more segments performed throughout the evening that featured a wide array of music, including jazz, OPM, and broadway. (For The Phantom of the Opera number, the chorale put on masks, so cool!)

Chorale in masks The Phantom of the Opera

The grand finale featured music from Puccini and they closed with an astounding performance of arguably Puccini's most popular aria "Nessun Dorma" which brought the house down.

Music from Puccini to end the evening

It's great that UST organizes this event, which I believe is supposed to be annual. Because of the pandemic, UST stopped organizing it for several years and thankfully, they got to resume it this year. I also think that UST tries to hold this event at the CCP Main Theater which is under renovation so they held it instead at the UST Quadricentennial Pavilion.

Beautiful displays inside the UST Quadricentennial Pavilion

I'm really happy that I got to see this show and I'm also very proud that my nephew has gotten to perform in the last two concerts. Congratulations to the UST Conservatory of Music and to all the people who made the 34th Sampung Mga Daliri concert a smashing success!

More Movie-Watching

Kung Fu Panda 4

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I'm a fan of the Kung Fu Panda series so I made sure to see this movie when it came out. As expected, it was fun, light, and easy to watch. That said, I have to say that it is my least favorite of the four Kung Fu Panda films. The thing that made me enjoy the first three movies was how Po's learning became the key revelation on how he would be able to defeat his key opponent. In the first film, the dragon scroll being empty was a lesson on how one needs to believe they are special to be special and that helped him defeat Tai Lung. In the second movie, the theme was inner peace achieved through balance (as represented by yin and yang) and Po was able to use that to throw Lord Shen's cannonballs back at him. In the third movie, General Kai was stealing people's chi (or their life force) and it delved into the question of one's identity. In the end, it was this understanding of identity - not only of himself but also enabling other's to know who they are - that enabled Po to prevent his chi from being taken and inevitably defeat General Kai. However, in this fourth movie, it kind felt like Po and his new protege Zhen just managed to beat the Chameleon. I was hoping for better a-ha moment, similar to what we had in the previous three films haha. That said, it was still good entertainment and something that certainly helped me destress.

Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire

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I'm also a fan of Godzilla, King Kong, and all these other monsters and kaiju (I have been since I was a kid). That said, this movie probably wasn't my favorite one in the recent MonsterVerse films. I think the series peaked at Godzilla: King of the Monsters which I absolutely loved and everything after that just hasn't been as good (in my opinion). I am a bit weirded out by this love-hate relationship between Kong and Godzilla, where Godzilla always seems to want to kill Kong but then they team up (in this case, to fight against the ape-like creatures led by Skar King and the ice-age dragon Shimo). In these last two Godzilla-Kong films, it almost feels like Godzilla doesn't particularly care if thousands of people are killed. There was that battle in the previous film that destroyed in Hong Kong and in this movie, Godzilla destroyed Rome and a French nuclear power plant. He also killed Tiamat who was minding her owned business in the Arctic when Godzilla sought her out. In previous films leading up to King of the Monsters, it kinda felt like Godzilla was protecting man from other threats and monsters while trying to minimize damage. That hasn't been the case in these last two movies where Godzilla kinda feels like a bit of a jerk, making it a bit hard for me to like him as like an antihero. It's kinda weird though because On the plus side, I do love that Mothra is present again in this film. Also, at the end of the day, I watched this to see epic battles among giant monsters and I did. So it was still a positive viewing experience.