This Month in BM History: January 2009
In Mahiwagang Biyulin, the cruel employer Ahab (Marcus Tolentino, right) can’t resist dancing whenever Rodrigo (Gerardo Francisco) plays his enchanted violin. Photo by Ocs Alvarez
Following the blockbuster premiere run of Ballet Manila’s Tatlong Kuwento ni Lola Basyang over the Christmas season of 2008, it became a regular attraction at Aliw Theater starting January 2009. It would be turned into a draw for patrons of the adjacent Star City, with shows held every Saturday still in Aliw.
“It was one of our most ambitious projects and we are glad that the gamble paid off,” enthused Ballet Manila artistic director and then principal dancer Lisa Macuja Elizalde.
A story in Business Mirror mentions that Ballet Manila’s hit production, Tatlong Kuwento ni Lola Basyang, should be staged not just at Christmas. Clipping from the Ballet Manila Archives collection
It was the first time in Philippine ballet that stories of the foremost Filipino storyteller Severino Reyes – popularly known as “Lola Basyang” – was told in dance. Based on stories from the Lola Basyang book series of Anvil Publishing, as retold by Christine Bellen, the production featured three enchantment-filled and valued-laden tales: Ang Prinsipe ng mga Ibon, Ang Kapatid ng Tatlong Marya and Ang Mahiwagang Biyulin. Compelling stories, fanciful costumes, colorful set design, beautiful choreography set to distinctive music all contributed to making extravaganza that audiences of all ages enjoyed.
“The amazing thing about this trilogy is that each story is different from all angles – music, choreographic styles, theatrical treatment, plot, mood, characters – and each story can stand independently from the others if needed,” said Macuja Elizalde, who – with inputs from then co-artistic director Osias Barroso, Gerardo Francisco and Ernest Mandap – choreographed Ang Kapatid ng Tatlong Marya. Barroso choreographed Ang Prinsipe ng mga Ibon and Tony Fabella Ang Mahiwagang Biyulin.
In a review published in Business Mirror in mid-January, writer Joseph Cortes reported how the ballet was such a hit with the holiday crowd. “You could hear them chatter among themselves, second-guessing how the story will go, oohing and aahing over the sumptuous design and laughing out loud at just the right instances. Everyone had a grand time at the theater.”
He added, “Ballet Manila shouldn’t keep its Lola Basyang ballet till Christmas next year.”
It was a prescient statement as just two weeks later, on January 31, the show would begin its weekly run.
