I deeply miss original Filipino musical theater. While some jukebox musicals do good work, nothing beats new and original songs made composed specifically for the show. It’s one of the many good things about Muli, directed by Andrei Nikolai Pamintuan, written by Charissa Pammit and Jose Paolo dela Cruz, and featuring songs by Nica del Rosario and Matthew Chang. The songs are catchy and fresh. As the play travels back through time and explores dreams and “what-ifs,” the score plays skillfully with nostalgia. Certain tracks can sound very contemporary and very now while others can carry the sound of the ’90s. Hearing new original music by talented Filipino songwriters with a production that is vibrant and energetic is a pure delight.
Muli follows the story of Anita (Kakki Teodoro), a single mother whose dreams of becoming a pop star quickly ended when her daughter, Kath (Janine Teñoso), was born. As Kath urges her to declutter her home overflowing with decades of accumulated belongings (Kath calls her a “hoarder”), every single object brings back memories of a era when anything was still possible for Anita. With Kath preparing to move out, Anita has vivid dreams, alternate “what-if” realities, and just plain old trips down memory lane via a camcorder footage, all of which are acted out throughout most of the play. Yet beneath this nostalgia lies something being alluded to. Something that is amiss. Something fractured in the past has left Anita completely frozen in time and trapped in her dreams.
Firstly, Andrei Pamintuan’s vision for the piece is genuinely thrilling. The stage, designed by D Cortezano (who also serves as the lighting director), features a wall of shelves filled with things that signal Anita’s hoarder tendencies. It doubles as an interactive space where actors retrieve props for every flashback, a dream sequence, or a fantasy. The shelves even swing open to reveal unexpected entrances and exits that manage to keep things surprising. At times, stagehands step in to roll out furniture pieces like desks and platforms, while other times, the actors and the ensemble handle the transitions themselves. This clever choreography creates a flow that allows the play to shift scenes seamlessly across time and memory.
Essentially, the play functions as an intemate two-hander between a mother and her daughter. Yet, there’s a bigger cast that is present, bringing to life figures from Anita’s past that sometimes call or exist within her dreams, fantasies, and flashbacks. This setup paves the way for big song numbers complete with energetic choreography by Julian Abuda, or bustling crowd scenes whenever Anita envisions alternate paths her life might have taken had she made different choices in high school.
While everyone is fully committed to the madcap tone and feel of these alternate narratives or flashbacks – Baus Rufo, Marvin Ong, and Vien King are excellent at their roles, fitting them to a tee – there is no question that this is the Kakki Teodoro show. Not only must she embody the role of an exhausted single mother grappling with the prospect of an empty nest, but she also has to figuring out what to do with the rest of her life as her daughter leaves home. She has to play all the different facets of her. She turns into a full-pledged pop star, a sketchy CEO, a high schooler with crushes and big dreams. It is a mercurial, demanding lead role performance loaded with quick costume changes (and the costumes! Santi Obcena, take a bow!) and belting powerhouse songs across different genres and styles. Even performing while under the weather during the show I saw her in, Teodoro pulled out every single stop. She delivered every ounce of raw emotion needed for each number, and even if she was struggling with her condition, she carried through like the true veteran powerhouse she is. It’s what great performers are all about. I’m so happy to see her as a lead. It’s about time and well deserved.
The production’s big secret is fairly easy to piece together if you pay close attention to the narrative clues along the way, something one can figure out if they ask the right questions as they are watching the show. I spotted it quickly, and while proven right, the reveal did not did not diminish the show’s ending. What it does, however, is raise valid questions about why certain choices of some fantasies and dreams were included in the first place. The diva pop star and the evil CEO personas feel strangely out of place for a character like Anita’s. In the real world, she has no malicious intent nor a dark side that foul for her to dream up of these characters. The CEO has the best song, though, one perfect for Teodoro, and a real highlight in terms of music and performance and direction, but it feels so off because it doesn’t come off as inherent in the character.
Several of these dreams and fantasies are great when taken as is, without the rest of the narrative, but when included within the full context of the narrative, they inadvertently makes Anita appear that there’s a darker side of her that doesn’t quite fit her character at all. These moments feel disjointed, thrust into the story without real dramaturgical sense. While the political commentary related to the scene about the CEO is very much welcomed but doesn’t feel fully intrinsic to the core journey of the play.
At its core, Muli bursts with immense energy, vibrant creativity, a lot of great songs and exceptional performances. Hopefully, with a bit of fine-tuning in future runs, the play could be revisited so that all the dreams and fantasies could really integrate well with the play’s overall arching themes. Nevertheless, this was an enjoyable show and a great showcase for Kakki Teodoro.
My Rating: 3.5 Stars
Catch Muli, An OPM Musical live at the Globe Auditorium, Maybank Performing Arts Theater for its final weekend run this September 25 to 27! Check showtimes and get your tickets at TicketWorld before this extraordinary show takes its final bow!
