THE MIRACLE AT HUSENG BATUTE

The word batute makes me think of batuta. hehe. Word proximity.

Aside from that thought, I love Batute. I mean Tanghalang Huseng Batute at the CCP. My college theatre friends namely Paulie, Chubibo, Kublai Khan, Lucifer and me watched Himala (The Musical) yesterday at the Little Theater. It was ironic, the Little Theatre was 'bigger' than Huseng Batute. There were two versions of Himala. One was in Batute staged a couple of months ago and this one, the most recent, in Little Theatre. Nothing beats Batute.

My Dad took me to watch his play in CCP, and that was when I first met this stage called Huseng Batute. I was in high school and i think it was my first time to visit CCP. I breezed through the front of house based on the claim that I am the playwright's daughter (to which they had to confirm since my Dad left me wandering in the beauty of the CCP lobby). It was small, almost the aura of a small hippie bar in the outskirts of Malate. It was very romantic. It was huddled. It makes you feel that the actors would want to group hug with you. After that imagined group hug, you'd cry for them, wince with them, laugh with them, feel ashamed with them and be one with them.

As usual, Himala was a classic tear jerker for me. Napakasakit. May Bayot as Elsa was very good but I empathized with her more months ago when I saw her in Batute. She has surpassed the idea that singers just sing. Dulce, who played as Elsa's mama in the Batute staging, was a singer in that play. Elsa's mom this time at the Little Theatre, played by Cynthia Guicos, was a mother who can really sing. Songs aren't for the catchy pop, it's basically a loving kundiman type.

I like this musical play. It makes me want to be a taumbayan of Barrio Cupang and a teary eyed audience at the same time. I imagine Elsa, with her white peasant tops, mingling with Cosette, Eva Peron, Christine and Mary Magdalene in some international cocktail party.

I know it will take years and jobs even love lives, but hold on mang jose...