Stagers mount riotous show at the Big Dome

MANILA, Philippines - The Philippine Stagers Foundation (PSF), a musical drama company headed by Vincent Tañada — director, actor, singer and not incidentally a lawyer — with Pipo Cifra as resident composer, staged a concert in November last year at the Smart-Araneta Coliseum.

I was amazed at the big turnout, mostly students, close to 15,000. Vince, as his friends call him, had made good his threat to fill the Big Dome to capacity or near capacity, thanks to social media, an aggressive marketing team, and PSF’s contacts with students, schools and educators through the years.

For that concert, Vince did away with his Filipino musical advocacy and presented highlights from Broadway-West End musicals like Miss Saigon, Cats and Starlight Express. The youths were impressed but not really captivated. What saved the day were the visuals, AVPs, jokes and antics, and an OPM segment.

And at the end, the audience joyfully sang and danced along with the performers.

And PSF does it again. Just the other day, the foundation celebrated its 15th anniversary at the coliseum and again there was a mammoth crowd. And this time the emphasis was on fun, fun, fun — pop, rock, disco, hip-hop and what have you — while not forgetting Vince’s nationalist and inspirational advocacy.

Dancers worked the crowd over with limbering-up exercises that kept them entertained and fired-up. There was political campaigning which had nothing to do with the concert, and over which the organizers had no control. The girls screamed when Daniel Padilla and Kathryn Bernardo appeared — on the screen.

Finally, after a 50-minute wait, the show got on the road and the audience went wild over the precision dancing, energetic choreography and pulsating music. Vince and the other lead singers were foundation regulars; the rest of the talented ensemble were students who were products of the PSF’s free summer workshops, there were all triple threats, good in singing, dan-cing and acting.

The next segment was more sober: A brief history of the company, along with highlights from hit musicals, recent as well as current, like Filipinas 1941 and Pope-pular, a highly-successful production, a tribute to Pope Francis which has been playing in many venues. The last stop was Cebu City, and the next is Naga City.

As the scenes were flashed, singers interpreted the songs that were being performed on the screen.

At one point, at a given signal, the audience turned on their cellphone lights. And it was a sight to see, all those hundreds of pinpricks of light dancing in the dark, cavernous coliseum.

A screamingly funny segment was when PSF singers, young and handsome — JV, Jomar, Johnrey, Kenneth, Paul, Patrick and finally even Vince — one by one descended, singing and holding a rose which they were supposed to give to a girl of their choice.

At first this worked well but soon the girls became more aggressive. They screamed and rushed to the hapless singer, treating him like a rock star, and the hefty bouncers even had to intervene.

The production staff (lights designer, choreographer, etc.) also stole the show. They became performers and cross-dressers, rein-vented themselves as torch singers caparisoned in sexy costumes, tossed off their wigs and ran wild through the audience, creating pandemonium.

It was a riot.

At the end, things settled down and it was time for more serious, patriotic and inspirational songs climaxed by the iconic song This is the Moment from the hit musical Jekyll and Hyde.

After the show, in a chat with media, Vince, citing the success of Pope-pular, said the company now has a third objective, apart from entertaining and educating, and this was to evangelize and maybe change people’s lives. “But,” he declared, “we are not promoting (religion) but humanity!”