Hahaha, what an appropriate title. It's technically a Sunday.

Just got home from RCBC Makati. I went to watch Blue Rep's production of Footloose, which was directed by Chari. I went to see it with Lexi and some members of the PinoyExchange Theater Club--Oliver, Ernest, Christianne and Edward. We were supposed to get discounted orchestra tickets, but since we found out that the show was sold out, we got to have complimentary tickets instead. Yay, we don't have to pay, but we had to sit on Monobloc chairs along the aisle. I didn't really mind, hehe, because as long as I get to watch the show, I'm happy. Heck, I once went to see Honk! while standing on the aisle half the time.

Lexi and I hung around at Java Man while waiting for the show to start. When we first got there, Oliver was already waiting, sitting with Chari, Abi and Rony. I even got to meet Robert and Li-Tong, who will be in that new Schonberg show still in the works that are still kept hush-hush. Trivia lang, Robert played Thuy in a production of Miss Saigon and Li-Tong is part of The King and I.

My goodness, while we were sitting at Java Man, Oliver told me that he saw my name listed as one of the prospective teachers for this year's Playshop. Ackkk... puh-lease don't mention Playshop right now. My Playshop career is on hold this year because of my thesis. *sniffle*

I got to sit on the aisle seat along the 1st row closer to stage right, while Lexi sat behind me on the 2nd row. Hahaha, I could see the left wing from where I was sitting. My goodness, I could see the light spilling out from there. Hello, have you guys heard of the word "masking"? Arg, they didn't put any black cloth to mask the wing.

So on with the show.

For those who don't know the plot, Footloose is mainly about this new guy who moves from Chicago to a new town where dancing is prohibited, all because of an accident that left 4 kids dead. There's also the typical new guy meets girl, girl's the daughter of some goody-goody dad, girl has a rebel boyfriend, new guy tries to fit in to get the girl...that kind of stuff. Anyway, in the end, the no dancing rule gets lifted and everyone parties.

Lotsa familiar people in the cast. There was Kyla, who played the female lead as Ariel. I still love her voice. This young lady's gonna go far, I swear. And to think that she's also in Star In A Million. Then there's also Franz, who played Reverend Moore. This guy's voice is so powerful. I've heard him sing before for the "No Strings Attached" concert, and man, his voice rocks. Very Broadway. Elea was also there as Lulu, but her voice wasn't showcased as much. Caisa as Rusty, same as Kyla, I admire her voice. I'm still wondering if she's still singing for After Eve with Elea and Allotte. Bea did a cameo in the 1st scene of the second act along with Ala Paredes, but like Elea, I didn't get to hear much of her voice. For some reason, though, I found Ala's voice too thin, or whatever. Basta when I heard her tonight, I felt as if I wanted to squeeze her guts out because I know she can do better with her voice, which seemed to lack power.

So far, all the people I've mentioned were from the chorus of "No Strings Attached", hahaha.

Then there's also Dan, who played Lyle, one of the rebel guy's sidekicks. At first he pulled off the macho rebel image real well, but halfway through Act 2, I saw it strip off and some of the real Dan showed through. Ahahahaha... Whoops. One surprise was Eleanor, on of my old teammates from track, who's also the younger sister my friend and fellow Hogi Hall-er Marielle. Funny nga eh, earlier, I was chatting with Marielle and she mentioned Footloose, telling me that Eleanor is in it, and she's wearing Yelle's old prom dress in one of the scenes. Yep, sure enough, Eleanor was wearing the dress, and actually cartwheeled while wearing it.

Blue Rep actually pulled it off well, with the minimal set design, but I was disappointed at how they set it up. It was very evident that there were spots on stage right that were quite wrong, such as the space behind the platform there was too narrow, because Franz had to sidestep every time he had to pass there. Then there's also the Moore living room, also on stage right. Once again, Franz was the victim. The black masking was already touching his chair and could practically sink into it. Jeez, can't they just move it farther from the masking? Then there's the backdrop. I was impressed with the skyline backdrop they first used, but the rest of their backdrops (which were all from a projector) were obviously clip-arts, as Oliver had said. Sayang talaga. They didn't have consistency on that part. The skyline backdrop had this neon look to it, as well as the cowboy hat backdrop for the opening of Act 2. But aside from that, the others were clip-art. I liked the stars and moon backdrop, though.

I can't help but notice the lighting. It was BAD. It seemed that the light board person doesn't know what he's doing. During most scenes, there was only a spot for the leads while everyone else disappeared in the dim parts. Hello, why not put a faint wash over the stage aside from a spot for the lead? Jeez...

Hahaha, my brother would love the costumes. 80s-inspired because of the movie, I loved it as well. Hahaha, I wonder when they'd bring back the weird fashions of that decade. The teeny-boppers would probably raise brows, ahahaha. Of course, lack of consistency showed once again when the employees of the burger place wheeled themselves onstage wearing in-line skates, when during the 80s, the skates were much different.

I enjoyed Dan's choreography. I can't wait till he starts working on our thesis. I actually turned green with envy while the cast was dancing. Heck, dancing is one of my frustrations. Then I learned after the show that the cast actually had to take dance classes at gyms aside from rehearsals.

I got to see lotsa familiar people before the show and during intermission. Huwaw. There were Enzo (paging Peachy, hehehe) with Carmen and Becky, then Tito Audie was also there. Then I saw Luis during the intermission, but I didn't get to say hi to him, darn. Franco was there as well. When he saw me in between acts, he said that he already saw me before the show started but didn't get to say hi, oh well. We did get to have a bit of small talk after the show.

So anyway, after the show, Lexi went ahead while I stayed with Oliver, Ernest, Christianne and Edward for a while. Then off we went to Starbucks in Valera (which was a block away from RCBC) for coffee and to interview Chari and Tito Audie. Robert and Li-Tong joined us too, as well as Oliver's friend Hendri, who I assume would be what Ernest would turn out to be 10 years from now (hahaha...). I actually enjoyed the discussion, even though I mostly just sat around and listened. I got to pick up a lot that I could use while doing my thesis. While we were talking to Chari, I got even more impressed by the Blue Rep people, because the way she talked about them, they seemed to have so much passion in what they do. I think I'll join them when I graduate. I'm taking Mic's word for it.

Pictures to follow soon. I forgot to bring my camera, but thank goodness Ernest brought his.