a dose of culture

Posted on April 8, 2007

I used to love going to the theater. I still do actually, we just never seem to find the time to go out and watch a play. My first significant encounter with theater was way back in high school. I was a freshie and the seniors at that time staged Les Miserables. I was hooked. It sure beats watching the movies. A movie can never get as real and dramatic as a theater play.

I especially love musicals. It's amazing how the right kind of music for a particular scene can give you goosebumps. After the senior staged Les Mis, the juniors had their own Once on this Island. It further sealed my feelings towards seating in a dark auditorium and having great actors put to life a script on stage.

When I went to college, I was able to watch numerous plays. My cousin was enrolled as a theater arts student and it meant free entrances to most of the plays he was involved in. When he moved to bigger things and started starring in bigger plays, I moved on with him. Instead of watching him at the Guerrero theater in UP, we started trooping to the CCP. It is one of my regrets that I haven't been able to watch a theater play in a long time.

When some plays were made into movies, I also made it a point to watch. They couldn't compare to the real thing though but I still, I enjoyed them very much. I remember watching Moulin Rouge more than once. The tragic love story, coupled with the very entertaining choice of music made the movie one of my all time favorite. Then came Chicago. Although it has been a popular play in Broadway for the longest time, I didn't really know what it was about. The movie was surprisingly good. Not to mention the sing and dance abilities of its stars. It made me go to Chicago, try out the bars and restos, walk on its streets, check out Chicago rhinoplasty, go sight-seeing.

Hopefully, I can get back to watching plays. Maybe we can bring up Mateo to appreciate such things also. We plan to let him experience such cultured activities also, along the lines of visiting museums, etc. It surely wouldn't hurt.