Plays and Musicals to Catch in Manila for March 2023
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The Stage Is Set: Plays and Musicals in Manila for March 2023

Theater is on the rise in the Philippines. With more and more productions being made and the public slowly learning to love the live drama of songs sung and lines acted, stage productions are becoming a hot commodity that offers something more visceral than television screens and cinemas.

This coming March, there will be new productions and returning favorites to regale you, and make you think, flinch, and fall in love. If you’re itching to catch a live performance after a long drought, here are the shows you should look out for this month.

‘Walang Aray’

Director:

  • Ian Segarra

March Showtimes

  • March 3 – 8 PM
  • March 4 – 2 PM/8 PM
  • March 5 – 2 PM

If you can’t get enough of revolutionary period romance served by “Maria Clara at Ibarra,” “Walang Array” by the Philippine Educational Theater Association (PETA) is your live, loud, and loving alternative on the stage. The production puts a contemporary lens on age-old tropes while its stars belt out songs that are so unapologetically pop. The lead roles of Julia and Tenyong will pingpong between the Star Magic pair of Alexa Ilacad and KD Estrada, and PETA’s Marynor Madamesila and Gio Gahol.

You’ll laugh, cry, and probably laugh some more in this Romeo and Juliet-esque tale barong at saya.

Location: PETA Theater Center, No. 5 Eymard Drive, Brgy. Kristong Hari, New Manila, Quezon City

‘Ang Pag-Uusig’

Director:

  • Dennis Marasigan

March Showtimes

  • March 3 – 8 PM
  • March 4 – 3 PM/8 PM
  • March 5 – 3 PM
  • March 10 – 8 PM
  • March 11 – 3 PM/ PM
  • March 12 – 3 PM

Jerry Respeto’s translation of “The Crucible,” one of American playwright Arthur Miller’s most admired works, takes stage at the Cultural Center of the Philippines (CCP) as “Ang Pag-Uusig.” Dennis Marasigan is helming the production, putting Filipino faces in Salem during the accursed period of the witch trials. The show will test your mettle with graphic content and hysteria on full display as lives are ravaged by accusations of wielding evil magic.

The play centers around Antonette Go who plays the wife who cried wolf to get another woman’s husband, and her wanton charges initiated her town’s spiraling into darkness and chaos.

Location: Tanghalang Ignacio Gimenez, CCP Complex, Malate, Manila


‘The Sound of Music’

March Showtimes:

  • March 7-9 – 8 PM
  • March 10 – 7:30 PM
  • March 11 – 2:30 PM/7:30 PM
  • March 12 – 6 PM
  • March 14-17 – 8 PM
  • March 18 – 2:30 PM/7:30 PM
  • March 19 – 1:30 PM/6 PM
  • March 21-24 – 8 PM
  • March 25 – 2:30 PM/7:30 PM
  • March 26 – 1:30 PM/6 PM

Rodgers and Hammerstein’s “The Sound of Music” is happiness in all its forms rendered musically, and they are back on the Philippine stage this March. The hills will again ring with the tunes of the titular song, “Do-Re-Mi,” “Climb Ev’ry Mountain,” and all the signature songs from the iconic movie. Theater actors Karylle Tatlonghari and Markki Stroem will join the cast as the cosmopolitan and stunning Baroness Elsa von Schraeder and handsome delivery boy Rolf, respectively.

To anyone who watched Maria put some unbounded joy in the lives of Captain von Trapp and his rigorously trained seven children, this is simply a production you can’t miss.

Location: Samsung Performing Arts Theater, 5th Level, Circuit Performing Arts Theater, Hippodromo St, Circuit Makati, Makati


‘Mula sa Buwan’

Director:

  • Pat Valera

March Showtimes:

  • March 18 – 3 PM/7 PM (Advanced Screening)
  • March 24-26 – 10 AM

Cyrano de Bergerac’s nose is anatomical icon of the stage, and now with “Mula sa Buwan,” that extended olfactory tool and the rest of the proshot play will be streamed online for 24 hours globally. Instead of 1640s Paris, we get 1940s Manila just before the Second World War brings conflict to the archipelago. Pat Valera serves as the production’s director and lyricist, as well as the one who adapted the play.

Myke Solomon plays Cyrano, the Renaissance man with a nose to match his great intellect, while Gab Pangilinan portrays Roxane, the apple of Cyrano’s eye and his distant cousin. Markki Stroem is Christian, the handsome and not-so-thorny rival of the titular character.

Location: Advanced Screening – Circuit Cinemas 3 & 4, Ayala Malls Circuit, Circuit Makati / Proshot Run – Streamed for 24 Hours Per Date

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