Recap of Our WORLD VOICE DAY 2015 Musical Theater Project: Adrenalized Exhilaration!

April 19, 2015

April 16 is World Voice Day (WVD). Every year, the Dept. of ENT-HNS with the Voice and Swallowing Center in my institution join colleagues the world over to celebrate this advocacy. WVD reminds us about the importance of our voices in our daily lives. We should strive to acquire and maintain good voice habits in order to preserve this vital vehicle of self-expression, communication and occupation.

For this year, our Department had a big project in mind for WVD -- to stage a musical theater play. However, it was already March when I heard anything concrete plans about it. I was told that the play would be"Mamma Mia" and that I had been cast to be Harry, one of the three possible dads of the young lead character Sophie. I had been singing in public before so that part did not really worry me. However, the dancing and the acting parts really scared me. I know myself -- I do not know how to dance, and I sure do not know how to act.

The project seriously got underway by the last week of March. My family and I were away on a trip to a place where I had no access to social media nor my email so I had no idea what was going on. When I came home, it was already Holy Week. I had a call that we will have our poster photo shoot on April 1. That was the first time I met up with the rest of the cast members and we had our first line readings and song practice.

Honestly I was not so sure this play could push through as planned on April 17, barely two weeks to go. Because the cast and crew are composed of consultants and residents of our Department, it was really hard to gather us all together to practice. It was also summer vacation, so several people already had prior weekend getaways planned ahead of time. We only had certain afternoons after 5 pm to practice on weekdays. Our first dance practice with the choreographer Ferdie was only on April 8 in the cramped space of our department office. Luckily April 9 is a national holiday, so we were able to practice longer in a bigger space at our stage director's grandma's house nearby. 

It was only on the afternoon of April 14 that we finally saw the actual venue at the SV More Building. It was just an empty room, and the stage was not yet set up. We practiced on a "stage" marked on the floor with tape. Still we had to practice with an incomplete cast and crew everyday even that very week of the show already.  That final week my throat was having issues of irritation and impending hoarseness, which was another worry on top of my lines and steps. In the second run-through on April 15, my voice gave out so someone was actually singing for me as I only mouthed my lines. That was scary.

April 16, the day before the show, was the first time we saw the 2-ft high stage there, with our makeshift backstage/dressing room on one side. It was also only then that we got to work with our headset microphones. We finally had our first run-through with props and costumes that Thursday night, and that was the first time the scenes really came alive for me. The voice was not perfect, but it held on. The performance that night felt like the actual one already, even if we were still incomplete.

(Photo from Narciso Diaz)

April 17 is D-Day! It was about lunchtime that we met at the venue supposedly to have a couple more run-throughs. However, the erratic sound quality of the microphones as well as the lackluster lighting effects were delaying our practice even later. I am sure our musical director Dr. Arlene Bongosia and our stage director Dr. Jaclyn Leigh Vidal were at their wits end at this point. 

We just spent the time practicing our individual scenes and dance steps to make good use of the time just waiting for the technical aspects to be tweaked to perfection. Some were already having their make-up put on them. The props manager Dr. Chezca Padua and Dr. Michaelsam Econ were making sure everything was complete and in good working condition. We only had two run-throughs that afternoon, only with props but no costume changes anymore. 

(Photo from Argyll Bongosia)

By 6:30 pm, guests were already being let into the venue. It was a full house. It was actually hard for me to look for tickets for some guests who decided to watch just that morning. The cast gathered in the lounge to eat and get ready.  By a little past 8 pm, we made our way to "backstage". The Invocation was sung by Dr. Crissy Pefianco and her multi-talented brothers Thomas and Marco, both valuable members of our Company. Our Chairman was called to the front to deliver his Welcome Remarks. Then, the overture began to play. It was actually showtime!

Scene 1 ("I Have a Dream"/ "Honey Honey") featured a winning ingenue performance by Agatha Leigh Bongosia as Sophie, ably supported by Dr. Christina Sio-Tuano and Dr. Hycel More (as Ali and Lisa respectively). Scene 2 ("Money, Money, Money") was the first of several tough solo numbers for Dr. Mari Berioso-Enecilla as Donna. These two scenes seemed to just float by so fast for me as I was waiting for my turn backstage. 

(Photo from Argyll Bongosia)

My first appearance on stage was in Scene 3. Sophie meets her three possible dads for the first time. I will lead in the singing of "Thank You for the Music," later to be joined by Sophie and the two other dads Bill (Dr. Noel Colmenar) and Sam (Dr. Nato Pascual). Later in the scene, Donna will see us for the first time and she sang "Mamma Mia". I felt our scene went along quite well and was quite relieved. These three actors onstage with me were such natural actors, I felt like such an awkward neophyte beside them. Scene 4 ("Chiquitita"/"Dancing Queen") featured Donna being comforted by her friends Tanya (Dr. Crissy Pefianco) and Rosie (Dr. Dona Devilleres-Mendoza). There was a 10-minute interval after this scene. Halfway done!

Scene 5 is a major one. It began with Donna and pals singing "Super Trouper". We dads enter the stage mid-song. This is followed by Bill and Sophie singing "The Name of the Game" (my personal favorite among the ABBA songs). What a great scene that was! The major dance number for the whole cast "Voulez Vous" comes next, with its vital confrontation scenes, first between Sam and Sophie, and later my character Harry and Sophie, interrupting the song. Timing was very critical in the delivery of our lines in this segment. It's funny, but I believe the whole cast already knew my lines by heart, after hearing me fumble through it during all the practice sessions. I thought this complex climactic scene came off with only minor hitches.

(Photo from Argyll Bongosia)

Scene 6 only had one song -- "Lay All Your Love On Me" featuring a charismatic duet between Sophie and her bearded beau Sky (the future Dr. Matthew Reyes). These two youngest members of our main cast registered very strongly onstage, gaining so much positive reaction from audiences. Some guests even thought they were professional actors. Scene 7 opens with me going onstage strumming a guitar. I led in the singing of "Our Last Summer" (the song that made me choose this role), later to be joined by Sam and Bill, then Sophie. I had to pretend to "play" the guitar during the song, not too realistically I think. Wish I had more time to practice to strum more convincingly. 

Our light number was followed by a serious and vocally-challenging 1-2 punch for Donna -- "The Winner Takes It All" and her duet with Sam "S.O.S." I have to say, the intense acting of Dra. Enecilla and Dr. Pascual in this scene was top-notch!  "Winner" was only incorporated into our show two days ago after being initially dropped. Glad it was re-included because that song is considered the centerpiece of the original musical. This immediately went on to the romantically-thrilling Wedding Scene that concluded the play. The cameo appearance of our chief resident Dr. Neil Apale as the Priest was a big hit! There was short ballroom-type dance bit to the tune of "I Do, I Do, I Do, I Do, I Do" for the Dads and the Dynamos which luckily went off without no major problem, I think.

(Photo from Narciso Diaz)

Before this, I only had to add a vest, then later a coat over my first shirt to vary my outfit. After the wedding and during the "Mamma Mia" finale dance by the younger cast, I had to change into my bright violet "retro"-style shirt which I was supposed to wear unbuttoned enough to expose chest skin. This was a gutsy style outfit  that I just had to grin and bear as we went onstage in the middle of the "Dancing Queen" finale number and join the rest of the cast onstage. We just gave our all already at this point as the adrenaline was already at full dose at this point. We had our curtain call, and sang an encore rendition of "Thank You for the Music". And with that our cherished World Voice Day project had ended. 

The loud applause and numerous congratulatory messages received after the show were very gratifying indeed. So, that was how it felt just after a successful first stint for a musical theater production -- big relief and adrenalized exhilaration! Everything seemed to flow so seamlessly in that actual performance, unlike in our rehearsals where we would still flub our lines and lyrics or have missing or falling props. Even the lights and the microphones seemed to all work perfectly, at least from our point of view onstage and backstage. 

(Photo from Argyll Bongosia)

Reality set right back as I had cinic work to get back to the next day, and it was a busy one that Saturday. I also had my Society newsletter editor-in-chief duties to get back to since the printing deadline was Sunday morning. At the end of this experience, I still do recognize my limitations as a performer though. I know that my (daddy-)dancing and acting skills were admittedly atrocious, as was my stage presence. But I am happy to just get this opportunity to perform in a musical play for the first time with friends and colleagues who would not mind too much. Happy World Voice Day to all!