‘SILVER Lining’ is an original Filipino musical play which will have its last weekend at RCBC Theatre in Ayala Ave., Makati. After acting and directing on film and TV, Ricky Davao returns to the theatre in this show and as expected, Ricky didn’t disappoint in his role as Leo.

He did the rousing opening production number, “Atin ‘To”, singing and dancing with so much ebullience, vigor, and panache. But in fairness to the whole cast, they’re uniformly superb.

The entire ensemble performed with such contagious aplomb. We truly enjoyed the entire play. It’s been years since we last fully appreciated an original local musical. The last one we really liked was “Magsimula Ka”.

This one is expertly written in both English and Tagalog. It’s told with much humor using a lot of contemporary Gen Z terms and also drama about family relationships, and of course, with imaginative songs that have impressive lyrics and first rate melody.

We specially like the bouncy “Bakuran, Hawian”, the touching “Julia” ballad, the poignant song that ends Act One, “Losing Our Way”, and the title song that is so catchy that our writer friend Anna Pingol got a case of LSS and was singing it on our way to a late dinner.

We also want to compliment the other leads: Raul Montesa as Raul (an activist who sells out to the establishment and serves as the villain who wants to rewrite history), Joel Nunez as Anton (who has a strained relationship with his son) and Nenel Arcayan as his very supportive and understanding wife, Josie.

They play friends in La Salle Greenhills in high school then they go to UP in college. Their younger counterparts are also splendid: Noel Comia as young Anton (what a great performer), Albert Silos as young Leo, Jay Cortez as young Raul and Sara Sicam as young Josie.

Anton is in love with Josie, but she has more feelings for Leo. But Leo is in love with the beautiful activist, Julia, played by the very pretty and talented Krystal Brimner who is also gifted with a wonderful set of vocal pipes.

But Julia suddenly goes missing and Leo carries her memory all his life as they don’t really know what happened to her as a desaparecido. His daughter tells him Julia is his TOTGA but he doesn’t know what it means.

This show is very political, showing the proclamation of martial law, its abuses, and reminding us never to let it happen again. Some nostalgic scenes really transported us into the 70s at the height of protest rallies and the 80s with the People Power Revolution.

Also performing with so much verve and gusto are Jep Go as Anton’s son Rico, the scene-stealing Shaun Ocrisma as Leo’s grandson Mart, Hazel Maranan as Agnes who holds the key as to what really happened to Julia, and Khalil Tambio as Chito, their friend who perished during the pandemic.

Kudos to Maribel Legarda for her wonderful overall direction!

For those who love good theatre, this is a must see. The audience was really cheering for the whole cast at curtain time as everyone really had a good time! It is showing at the RCBC Theatre on a limited run. So don’t miss it! We really hope they will have a good run.

AUTHOR PROFILE

Mario Bautista