Bagets The Musical: Here's To The Old Times and The Best of New Ones

(SPOT.ph) Let’s get it out of the way: I’m a big Bagets fan. Watched the movie in the theater when it first came out in ‘84 (I was 10!), dressed like the boys in the film (Vest? check! Topsiders? Check.), danced like the boys in the film. Every time that OBB came up on TV or online, where Herbert Bautista and the rest of the gang play with graphics of their names, it never fails to take me back to younger, happier days. And we’re just talking about certain elements of this 42-year-old movie still sparking all the feels.

As a whole though, Bagets is legit good cinema, too, with director Maryo J Delos Reyes and screenwriter Jake Tordesillas seamlessly weaving the stories of five very different young boys coming of age in the MTV era, making sense of the challenges of growing up. Production design and costume were a big part of its storytelling, with advertising wiz Butch Garcia taking his observations of youth culture at the time and blowing it way up for the big screen. It was 1984, a year after the assassination of Ninoy Aquino and just two years short of the People Power revolution, but in the world of Vic Del Rosario’s Bagets, it’s all confetti and multi-color Chuck Taylors, low key May-December affairs and Aga Muhlach in his tighty whities taking a dip in the sexy kapitbahay’s swimming pool.

Which is probably why I surprised myself bursting into tears at the very opening number of Bagets The Musical: my own age of innocence was flashing before my eyes. The sight of these young kids bouncing off the Newport stage in their technicolor costumes, singing the anthemic “Growing Up,” celebrating a piece of pop culture history so embedded in my 80s-coded DNA proved too much I sat there stunned, mouth agape, tears rolling down my cheeks. I came in expecting nothing much. Was I about to get the surprise of my theater-watching life?

Well, it’s clear Boss Vic and company wanted to hit two birds with one stone with this one. Revive a beloved 1980s teen flick and woo the oldies who automatically raise their arm to the sky as soon as they hear “Just Got Lucky.” Cast a good looking bunch of young people and throw in some catchy songs, and you’re sure to draw in today’s theater-going kids. Like its big screen counterpart, Bagets the Musical is about five high school boys and their journey to manhood, hungry for attention from their endlessly busy mothers (it was a time when more and more women were joining the work force) and finding real comfort and support from each other. It’s as rowdy and high-spirited as the movie, and there are genuine pockets of delight here and there.

But how do you condense the stories of five guys in a two-hour jukebox musical? How do you do that without one of them ending up spending much of his stage time just doing martial arts moves over and over, his character as thin as the air he keeps slicing with karate chops? A pity because the kid who plays Topee (Jeff Moses)—the said karate-obsessed athlete — invests his role with such electricity and verve, not to mention the guy can really sing. In the movie, we see Topee get the attention he’s seeking not from his super busy artista mom (Liza Lorena) but from the older woman (Chanda Romero) he meets in a phone booth (remember those?), the very same one who turns him into “a real man.” In the play, it’s his mother Ana (Neomi Gonzales) who is given a narrative, going from self-obsessed character actress to someone who finally realizes she needs to pay her growing boy some attention.

Maribel Legarda writes in the souvenir program that her producers Viva and Philstar asked that she stay true to the source material in adapting Bagets for the stage. And this clearly proved a big challenge to the director. The subplots don’t get enough space to breathe, the songs not enough time to shine. When in the film the wealth of colorful side characters only adds brightness and texture to the plot, in the musical every other character outside of the five boys and their mothers only serve to take away from getting the narratives to their satisfying completion.

Everything is short and fast and just grazing the surface, characters are barely fleshed out, and we never really get to know the boys. Certainly not Arnel who in the movie is the sheltered señorito with a frugal vocabulary (Raymond Lauchengco), whose world is turned upside down when he falls for a chatty tindera sa palengke (Eula Valdes). In the musical, Jenny is an aktibista (just PETA being PETA) and we don’t really know what Arnel’s deal is. A pity because KD Estrada who plays him possesses an unmissable stage presence, and a voice that would have been perfect for a solo rendition of the film’s love theme, “So It’s You”. But here the hit ballad about finally falling in love is taken apart and forced to apply to one story too many, in the process losing its real meaning and sentimental pull.

But if you’re only looking only to get entertained, sing a little and dance a little and laugh a little, then Bagets the Musical delivers. While the Newport stage often feels too big for its theatrical productions, not for this one. With a big cast and multiple scenes that call for two-story structures—the better to show multiple conversations happening at the same time— Bagets the Musical supplies what the Newport stage has always demanded. Thanks also to a stage direction very welll aware of the width and breadth of its canvas, and all too conscious that negative space for a play as famously fun and joyful as Bagets could only spark some—to use a period-correct phrase—bad trip.

What else is there to love about this production? The visual treat that is Ohm David's set design. The costumes by Hershee Tantiado, which happily hark back to the 80s era, staying true to Butch Garcia’s exuberant vision down to the IYKYK details—the parrot on Janice’s head, for example, and the multicolor checks that is Rose’s party dress. And then there’s JM Cabling’s inventive and delightful choreography, a refreshing addition to a material filled with nods to the past. It’s a thrill to watch the ensemble of high schoolers strut their stuff, and sheer joy to watch Andres Muhlach bring Cabling’s moves to jumping, bouncing life, along with touches of his dad Aga’s Michael Jackson moves from the movie (he reprises Aga’s Adie in the play, if you don’t already know). The kid has admitted to not being as good with the vocal chops as his stage buddies but Andres, even in his awkward moments, just effortlessly lights up every spot of the stage he finds himself in. No doubt there's a promising future in the musical comedy stage for Tomas Rodriguez who plays (literally) poor guy Gilbert, and cool leading man roles for Milo Cruz who plays the pushover (like his dad) Tonton.

So yeah, the dialogue could use a little more humor and wit, the circumcision segment could be cut short—pardon the pun—but there’s still much to enjoy in the whole experience. The production is so determined not to bore its audience, there’s even a dance tutorial in the middle of the whole thing (which was fun, I must admit). So is Bagets the Musical worth the ticket price? I’ve said my piece, and as one of the moms would say, “Malaki na kayo. Alam niyo na yan.” Is it worth reviving the material and putting this whole production together for the stage more than four decades later? The answer is yes—it may not be a match with my 52-year-old taste but a much younger crowd could enjoy it. I'm enough of a grownup to know what worked back in the day may not always work for audiences of today. And if the play leads this new generation of bagets to discover Bagets —a truly remarkable, wonderful piece of Filipino cinema— I'll be happier for it, and all the more reason for Boss Vic to give himself a big, fat pat on the back.

Bagets the Musical runs all Thursdays, Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays of February at the Newport Peforming Arts Theater. Tickets start at P1,000. Get yours via Ticketworld.