Orosman at Zafira

Watch Orosman at Zafira. It’s beautiful, powerful, moving, inspiring. And it shows how a classic by the great Francisco Baltazar can remain so vibrant with today’s modern sensibilities. It’s perhaps the best play I’ve ever seen, considering every single play performed by the Dulaang UP is spectacular. More importantly, you will enjoy it. You will be struck by it.

I am not an expert in theater, but somehow the love I’ve had for it for almost all of my life burst with joy within me last night. Perhaps the only thing missing then was for us, the audience, to break free and join in the half-delirious, half-triumphant glory with which the komedya ended.

If the devil is in the details, this was perfect hell. Just look at the photographs—that was just the beginning. The battle scenes will always be my favorite—there’s just something about a symbolic war dance. That there were pretty boys who knew how to act, dance, and sing is only icing on the cake—though there’s a reason serenades have won girls over for decades.

Please, watch it. If you have to be proud of something—something Filipino, something UP, something artful, something poetic, something wonderful, something great—this is it.