Cover Ballet Manila stages ‘Tatlong Kuwento ni Lola Basyang’ for their 26th performance season (Photo: Ballet Manila)
Ballet Manila stages ‘Tatlong Kuwento ni Lola Basyang’ for their 26th performance season (Photo: Ballet Manila)
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One of Ballet Manila’s hits comes back bigger and better for its 26th season
They say Ballet Manila found its own The Nutcracker in Tatlong Kuwento ni Lola Basyang—sometimes shortened to Lola Basyang. Not story-wise, but in the sense that it has become a tradition for Filipino families to watch it every year.
For its 26th performance season, ballet enthusiasts are once again looking forward to the 2024 production at Aliw Theatre in Pasay City on May 11, 12, and 18. This staging stands out from the others due to a new and refreshing Lola Basyang, portrayed by Filipina actress and comedienne Mitch Valdez.
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Unlike previous characterisations by late veteran actress Luz Fernandez, where she sits on the rocking chair most of the time, Valdez will now move around with the dancers: “When we had our first meeting, I said, Please, I don’t want to sit still in a rocking chair.”
She wanted to be with the rest of the cast, a feat that would be easy as she had always been fascinated by dancers. “At age nine, I even wanted to be Rita Moreno in West Side Story,” she recalls. “That was my favourite.” The actress will also dabble in singing—a job thrust towards her mere weeks before the show and a challenge she gladly accepts.
“It will be a little bit of a musical theatre with the three ballet stories,” says Ballet Manila artistic director and CEO Lisa Macuja-Elizalde. “I’m looking forward to it. It’s actually my first time directing actors and child actors.”
Macuja-Elizalde reveals that they changed the script and were forced to rechoreograph some sequences since the stage at Aliw Theatre is now smaller after being wrecked by fire in October 2019. “It’s going to be a lot more effective,” she adds, especially with the new technologies incorporated into the production.
“I’m looking forward to the kids who watched Lola Basyang 16 years ago and are now going to bring their kids this time,” wishes Macuja-Elizalde. She hopes this Ballet Manila performance will reignite Filipinos’ passion for ballet and the arts, much like the current revenge travel” trend.
Tickets for May 11, 12, and 18 are now available on TicketWorld.
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Angela Nicole Regis Guiral is a digital editor at Tatler Philippines. She studied journalism and has since written features that look closely at how culture, lifestyle and social impact converge, while occasionally wandering into the worlds of style and travel.
