Cover Tanghalang Pilipino’s productions this season push the boundaries of musical theatre—and the stories we tell about nationhood (Photos: courtesy of Tanghalang Pilipino)
Tanghalang Pilipino’s productions this season push the boundaries of musical theatre—and the stories we tell about nationhood (Photos: courtesy of Tanghalang Pilipino)
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With tributes to Emilio Jacinto, Gregoria de Jesus and Apolinario Mabini, Tanghalang Pilipino stages a potent trilogy of resistance and identity
In a nation still reckoning with the shape of its democracy, the role of art in public life becomes more vital than ever. This year, Tanghalang Pilipino enters its 39th season with “TP39: IGNITE”, a thematic trilogy dedicated to three revolutionary thinkers—Emilio Jacinto, Gregoria de Jesus and Apolinario Mabini—whose ideas, convictions and sacrifices continue to challenge and inspire.
The season, according to associate artistic director Marco Viaña, does not ask its audience how to be a hero, but rather how to be a good Filipino. This subtle shift reframes heroism not as mythic or distant, but as ethical, reflective and within reach.
Anchored by three major productions namely, Pingkian: Isang Musikal, Gregoria Lakambini and Mabining Mandirigma,TP39 unfolds as both remembrance and provocation, a season determined to “sustain the flame” ignited by the intellectuals and revolutionaries who shaped Philippine history.
More from Tatler: Tatler review: Tanghalang Pilipino’s ‘Pingkian’, a musical based on Emilio Jacinto’s writings
‘Pingkian: Isang Musikal’
Above After its sold-out run and a Best Musical win at the 2024 Aliw Awards, ‘Pingkian: Isang Musikal’ returns to the stage (Photo: courtesy of Tanghalang Pilipino)
After its sold-out run and a Best Musical win at the 2024 Aliw Awards, ‘Pingkian: Isang Musikal’ returns to the stage (Photo: courtesy of Tanghalang Pilipino)
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September 12–October 12, 2025
Tanghalang Ignacio Gimenez, CCP Complex
Fresh off a Best Musical win at the 2024 Aliw Awards and a sold-out debut, Pingkian returns to centre stage this September with renewed urgency. Written by Juan Ekis, composed by Ejay Yatco and directed by Jenny Jamora, the musical chronicles the final years of the Philippine Revolution through the eyes of Emilio Jacinto, the so-called “Brains of the Katipunan”.
Vic Robinson leads the cast as Jacinto, supported by a strong ensemble including Gab Pangilinan, Tex Ordoñez-De Leon, Kakki Teodoro and Paw Castillo. Pingkian navigates the moral weight of leadership and the pain of unfinished revolution.
The production features choreography by Jomelle Era, production design by Carlo Villafuerte Pagunaling and a technical team that includes designers GA Fallarme, D Cortezano and TJ Ramos, among others. Its staging is dense with intellectual tension and emotional consequence, reviving not just a character but a national conscience.
‘Gregoria Lakambini’
Above Told through the electrifying sound and energy of a P-Pop girl group, ‘Gregoria Lakambini’ brings to life the remarkable journey of Gregoria de Jesus (Photo: courtesy of Tanghalang Pilipino)
Told through the electrifying sound and energy of a P-Pop girl group, ‘Gregoria Lakambini’ brings to life the remarkable journey of Gregoria de Jesus (Photo: courtesy of Tanghalang Pilipino)
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November 14–December 14, 2025
Tanghalang Ignacio Gimenez, CCP Complex
If Pingkian summons the mind, Gregoria Lakambini leads with voice—literally. Framed as a Pinay Pop Musical in partnership with Flip Music Productions Inc, this production reimagines the life of Gregoria de Jesus—also known as Oryang—as a powerful P-Pop anthem of love, defiance and agency.
Directed and co-choreographed by Delphine Buencamino, with a libretto by Nicanor Tiongson and Eljay Castro Deldoc, and music by Nica del Rosario and Matthew Chang, the musical brings the female hero to centre stage. Once footnoted in textbooks as Bonifacio’s wife, de Jesus here is rendered in full complexity: a young woman who became the “Lakambini of the Katipunan”, a leader and symbol of resistance.
Marynor Madamesila stars in the title role, backed by a formidable ensemble of young performers. With vivid projections, contemporary choreography and an electrifying soundscape, Gregoria Lakambini invites a younger audience to claim history as an anthem.
Related: Tanghalang Pilipino’s ‘Kisapmata’: An unsettling family story that mirrors society’s ills and woes
‘Mabining Mandirigma’
Above To mark its 10th anniversary, the multi-awarded ‘Mabining Mandirigma’ returns to the stage with a braver and more intimate staging (Photo: courtesy of Tanghalang Pilipino)
To mark its 10th anniversary, the multi-awarded ‘Mabining Mandirigma’ returns to the stage with a braver and more intimate staging (Photo: courtesy of Tanghalang Pilipino)
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March 6–29, 2026
Tanghalang Ignacio Gimenez, CCP Complex
To close its milestone season, Tanghalang Pilipino restages one of its most lauded works, Mabining Mandirigma, marking its 10th anniversary. First staged in 2015, the musical has since won 12 Gawad Buhay Awards and cemented itself as a landmark in contemporary Filipino theatre.
This steampunk musical, written by Nicanor Tiongson and directed by Chris Millado, places Apolinario Mabini—the “sublime paralytic” and first prime minister of the Philippines—at the middle of a kinetic and genre-defying theatrical experiment. Its mix of historical narrative and industrial aesthetics pushes against the visual expectations of period drama, forcing audiences to contend with the modern relevance of Mabini’s ideals.
The 2026 production stars Shaira Opsimar as Mabini, alongside Arman Ferrer, David Ezra and Tex Ordoñez-De Leon. With music by Joed Balsamo, and design by Toym Imao, James Reyes and TJ Ramos, this restaging promises a more intimate, perhaps even more confronting, reflection on what it means to govern with principle in an age of division and spectacle.
The 39th season of Tanghalang Pilipino is not content to entertain—it seeks to ignite. Whether through Jacinto’s philosophical rigour, de Jesus’s feminist resistance or Mabini’s visionary politics, TP39 reminds audiences that theatre is a torch passed from hand to hand. The question is not whether these stories still matter, but whether we’re ready to carry them forward.
Season passes are now available. For tickets and more information, visit Tanghalang Pilipino’s social media.
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Angela Nicole Regis Guiral is the assistant digital editor of 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.
