Emilio Jacinto musical is dynamic, intelligent, urgent
Philippine history is having a moment in the arts. And how.
Just two months after “GomBurZa” gave moviegoers an elegant corrective lesson on the integral role the most famous trio of Filipino priests in history played in the Philippine Revolution, “Pingkian: Isang Musikal” is giving theater audiences a peek into the life of Emilio Jacinto.
The musical play is no straightforward, by-the-numbers biography, though. Playwright Juan Ekis has fashioned a rich, layered, time-hopping tapestry of rumination, speculation and, to some degree, hagiography from the little that is known about the life of the Katipunan general.
The result is a dizzyingly dynamic, often heady, thoroughly engaging piece that not only makes history come vividly to life, it makes it reverberate in modern-day Philippines. It’s incredibly intelligent, as befits the hero called the “Brains of the Katipunan.”
Rock-tinged pop
Pingkian is the alias Jacinto used in the revolution. It’s a Tagalog term that refers to a rock used to ignite a spark.
“Pingkian,” the show, is brimming over with that, from its clever use of Jacinto’s life as a springboard to question long-held views about idealism, heroism, the power of the written word and what success means in a war (which is more noble, die for country or go on living to continue the good fight and, perhaps more importantly, the advocacy?), and how those questions resonate on a personal level in the present time (“Hindi pa tapos ang laban,” from the show’s main song, rings as loudly among today’s freedom fighters as it most likely did among the Katipuneros), to the smart and fluid way it meshes the life-flashing-before-my-eyes and conversations-with-ghosts dramatic tropes (the narrative happens in a state of delirium as Jacinto fights for his life after getting shot in the leg) and its inspired artistic choices (a female performer as Jose Rizal!).
The show would’ve been remarkable if it was a straight play, but there’s a big reason “Isang Musikal” is part of its title. Ejay Yatco’s music is half of why it’s glorious: It does not only make the show literally sing, it makes the material come thrillingly to life.
It’s a nimble, stirring suite of rock-tinged pop that sounds at once of the time and timeless. Its well-placed smattering of rap makes “Pingkian” sound and feel even more urgent than it already does.
Strongest ensemble
However vital the music is, what makes “Pingkian” truly soar are the uniformly excellent vocal and dramatic work of the cast. The ensemble is probably the strongest you’ll hear on the theater stage all year, while the pitch-perfect individual performances—led by a soulful and dynamite Vic Robinson as the conflicted Jacinto facing an existential crisis while he is facing an existence crisis, a sublime Bituin Escalante as Jacinto’s loving mother and a terrific Kakki Teodoro as the wise, clear-sighted Rizal—achieve an alchemy that makes the entire thing deeply compelling, at times even moving.
If it sounds like there’s a lot going on in “Pingkian,” it’s because there actually is. The storytelling itself flits from present to past to future, from the real to the ethereal, often in the same scene, and it’s to director Jenny Jamora’s credit that not only is it not a hot mess, it flows as smoothly and seamlessly as any theatrical piece with its breadth possibly can.
This kind of masterwork doesn’t come often, but theater audiences have been rather spoiled in the past two years. First came “Anak Datu,” the beautiful, brave and spellbinding musical play that brilliantly transposes light and bright Muslim myths with some dark and heavy episodes from its real-life history, and now “Pingkian: Isang Musikal” with its own sparks of genius.
May Philippine history’s moment in the arts not end anytime soon. —Contributed by Eric Cabahug INQ
