‘Sandosenang Sapatos’: Musical with a heart
A simple set design bathed in red greets the audience streaming in, mostly students; there is a bed and near it a wheelchair. It is the bedroom of Suzie (Felicity Kyle Napuli alternating with Wincess Jem Yena), a young girl who is a PWD. It is a family scene. There’s Suzie’s mother (Tex Ordoñez-De Leon) and elder sister Karina (Monica Fajardo). Then there is the father (Floyd Tena), who is coughing and quickly leaves the room. The family is concerned. Suzie, worried too, prepares to go to bed and falls asleep.
Then the scene is transformed, from reality to playful fantasy. The panel opens up, the musicians become more visible, and the music by Jed Balsamo and Noel Cabangon goes into high gear. A gaggle of colorfully dressed characters, straight from a fairy tale or a Pinoy folk tale, materialize. They sing and dance joyfully, and in her dream Suzie joins them. She would like to please her father, a shoemaker who longs for her handicapped daughter to become a ballerina.
Suzie demands to see the Diwata (Marynor Madamesila), her fairy godmother, so she can cure her and she can dance for her father. When told this is not possible Suzie becomes defiant. “Gumising ka na (wake up),” the concerned creatures urge her. Eventually she is persuaded to do so, and she wakes up to reality.Thus begins the musical “Sandosenang Sapatos,” a Tanghalang Pilipino production being restaged at the Black Box Theater (Tanghalang Ignacio Jimenez), CCP Complex, until Dec. 3. It is written by Layeta Bucoy based on a Palanca Award story by Luis Gatmaitan, a physician whose stories were inspired by his patients, one of them a crippled child who served as a loose model for Suzie.Dreams, reality
Her father dies. Time passes, and on the eve of her 12th birthday Suzie dreams again, and the lovable creatures reappear to play, interact with the audience and throw them balloons. This time the Diwata appears, as does Suzie’s father, from the spirit world; and he has a pair of dancing shoes which fit Suzie. And the titular 12 shoes appear, discovered by her mother and ate. They open the packages one by one and the shoes, of different bright colors, materialize.The fairies celebrate, singing and dancing, sharing the joy of the girl who wanted to be a ballerina to please her father.
This latest incarnation of “Sandosenang Sapatos” by Tanghalang Pilipino succeeds because everything seems to jell: the direction by Jonathan Tadioan, which minimizes the tearjerking elements of the story; music, production design by Marco Viaña and Paw Castillo, choreography by Stephen Viñas and the performances by the leads and ensemble.
In a heart-stopping moment, at the end, Suzie and her father, who is returning to the spirit world, wave and bid each other goodbye.
“Sandosenang Sapatos” is a musical with a heart. It can be enjoyed by children, as it is basically a children’s story, and also by mature persons who, despite everything, despite all the vicissitudes in life, can still look at the world with the eyes of a child. —CONTRIBUTED INQFor tickets, call tel. 0917-5456850.
