Tears are shed at presscon for Jose Mari Chan musical
Veteran actress Carla Martinez was unable to keep her emotions in check while recounting her very first encounter with the “Christmas In Our Hearts” hitmaker. It happened a long time ago in a hotel. They bumped into each other and chitchatted a bit. Somehow Chan’s 2012 Christmas album, “Going Home To Christmas,” was brought up, and he asked for her home address and promised to send her a CD copy soonest.
They parted ways with Martinez not thinking much of Chan’s promise. To her big surprise, the CD arrived at her home the very next day. This is one of the main reasons she readily accepted the role of Lola in the musical, marking her return to theater after an absence of 20 years.
Earlier in the event for the Repertory Philippines (Rep) production, Chan himself was brought to tears by one particular musical number. It was “Hahanapin Ko,” a love ballad he wrote the music to in collaboration with lyricist Jimmy Santiago in 1980.
It was unclear if it was the first time he had heard that tune from the show performed live in his presence; what seemed certain is he was moved by cast member Carla Guevarra-Laforteza’s elegant, heartfelt, soaring performance that was marked by quivering passion and burnished grandeur.
“I cannot express the joy that I’m feeling,” Chan later told some members of the press at the event. “Because it’s a fulfillment of my dream, and it’s a crowning glory.”
“Going Home To Christmas,” which will run on Nov. 29 to Dec. 15 at RCBC Plaza’s Carlos Romulo Auditorium, is the latest gem in Chan’s crown as the country’s Mr. Christmas. He does not really enjoy being attached to that title, though. Being deeply religious, he never gets tired of pointing to Jesus as the one and only Mr. Christmas.
What he does find joy in is knowing that his music “brings so much joy to a lot of people.” He adds, in the press notes for the show, that “he is excited to see all the stories and elements that Rep has weaved together to add new meaning and life to these songs.”
What Rep has woven together is, according to the show’s director, veteran theater actor and director Jeremy Domingo, “a memorable experience that resonates with everyone who loves the Christmas season as we do.”
Nostalgia
Written by award-winning theater veterans Luna Griño-Inocian, Robbie Guevara, and Joel Trinidad, “Going Home To Christmas” tells several interlocking stories involving characters journeying to their home for the festive season and, along the way, find love, find themselves, and find the real meaning of Christmas.
The press notes promise that “audiences will be treated to heartwarming moments filled with laughter, love, and a touch of nostalgia.”
Speaking of nostalgia, Chan recounted to Lifestyle his two most unforgettable Christmas memories. On one Christmas Eve when he was a little boy, his parents and grandmother did not allow him to go with them to church to hear midnight Mass. They told him he was still too young and that he must stay home. So, Chan did the next best thing.
“I kept awake and waited outside,” he said, “because I wanted to see them walk back into the house through the door after the Mass.”
Chan’s second most unforgettable Christmas memory has him, already a father at the time living in the United States with his wife and kids, taking his boots very late at night on another Christmas Eve, putting powder on their soles, and then making boot marks from the fireplace to the Christmas tree.
“Early in the morning the following day, I woke the kids up,” Chan continued reminiscing. “I said, hey, kids! Look who came to the house last night!” Then he smiled and said, “Of course they were too young to know the truth.”
Real-world gravitas and resonance
With “Going Home to Christmas,” the 79-year-old singer-songwriter becomes the first solo Filipino artist to have his own musical. It follows the first four OPM jukebox musicals, all built around the catalog of pop-rock bands—Aegis, Eraserheads, Ben&Ben, Parokya ni Edgar.
Chan says he is honored that Rep, a pioneer in Philippine theater, has “selected my body of work as their inspiration for this holiday production.” It’s not only the company’s first foray into the genre, it’s also the first-ever major Filipino musical set during Christmastime.
Domingo describes the show as “a celebration not only of Chan’s music but also his spirit.” He told Lifestyle at the press event, “He may not be physically in the show but he is in every scene because of his music. Not just the songs but the themes. We don’t have him but we have 24 characters through whom the audience will get to know him a bit more.”
Those characters include a couple on their second honeymoon, a group of lovelorn best friends, and hardworking OFWs looking forward to being with their families. The last strand gives “Going Home To Christmas” some real-world gravitas and resonance, an edge over the Pinoy jukebox musicals that have gone before it.
“We live in such edgy times,” Domingo explained. “It’s subversive to go back to the basics, the simplicity and the beauty of Jose Mari Chan’s music. His melodies are so ‘hummable.’ They’re so beautiful. Mr. Chan has been doing music for 55 years. His music has outlasted eight presidents. It has such a worldwide impact because of the Filipino diaspora. It has really crossed borders. It touches the heart and soul of the Filipino more than any other composer that has lasted until now.”
The entire narrative is set in an airport in the middle of the holiday rush “to showcase why Christmas really is the most wonderful time of the year,” Domingo says in the press notes for the show. It won’t be all-Christmas songs for the entire show, though. The repertoire includes other Chan classics like “Beautiful Girl,” “Please Be Careful With My Heart,” and “Afterglow,” his very first recording.
With all these beautiful elements firmly in place, “Going Home To Christmas” promises to give audiences the most wonderful time in the theater this year, and might just bring them to tears, too.
For tickets to the Dec. 7 matinee at 3:30 p.m., click on https://ticket2me.net/event/21926 or call tel. no. (0917) 511-2110.
