By PABLO TARIMAN
THE classic Puccini opera “La Boheme,” which opened in Turin, Italy in 1896 on the year Jose Rizal was executed in Bagumbayan (now Rizal Park), Manila, has obviously inspired a generation of music lovers not just in the realm of opera.
In the early 1990s, National Artist for Theater and Literature Rolando Tinio translated the opera in Filipino and mounted it at the Cultural Center of the Philippines with a new setting. The original Latin quarters of Paris became the dingy boarding houses of Malate in the local rendition.
It saw the debut of two superb Mimis of sopranos Rachelle Gerodias and Johanna Cabili and the outstanding Marcellos of the late Gamaliel Viray and Andrew Fernando.
In Broadway, “La Boheme” gave way to the rock musical “Rent,” written by Jonathan Larson. The musical reinvented the setting from Paris to East Lower New York. The illness of the main protagonists was also updated from “consumption” (a euphemism for tuberculosis) to AIDS. The love angle was also extended to include gay love.
One cannot help wonder if “Rent” can stand on its own without reference to “La Boheme.”
Well, the idealistic and penniless young artists of the 1890s probably share a lot with the artists of the Facebook generation. Hence, the reference to the Puccini opera cannot be avoided, said “Rent” director Robbie Guevara.
The latest version of the musical “Rent” opened at the RCBC Hall in Makati on Feb. 12 and will run until March 4.
Guevara said today’s generation of actors are just as exciting to work with.
“I cannot compare them with my generation during my Repertory Philippines days,” he added. “But they are just as driven and dedicated as we were then.”
As to the difference between the two generations of artists, the “Rent” director has this to say: “The only difference probably was that we were not texting in between rehearsals and there were no IPods and IPhones to distract us.”
The two Mimis, played by Sheree Bautista and Ciara Sotto, are poles apart in temperament. Relatively new in theater, the two are just as eager to go through the regimen of the craft to deserve the label stage actor.
“What is new in this part is that I have to learn pole dancing fast,” Bautista said. “I tried it once a long time ago but it was nothing serious. But this time, I had to learn to take it seriously, like going down the pole like a fireman and climbing up the pole. It’s very difficult and really tough but I am having so much fun.”
The former Viva Hot babe added: “Getting into the role was also hard. I had to research about the life of an AIDS victim, (the) life of an exotic dancer and how to deal with life when you are in this kind of situation. And then I have to reinvent the part and do something suitable for my own temperament.”
Sotto, the other Mimi, probably speaks for her generation when she said “Rent” is very modern, drastically unconventional and ‘wild’ but liberating.
The daughter of Sen. Tito Sotto and singer-actress Helen Gamboa admitted that going sexy and a little slutty for the part was quite hard but challenging.
“It is not easy to be a seductress,” she quipped.
“Rent” also marks the return of Fredison Lo as Mark Cohen, the nerdy filmmaker; OJ Mariano as Tom Collins, the computer genius; Job Bautista as Angel Dummott Schunard, Collins’ drag queen-street musician lover; Jenny Villegas as Joanne Jefferson, Maureen’s public interest lawyer lover; and Lorenz Martinez as Benjamin Coffin III, a former member of the group who, after marrying a wealthy woman, becomes their greedy landlord.
“La Boheme” lovers who watch this musical will find Mimi no longer singing “Mi chiamano Mimi” (My name is Mimi) but singing “Light Me A Candle” with Rudolfo, played by Gian Magdangal.
After the short preview, theater lovers will realize that the Bohemians of the 19th century are no different from the Bohemians of the Facebook generation.
Perhaps the only exception is that in the first true-to-life Bohemians, gay love was not yet in the open and nobody has heard of transvestites.