Theater Review: Bar Boys: A New Musical Is a Masterclass in Adaptation

Theater Review: Bar Boys: A New Musical Is a Masterclass in Adaptation

Bar Boys: A New Musical is currently sharing the Metro Manila theater-goers’ pie with Miss Saigon, Rent, One More Chance the Musical, and Buruguduystunstugudunstuy: Ang Parokya ni Edgar Musical. It’s the busiest month in Philippine theater, but Barefoot Theatre Collaborative managed to sell all tickets to its three-weekend show even before it officially opened last Friday, May 3. If you managed to get a ticket, you’re in for a treat. The all-original Filipino musical based on a 2017 film by Kip Oebanda is an A+ exercise in adaptation, particularly in adapting a movie into the live stage as well as figuratively translating its language from 2017 to 2024.

This is the Bar Boys of today’s generation: the 20-somethings who are going through the highs and lows of law school while trying their best to maintain connections by sliding into their friends’ DMs or scrolling through (and dancing on) TikTok. If it is this relatibility (and newness) that Bar Boys: A New Musical was going for, it did so with flying colors. But more than the pandering, it also goes deep into what the “new world” means for their generation—one that’s in the middle (or in the tail end) of a global climate crisis; constantly under the threat of misinformation, disinformation, and journalistic censorship; and at the mercy of graft and corruption.

Bar Boys: A New Musical (by Pat Valera for book and lyrics, and Myke Salomon for music and lyrics) and Oebanda’s Bar Boys have the same premise: a quartet of friends goes through law school and all the challenges that come with it. The 110-minute film was celebrated for its nostalgic and sentimental approach ala-Bagets (Maryo J. de los Reyes) and High School Circa ’65 (Jake Tordesillas), at least according to writer-director Erik Matti. It was also praised for shedding light on the inner workings of the system: the soul-sucking classes, the expensive matriculation, the fraternities, the pressure, and the sacrifices that a law student has to go through.

Valera stretched all the mentioned issues into a three-hour musical with four principal characters, each fleshed out to carry their own plot lines. And it was through this technique that Bar Boys: A New Musical stood on its own as a creative form—separate and yet imbibing the same spirit of Bar Boys without being redundant. The musical also diverges or adds to some of the character sketches originally developed by Oebanda. This is in response to the changing times, especially since the beauty of live theater is that it’s always within the context of its political and cultural landscape, whether you like it or not.

For starters, the musical opens with its characters and ensemble holding their mobile phones, a signal of how the movie also started—minus being inside a computer shop to play games. This is 2024, friends play their games from the comforts of their homes while hanging out in a virtual space. It foreshadows how the four characters’ friendship is challenged in a world where we’re virtual connection is equated with presence. This theme is later expanded when we see the characters relegate to calls and text messages, skip reunions and family gatherings due to a busy schedule, or put less effort into meeting with friends as long as they’re able to chat online. We’re probably guilty of this in one way or another.

Then there are the four principal cast of characters: Alex Diaz as Chris, Benedix Ramos as Erik, Omar Uddin as Josh, and Jerom Canlas as Torran. Each of them gave a new life to the four “Bar Boys,” who have their own complexities.

Chris, raised by a single mother, works hard to excel in law school and escape from the shadow of the father he never knew. He is the most idealistic of the three, encouraging them to make a promise that they’ll make it through four years of law school and meet in front of the Supreme Court when the bar passers are announced. His pain comes from being his father’s son as Atty. Maurice Carlson (played by Nor Domingo) turns out to be the lawyer they never wanted to be. We see one of Diaz’ most fiery performances in his scene with Domingo, a young lawyer standing up to a well-connected one and having his idealism shattered in the process.

Benedix Ramos, as Erik, is also a force to reckon with. In Bar Boys: A New Musical, Erik is always at the crossroads: whether to study law or ease his father’s burden in sending him to school, urge his father to take the monetary compensation or continue fighting to win a class suit, to retake the bar or give up on so-called justice. We always see Erik as the quietest person in the group, often ignored by his very chatty friends. But it is in these moments that Ramos’ performance is the strongest, especially when in that book scene with an equally excellent Juliene Mendoza (Paping). We’ll not spoil it, but ready your tissue in that part of Act 1.

Omar Uddin, who’s still in senior high school,  is a promising newcomer to the professional Philippine theater scene. His youthful energy is a perfect fit for Josh, who drops out of law school after a nervous breakdown—a reminder to never ignore our mental health and that it’s okay to reevaluate our dreams. He moves to Siargao, an all too familiar “success story’ among the 20- and 30-somethings.

If all you know about Bar Boys is that often-shared meme of Rocco Nacino (as Torran) and the congratulatory tarp, you’ll also see it in the musical version with Jerom Canlas playing the role of the straight-A son. Always reminded by his mother that “he is the man,” Torran’s character is burdened by his fear of being true to himself. It doesn’t help that he is raised under the legacy of his father, also a lawyer and a member of a fraternity, where anything less than “masculine” is frowned upon. Torran’s character development happens behind the scenes, through text conversations with Atty. Victor Cruz (played by Topper Fabregas). Cruz, a confident gay lawyer and professor, understands what it means to come out in this world; and he serves as a trustworthy confidante without having to stoop down to the level of a professor-student trope. Boundaries are shown repeatedly, a welcome take amid the overused-and-cringey gay storylines.

Salomon’s music solidifies Bar Boys: A New Musical as a piece of the current. There’s hip-hop, rap, and techno, which all complemented the musical’s apparent choice to be movement-heavy. Jomelle Era, credited as the movement designer, used choreography to transport viewers through time and space and ground the characters in their settings.

Some of the most notable ones include Paping’s circling movement around the stage, showing the passage of what seemed to be wasted time, culminating in death; the party scene, which felt like we were watching it as a film (through the help of lighting design by Meliton Roxas Jr.); and the rigid movements of the students during classes to highlight the difficulty of the subjects.

While Bar Boys: A New Musical is already cohesive as it is, it can use some trimming, especially in scenes where dialogues and song numbers may already be saying the same thing. The end of Act 1 can also be strengthened since it leads to the  “dark night of the soul” of the individual characters in Act 2.

Bar Boys: A New Musical is up for a limited run with only three weekends, and we’re excited to see it in its next iteration.

Bar Boys: A New Musical runs for three weekends from May 3 to 19 at Power Mac Center Spotlight Blackbox Theater, Circuit Makati, Makati City. All shows are already sold out.