REVIEW: 'Bar Boys: A New Musical' is more magnetic than ever
Barefoot Theatre Collaborative’s Bar Boys: A New Musical is back, more procedurally and substantively meritorious than ever.
The musical, based on the 2017 film of the same name by Kip Oebanda, weaves together the lives of four friends who enroll in law school to pursue their dreams of becoming empowered agents for societal change. Under Pat Valera’s masterful pen and Mikko Angeles’ direction, Erik, Chris, Torran, and Josh learn how to survive in this new, exhilarating environment that requires hard work, integrity, and above all, sacrifice.
It’s a heavy task against them, to be sure. Recitations and examinations are set to the score composed by musical director Myke Salomon, who was heavily influenced by the video games the four friends would play together to bond. The music grows and evolves as they do, and with every rewatch of the production, there’s always something new to discover about it and how well it fits as a soundtrack to our protagonists’ lives.
Real, organic dynamic
Speaking of our protagonists—Bar Boys: A New Musical sees the main cast from the original run reprising their roles. The comfort they have around each other has grown since their first run, and it shows: The dynamic onstage feels more real and more organic, and you’re more convinced as an audience member that they’ve known each other for years now. Their individual performances are worth lauding, too; from feeling like you have to hide who you are from even your closest friends, to fighting through moments of self-doubt and uncertainty, to wondering if law school is even for you, Benedix Ramos, Alex Diaz, Jerom Canlas, and Omar Uddin prove that they are up for the challenge with each scene as they learn that the world they’re living in has never been, and will never be, just black and white.
But the supporting roles and performers behind them deserve just as much acclaim. The ensemble’s movements are sometimes frenzied but always deliberate, doubtlessly under Jomelle Era’s movement direction. Juliene Mendoza once again captures hearts (and tears) as he returns to his role as the humble but devoted Paping, Erik’s father. In contrast, Nor Domingo’s Atty. Maurice Carlson demands attention with an aura that lingers across every scene he’s even mentioned in. But no one can steal a scene, or stage in general, quite like Sheila Francisco can, reprising her role as Justice Hernandez, the boys’ law school mentor in their last year and the epitome of everything the law profession should be.
Spoken truths
As of writing this, there are 337 days until the next Bar exam (and if all goes well, until my first take). The first time I saw Bar Boys: A New Musical on stage back in May, there were maybe some 500 days to go. One of the songs in the musical summarizes the feeling quite well: translated, time moves more swiftly when you’re unsure. With how daunting and exhausting law school can be, it sometimes feels easier to put aside the idea that the implications of what we’re doing go far beyond the classroom; that our actions in this world can cause ripples and waves that affect so many. Thinking about it in that way all the time just adds to the burden and pressure the work already entails. It’s already difficult seeing the lives of the people you love move on without you able to be fully present with them—but the thought of what the law means, and can mean, to so many can paralyze you during these crucial moments, when it seems the most important thing to do is to keep moving forward.
But “Bar Boys: A New Musical” is a poignant reminder of that responsibility we carry, and the production showcases that duty beautifully. The paths we pave towards achieving our dreams, both law and non-law related, are never easy. And an environment like law school does not teach students how to get there—and it doesn’t teach you how to become a better person, either.
Instead, it gives you the tools necessary to become an instrument for growth, whether of the country’s or your own. It’s a road lined with much hardship and doubt, as all roads to goals are, but these are roads we can get through with faith—in truth, in justice, in each other, and in oneself.
It takes a village to raise you, but 'Bar Boys: A New Musical' does you one better: It also takes a village to remind you that, even during the hardest times, you are worthy of love and joy.
Even as a rewatch, there’s a humanity in Bar Boys: A New Musical that makes it so magnetic; a hunger that echoes a generations-old desire to leave this world better than we’ve found it. It’s a desire that has to be fortified, particularly given the many inevitable moments of doubt and wondering if what we’re doing will ever be enough.
Most of all, it has to come with the knowledge that we cannot do any of this alone. The 337 days I have to my exam date would’ve never made it to that number if not for the friends I’ve made facing this road together; the partner ever understanding of postponed date nights; the family that’s supported me and believed in me when I didn’t. It takes a village to raise you, but Bar Boys: A New Musical does you one better: It also takes a village to remind you that, even during the hardest times, you are worthy of love and joy.
In my first review, I called Bar Boys: A New Musical an original triumph, and I stand by those words today. Still with the same wit and heartwarming character as the show’s first run, this time around sees Oebanda’s universe expanded and breathing a new life of its own: one that makes for an incredible work all around.
Bar Boys: A New Musical runs for a limited five weeks from October 4 to November 3, 2024, at the Power Mac Center Spotlight Blackbox Theater, Circuit Makati.
The cast and creative team behind the musical talk about what to expect in the upcoming run in the video below.