#Kanser @35 the musical

What was i doing when i was 17 years old?  I was  still enjoying my freshman year  in UP Diliman for my B.S. Economics course. And my good friend Jomar Fleras has gained fame as  a playwrite for his piece "KANSER".

In an interview by Curtain Call Manila , Jomar narrated  "  I started writing plays when I was still in high school. I was a Martial Law baby and it was that era when freedom, including free expression was suppressed.  But we all had to be creative in bringing the message of the people out there. And so I turned to playwriting as a way to dramatize the plight of our people as well as to use the power of theater in awakening them from apathy and complacency." 

Noli Me Tangere is Dr. Jose Rizal’s expose of corrupt friars from who have made the Catholic religion as instrument for enriching and perpetuating themselves in power by seeking to mire ignorant Filipinos in fanaticism and superstition. Instead of teaching Filipinos true Christianity, according to Rizal; they control the government by opposing all progress and persecuting members of the ilustrados unless they make themselves their servile flatterers. The novel lampooned, caricatured and exposed various elements in the colonial society.

Over the years, this work of fiction have had many incarnations and considered, as one of its most important versions is KANSER, which Gantimpala Theater Foundation Inc. produced back in 1979.

           

In “Kanser (Noli Me Tangere),” Crisostomo Ibarra returns home after his European studies and rekindles his romance with childhood sweetheart Maria Clara. His return triggers an old rift with the town friar, Padre Damaso. As the play progresses, Ibarra realizes that the malady of oppression and colonial brutality has been killing not only his town, but his motherland as well.

  The Gantimpala Theater Foundation production of Jose Rizal’s “Noli Me Tangere,” retitled “Kanser” and written by my good friend Jomar Fleras, has been around for some 35 years now since it was first produced in 1979. “Kanser” is being reincarnated as a full-length, sung-through musical, with music by Jed Balsamo.Lead roles are played by singing heartthrob Michael Pangilinan and Jacob Benedicto as Crisostomo Ibarra, and Myramae Meneses as Maria Clara. Bodjie Pascua is Pilosopong Tasyo.

"Kanser has always been focused on the discourse between reform and revolution. My vision of Kanser from the very start is that it should be able to show parallelisms between the social realities of Rizal’s era with that of the present." Jomar said.  "Kanser has actually evolved into a musical through the years. Every now and then, we would insert songs and music. And now, it is a full musical which I believe will be classic on its own. This will be my legacy and contribution to Philippine theater."