Chuckles — La Boheme Manila Funny Side Comments
I would like to thank the ladies and gentlemen seated near us during Philippine Opera Company’s La Boheme premiere for providing the comedy and drama offstage. They were obviously very involved in watching the opera based on their comments during the 03 October 2008 8pm performance (ideally they should be quiet but we Filipinos like to comment during a show).
After a lady and a gentleman debated heatedly under their breaths regarding the location of La Boheme, which was sung in Italian, the man triumphantly exclaimed when the chorus jumped under the pabitin (a local game), “That’s so Filipino! It’s like a barrio fiesta!”
As the ailing Mimi leaned back, a lady whispered to her companion, “Is she sick?”
An obviously awed audience member asked his partner, “Kumakanta ba sila talaga (are they really singing)?”
During the short gap between Acts 3 and 4, a woman commented sagely, “They’re changing sets.” And, amusingly, another audience member seated near them echoed her observation to her friend, “They’re changing sets.”.
When Rodolfo, played by Gary del Rosario, brought out a modern piece of technology, a couple of people couldn’t help exclaiming, “Ba, may computer siya (he has a computer)!” and “May laptop siya (he has a laptop)!”
During the death scene when Mimi loses her grip on her hat, which falls to the ground, a woman concluded, “Patay na (she’s dead)!”
Apparently not believing the announcement about the Cultural Center of the Philippines Main Theater’s signal jammers, a lady tinkered with her mobile phone and then pronounced, “There’s no signal here.”
Affected by the opera, a lady slowly stood up to join her group and commented, “Ang lungkot naman (how very sad)…”
Walking out, a man said to his friend, “Wala akong naintindihan. Sana may subtitles. (I didn’t understand anything. I wish there were subtitles.) Note: Director Floy Quintos opted not to use the overhead electronic device for the English translation because he didn’t want the audience looking up and then down towards the action onstage.
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Awesome Anton should hire himself out
as La Boheme’s official whispering translator.
Without him, I would’ve been lost!!!
Hahaha. Nakakatawa ang commentaries.
Actually ang ipinagtataka ko kung bakit sila giniginaw sa first scene samantalang nasa Maynila naman sila.
But I wish they had used supertitles. Some of the cute parts, like the boys driving Benoit out after he tells something bastos or the whole key/candle thing, are lost.
hey lorna,
i also posted my thoughts regarding La Boheme (i watched the friday night show) at my blog…..it was my first time to watch an opera, and i also overheard lots of funny comments from Chinese people in the audience who didn’t have a clue what La Boheme was all about!
here’s the link to my post:
www.grumpyurbanslacker.blogspot.com
cheers,
peter
Sounds like the show was well attended. I’d have gone to watch if I was in town. Thanks for keeping me informed about the show and tickets.
As for talking during the opera, people forget that in the old days (when opera was at its heyday), audiences would “participate”, talk, shout, boo, it wasn’t all about being quiet. It’s only in the last century that attending a classical concert or ballet or opera that people were told to hush.
Pity that folks didn’t read or research the story first before going though. No reason to be ignorant about the story and it’s theme when going in the days of internet access.
Hi, Mila. Very true. Shakespeare was performed before very vocal audiences too. With regards to doing a little research, I guess a lot of people are still not comfortable going on the Internet, but it’s great to overhear that they’re getting the story line.