Toto Sicangco Exhibit Opens at the Ayala Museum
“I love working with that bastard!”
The bastard is Toto Sicangco, and the speaker is Dodo Lim, who is known for his extensive career as part of the production team of numerous shows, and, as seen from his declaration, also for his colorful language.
Dodo Lim pointed out proudly that two of his stints as Production Manager for Ballet Philippines, namely, The Nutcracker and Romeo and Juliet, are now part of the From Inspiration to Illusion Exhibit at the Ayala Museum, which showcases Eduardo “Toto” Sicangco’s work as a scenographer, set designer and costume designer.
Dodo recounted how he would fight via the written word with the set designer, who was based abroad during the Romeo and Juliet production, about the over the budget designs that Eduardo Sicangco wanted for the Agnes Locsin choreography of the classic love story.
In particular, the gold leaf he required for the tree design (seen on utmost right in the picture below), was out of the question. Dodo Lim’s tirade of “Do you know how much gold leaf costs?!?” was only brought up short when Toto Sicangco wrote, “I’m going to bring it.”
Thus, Toto Sicangco covered the additional costs for his own set, plus, he was willing to get down and dirty to have it done. When he flew back to the Philippines for the show, Dodo Lim fondly remembered how the two of them continued to argue heatedly as they painted the Romeo and Juliet set with a friendly bottle of Scotch shared between them.
Toto’s sister, Cecile Sicangco, who danced the role of Juliet in the 1997 Ballet Philippines production, exclaimed, “I was painting my own crypt the night before the opening.” And, she, dressed in her specially designed Juliet costume, and Dodo, found themselves fifteen minutes before open house, on their knees, still applying the aforementioned gold leaf.
Dodo Lim also told the story of how he exasperatedly told a Romeo and Juliet set carpenter to cut off a protruding piece of wood, only to find out that that protruding piece of wood was totally essential, and whose measurements were so perfect that if one had followed the designs, would be approximately a centimeter from the edge of the stage.
“Genius ang putang ina!” Dodo Lim said with a hint of awe in his voice, and then recovered spiritedly, “He should come back to the Philippines and give back!”
We would like to agree wholeheartedly with the genius part (but maybe without the PI), Mr. Eduardo Sicangco.
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