Ang Huling El Bimbo

Summary

The story begins with three adult men who each receives a phone call from the
police regarding the death of the woman named, Joy Manawari. These three men
where once a friend of Joy, they eventually came to the police station for further
questions. Scared of having a scandal on their names, they kept saying that they are
not talking to Joy anymore, but the police said that the investigation leads them to
knowledge that they were the last people whom Joy contacted. In the flashback of the
story, there were three young men, who met in college. They are having the best of their
college lives, and then they met Joy, introduced by their Prof. Banlao, who added more
adventures in their lives. Joy was a pretty young woman, they eventually became
friends together. Anthony tells Joy how his father beats him up because of his sexuality,
Emman reached out her girlfriend in Canada with Joy’s help and Hector confessed his
attraction to Joy and started dating. They took a trip to Antipolo together, but that’s
when a heinous thing happened, Joy was raped and they were robbed, instead of going
to a police station, they did nothing. Years go by, they lost contact to each other, Banlao
made Joy her drug mule, until she started refusing Banlao of selling drugs because of
her daughter, Ligaya. But Banlao threatens to kill her, where weeks after, Joy was
murdered. The three shouldered everything, they knew from her Aunt Dely that Joy did
not blame them for what happened to her. They promised to take care of Ligaya, whom
they took to a trip in the end of the story.

The Directors and Actors

Ang Huling El Bimbo was a jukebox musical written by Dingdong Noverio, it was
directed and choreographed by Dexter Santos together with Myke Solomon as it’s
musical director and Michael William as it’s Artistic Director, the set design is by Gino
Gonzales, with lighting by Monino Duque. “Ang Huling El Bimbo” was premiered on July
20, 2018 at the Newport Performing Arts Theatre in Pasay and the second production
was made in 2019 featuring new cast, and ran from March 1 to April 6, and again from
July 5 to August 18. A recorded 2019 performance was streamed for free online on the
official YouTube channel and Facebook page of ABS-CBN from May 8 to 9, 2020. It
was also streamed on TFC Online in September 2020, and on digital platform KTX.PH
from November 28 to 29, 2020.

The main casts of the play are Gab Pangilinan and Menchu Lauchengco-Yulo
who played as young and adult Joy Manawari, a very pretty woman who was friend with
three men who she treated as brothers, and was loved by her Aunt Dely and her
daughter Ligaya. Next is OJ Mariano who played as Emman Azarcon, he was from
Batangas, a government employee and a close friend of Joy, Anthony and Hector. And
then Jon Santos who played as Anthony, a closeted son of a military father, he was a
Business Management major, he was also afraid of showing his true sexuality because
his father beats him up for it. Next is Gian Magdangal who played as Hector, a mass
communication major who dreamt of becoming Director, he had a romantic relationship
with Joy. Shiela Francisco as Tiya Dely, the owner of Toyang’s and Joy’s aunty, she
loved Joy like her own child. Jamie Wilson as Arturo Banlaoi, he was a college
professor and Commandant of the university's Citizenship Military Training who
becomes a councilor after 20 years.

The type of stage used in the musical play was The Proscenium stage or Frame
stage.

Review

I generally loved the plot of Ang Huling El Bimbo as it tells two sides of the story.
It also talked about a lot of social issues like drugs, LGBT+, and poverty, and rape,
these depicts the reality of our lives. The story showed how the friendship of Joy with
three young men fell apart because of a personal tragedy. Still, because it was inspired
by the music of the Eraserheads, I was already singing along from the first scene and
found myself reminiscing about my favorite alternative rock music in high school. The
way the musical established the parallels between the present and the past versions of
the characters was also well executed, although I must admit that there were moments
that the Eraserheads’ songs did not quite suit the theatrical approach. The faster songs
were fun but there were others that seemed awkward because the singing style for the
stage is far different from the vibe that Ely, Raymund, Buddy and Marcus intended.
 There were great moments on campus that alums of UP would definitely relate
to. The actors who played the young and adult version of Eman, Hector and Anthony
also deserve a lot of credit for the consistency in their portrayals. Sadly, this was not the
case for the character of Joy, who was supposed to be the star of the show. While my
heart broke for the character, I was far too distracted by the glaring difference in the
portrayals of Gab Pangilinan and Menchu Lauchengco-Yulo to fully appreciate the
character.