Avenue Q at RCBC Theater: March 13-27, 2010

I saw the Philippine run of Avenue Q this afternoon at the RCBC Theater and it was awesome!

To be honest, I did not know much about Avenue Q except that it was famous for the song, "The Internet is For...", that it was a cross between Sesame Street and Rent (which got me curious) and that it was a big hit on Broadway.

When I heard it was going to have another run, I wanted to watch. Unfortunately, there were financial constraints. But God was good and blessed me with Pia and an extra ticket. So we watched this afternoon.

First song and I was already feeling good and enjoying myself. More so when the cast starts singing "It sucks to be me" (which is still playing in my head as I write this). It was just one great song after another. What's more, the actors were amazing! Aiza Seguerra was just perfect as Gary Coleman! She got his inflections down pat. What made it funnier was the fact that both were child stars who at some point lost popularity. Except Aiza bounced back. :P

Rachel Alejandro played Kate Monster and Lucy the Slut. Felix Rivera played Princeton and Rod. Joel Trinidad played just about everybody. Haha! He played Trekkie the Monster (I don't think it's easy to sing like a monster), Nicky and Bad Idea Bear. They were great at transitioning different characters without getting confused. Sometimes in one scene, they would play the two puppets. Ang galeng! Even Thea Tadiar did a great job playing the other puppets. Calvin Millado and Frenchie Dy round up the cast as Bryan and Christmas Eve.

Basta! It was just so fun watching them. Avenue Q is a great musical which reflects what people of in their quarter (and post-quarter) life crises are going through. When Bryan was singing it sucked to be him because he was turning 33 and unemployed, I felt a bit of ouch there. Haha!

If you like hiding angst in song, watch Avenue Q! You can email avenueqmanila2010@yahoo.com or contact them at 09398648143 and 09325642810 for tickets. You may also check their facebook page or buy tickets on ticketworld.

1st Pyromusical Olympics at the Mall of Asia

In 2006, my friends and I went to the MOA PyroOlympics to witness eight countries compete against each other for the best fireworks display. Entrance was for P100 for General Admission and P500 for VIP. It was an awesome treat seeing so many beautiful fireworks in one night. The attendance was so successful that getting out of MOA took more than an hour with the terrible traffic going home!

SM Mall of Asia may have learned their lesson not just on the logistics but for profit as well. Instead of having all the fireworks show in one night, they decided to show it for four consecutive Sundays starting February 14. They also set-up more sections this year for different price ranges. They added "musical" instead of just PyroOlympics so it can be called "first," when in fact they have been doing it for several years already.

General Admission - P100

Silver - P150

Gold - P300

Patron - P500

VIP (with dinner) - P1,500

For those who want to be more practical, there is a Close-Up toothpaste promo that can be availed. 5 50ml boxes, 3 100ml boxes or 2 150ml boxes can be exchanged for a ticket. I'm not quite sure whether it would be a Gold, Silver or general admission ticket. We would have availed of that though because we were running out of toothpaste but we did not have time to pass by the grocery anymore.

We proceeded to get our tickets. There was a promo for the silver section of Buy 2 Take 1 while the gold section had a promo of Buy 1 Take 1. The silver promo was perfect since there were three of us cheapskates wanting to see the show.

Afterwards, we made our way to the viewing area. We thought we missed the first fireworks display because the promotions said the exhibition will be at 7 and 8PM. It was 7:05 when we got to the silver section. Apparently, they were late. The first show began at 8PM. It was Malaysia and Singapore for that night.

It's really terrible to have such an opportunity to take fireworks photos but I did not have a tripod. I was just shooting blind using my head as tripod and just clicking away. I did get a few interesting shots, but not as great as it could have been if I had a tripod. So pardon the photos.

There is really something about fireworks that awe people. For each of the shows, a collective oohs and aahs from the crowd would accompany the music. Whenever there is a new kind of firework -- ooooooh! Whenever the entire sky is covered with fireworks -- aaaaaaaahh! It was nice just to be in a collective moment of young-heartedness. :P

First up was Malaysia, I think. We couldn't hear the entire music but I did catch a bit. Fireworks to Celine Dion's "It's all coming back to me now" just does not cut it. But "It's Raining Men" actually works. I didn't know which classical piece was played but it reminded me of "Fantasia" which was perfect for fireworks.

heart shaped explosions from Malaysia

Half-butterflies? Ribbons? Whatever these were, they looked pretty.

When it comes to fireworks, I am really easy to please. I enjoyed the show a lot. The fireworks were grand and beautiful and impressive. People seemed to have a lot of fun with the experience and so did we.

This coming Sunday would be the last day for the fireworks display showcasing Philippines and Australia. For those who have not yet gone and are thinking of going, do! It was the Philippines fireworks that I was most impressed with in 2006 so maybe we can repeat the feat again. :)