From Screen to Stage: The Making of Bar Boys: A New Musical
"Hope" was a word thrown around during a pre-show interview about the upcoming Bar Boys: A New Musical. It's all about "finding hope," co-director and playwright Pat Valera tells Esquire Philippines in an interview.
If the title sounds familiar, that's because it's the stage adaptation of the well-loved 2017 Pista ng Pelikulang Pilipino film by Kip F. Oebanda. It follows the life of four friends and their journey through law school and the bar exam while looking at the struggles and triumphs faced by these characters amid the realities of the legal system in the Philippines as well as pursuing a career in law in the country.
Bar Boys: A New Musical, a production by Barefoot Theatre Collaborative, runs from May 3 to 19 at Power Mac Center Spotlight Blackbox Theater in Circuit Makati.
Principal cast of Bar Boys: A New Musical (from L to R): Benedix Ramos as Erik, Jerom Canlas as Torran, Sheila Francisco as Justice Hernandez, Omar Uddin as Josh, and Alex Diaz as Chris
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Adapting Bar Boys from a Movie and Into a Musical
"When I was watching [the film], naantig ako kasi I'm a son of a lawyer. Not only a son of a lawyer, I'm a son of a bar topnotcher who's also a law professor," Valera mused about his personal connection to the world of law and justice. He felt the weight of familial expectations and the pursuit of justice from a young age.
The decision to transform Bar Boys into a musical came from Valera's realization that the story had the potential to transcend the confines of the screen and come to life on stage. "Why not a musical?" he mused. After all, he's adept in adapting one art form into another, having translated Lualhati Bautista's novel Dekada '70 into a musical and Edmond Rostand's Cyrano de Bergerac into a Filipino musical Mula sa Buwan.
"I think my strength in playwriting is that I enjoy existing frameworks, narratives, and stories, and interrogating and seeing how not it can be better, but how it can be best seen today. Especially with theater, which is moment-, time-bound, present-bound, di ba? Na-excite ako kung paano siya magiging powerful today. I like adaptations because, most of the time, there's existing material to play and learn with. Geek ako sa narrative structures, sa mga perspectives and all of that stuff, mapping and unlocking all those things."
He personally sought out Oebanda and messaged him on Facebook, "Hey, I wanna do your film as a musical," and they met in 2019 about the project. It's tempting to say, "and the rest was history," but it was not. The pandemic and then the elections happened.
"And after the elections, do'n ko nilapitan si Kip dahil alam ko na kung bakit kailangan magkaroon ng Bar Boys as a musical." He finally wrote the pages in 2023.
It was a very exciting project for him because he also got permission from Oebanda for full creative liberty in adaptation. This was both a blessing and a curse.
"I think the challenge is what you want to say and how you say it now because it's delicate, particularly for the audience that you want to talk to. So, whenever I write something, I know that I have a person that I write for."
Valera had GenZs and millennials in mind while writing the book and lyrics for Bar Boys: A New Musical, particularly people who have gone through the elections and are weighed down by all the baggage of "living in the world now."
With spoiling much, Valera teased that Bar Boys: A New Musical has a total of 20 songs, which he worked on with musical director Myke Salomon. Some characters in the film were compounded into another, other traits were added or switched. Valera's creative process for this project involved two huge notebooks of character sketches and mind-mapping.
Oebanda found the result a production that stands on its own, offering new insighs and perspectives while paying homage to the original film.
Finding Hope in Bar Boys
When asked what was his why, Valera told us that Bar Boys: A New Musical was all about "finding hope." Battered from the results of the 2022 national elections as well as the pandemic that practically paralyzed the theater industry, artists like him did what they thought was best: find hope in their art.
"After ng elections, may mga nag-gather na artists. Sabi, we failed as storytellers because the other camp, the people who won the elections, were able to utilize it very well and quite efficiently to win the entire campaign. Win the hearts of the people and thus, therefore, the hearts and minds and truths of the people; and thus, therefore, the campaign. Tapos pag tiningnan mo 'yung kwartong 'yun, ang gagaling natin pero lahat tayo, losers. Pero may nagsabi noon, si Marlon Rivera, sabi niya na parang, sana matuto ulit tayo kung paano maging sutil na mga tao," he said.
Valera understood this kind of "sutil" that Rivera was talking about. It's a word negatively translated as "cunning," "shrewd," or "adept at being manipulative." But it's also about being curious and resourceful in achieving something positive.
"Ako kasi, bungis-bungis akong sutil. Yung [tanong nang tanong kung bakit]. Nakakairita pero persistent at insistent. Na-realize ko na gusto nating maging sutil yung mga tao, lalong-lalo na 'yung mga bata who really moved the elections, ay hopeless, hopeless still."
With that, he found Bar Boys to be "a perfect vehicle to showcase how we can move and really believe that things will be better."
Law school, he added, is a perfect metaphor for this challenge of doing what's right while confronted with all the ironies and distortions in the justice system of the Philippines.
For the cast members, reading and rehearsing for Bar Boys: A New Musical was a wake-up call about the political reality we're living in, but also a reminder of what we can do to change that.
"I think a lot of us were very active during the campaign season. And I think no matter what side or no matter what politicians you support, it's not the law that's the problem. It's the implementers of the law. It's the fact that it's hard for us to put our complete and unwavering faith in these public servants. As people who are paying them, they're our servants, but we can't trust them. It's like having an employee, but they're stealing your money. So I think this piece, this musical, is a love letter to every Filipino that has felt the same struggle with the law system," said Alex Diaz, who plays Chris Carlson.
"Naniniwala ako na ang hustisya nanggagaling sa tao, sa masang Pilipino. Ang hirap pagkatiwalaan ng public officials e, kasi alam nating skewed 'yung system. Pero nitong nakaraang national elections, nagkaroon ng hope na 'Ah, ito 'yung na-envision nating society together.' It was full of hope. In this musical, researching about law school, researching about the terms, the codals, the preamble, and all that, it sets you in that mode. Iba 'yung linggwahe ng pagiging lawyer. Kaya may mga butas sa batas kasi pag may na-miss ka lang na word, sentence, or period, mahirap na maipaglaban kasi it will be taken against you. Dito ko 'yun nare-realize sa proseso ng musical," added Jerom Canlas (Torran, played by Rocco Nacino in the film).
"You can't have justice without evidence. Dahil yung mga napapansin ko lang sa, kahit alam mong inosente yung tao, pero pag nagawa silang evidence dun sa kabila na guilty yung alam mong inosente, yung inosente yung makukulong. Because they didn't have enough evidence to protect themselves," echoed Omar Uddin (Joshua Zuniga, played by Kean Cipriano in the film).
Hope was also the North Star for Benedix Ramos, who plays the role of Erik Vicencio (played by Carlo Aquino in the movie). When asked what the audience should be most excited about, he said: "Maybe the hope na panghahawakan nila at the end of watching the show, maybe there's hope, maybe there's none."
He further explained that there's hope to be found if we trust the process. "Kung paano natin ipinaglalaban 'yun hanggang ngayon, na hindi pa natatapos kung ano man 'yung sinimulan natin at hindi pa tapos 'yung ipinaglalaban natin. Kasi nandun pa tayo sa proseso. Magkakasama lahat ng mga Pilipinong may puso na para lumaban."
Bar Boys: A New Musical runs for three weekends from May 3 to 19 at Power Mac Center Spotlight Blackbox Theater, Circuit Makati, Makati City. Ticket prices range from P2,200 to P3,000, and are available on Ticket2Me.
