Theater Review
Manila Theater Reviews
Reviews by Saul de Jesus of plays, musicals, staged readings, and dance-theater in Manila and across the Philippines.
Recent Theater Reviews
Start with Last Dance: Hubo’t Hubad at Halxyon in Poblacion, followed by UST’s South Pacific and earlier reviews of musicals, Filipino plays, and staged readings.
Saul watched the September 28 press preview at Halxyon Club. The review follows the dancers’ backstage lives, the ensemble, and the intimacy of staging the play inside a working nightclub.
South Pacific Manila Review: Vividly of Its Time
Ciara Sotto, Jose Vera Perez, Nenen Espina, and the UST Symphony Orchestra lead Saul's account of the production, watched from K26 at Proscenium Theater.
People, Places and Things: Seeing the Human First
The Sandbox Collective's staged reading trusts restraint, silence, and the audience. Bela Padilla moves naturally from screen to stage, while the review keeps the person ahead of the diagnosis.
Charlie and the Chocolate Factory Manila Review
The factory is lavish, but the review stays with the people inside it: Karylle’s emotional clarity, Oliver Wong’s active goodness, and Michael Dalke’s charm edged with menace.
On Your Feet! Review: Kayla Rivera Outshines Costumes
The production takes time to find its pulse. Once Kayla Rivera gives Gloria Estefan a center worth following, the musical finally becomes more than color and movement.
Ang Babae sa Septic Tank 4 Review
PETA turns Philippine theater’s self-image into both the joke and the wound, with satire sharp enough to implicate the room watching it.
Double Take Review: Reverse Card and AL.TER
Two queer stories are allowed to echo without being reduced to spectacle, sentiment, or an easy lesson.
YEMAYA Review: 9 Works Theatrical
An intimate Filipino staging about water, memory, translation, and the audience’s responsibility inside the room.
REP’s Man of La Mancha Review
Nonie Buencamino leads a revival that treats the impossible dream as something more difficult, and more necessary, than optimism.
University Theater Coverage
The university coverage below includes Filipino adaptations and productions by campus companies.
The University Theater Manila hub maps Ateneo ENTABLADO, Tanghalang Ateneo, FEU Theater Guild, UP Manila Dramatista, campus venues, student-led productions, and university-based performance.
The linked production guides cover Ateneo ENTABLADO and Tanghalang Ateneo.
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University Theater Manila: Campus Productions, Reviews, and Stage Coverage
The Unsaulicited hub for university theater in Manila, including Ateneo ENTABLADO, Tanghalang Ateneo, FEU Theater Guild, UP Manila Dramatista, campus productions, and student-led theater.
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Santa Juana ng mga Katayan by Ateneo ENTABLADO
A feature on Ateneo ENTABLADO's Filipino staging of Brecht's Saint Joan of the Stockyards.
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Emilia by Tanghalang Ateneo
A campus stage feature on authorship, women's voices, historical erasure, feminist theater, and Tanghalang Ateneo performance.
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FEU Theater Guild Archive
A university theater archive path for FEU Theater Guild coverage, Bangaw context, campus ensemble work, adaptation, student performance, and institutional theater memory.
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UP Manila Dramatista Archive
Archive path for campus theater coverage connected to UP Manila Dramatista, student activism, Filipino musical theater, and university-based historical memory.
Musical Theater Reviews
These reviews focus on musicals and music-driven productions where score, staging, performance, and audience response shape the experience as much as plot.
The recent reviews above include South Pacific, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, and On Your Feet!. Earlier musical reviews follow below.
Use Delia D., ENDO, and university-linked archive pieces such as Lean to trace how Filipino-made or locally reframed productions place identity, labor, performance, politics, and popular culture in conversation.
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REP's Man of La Mancha Review
A 2026 Repertory Philippines review centered on Nonie Buencamino, Nelsito Gomez, REP Eastwood Theater, and the force of a classic musical revival.
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Jesus Christ Superstar Review in Manila
A GMG Productions review at The Theatre at Solaire, useful for staging, movement, rock musical form, and large-scale touring musical theater.
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Dear Evan Hansen Gala Night in Manila
A review of GMG Productions' Dear Evan Hansen at The Theatre at Solaire.
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Theatre Group Asia's A Chorus Line 50th Anniversary
A musical theater review focused on discipline, ensemble identity, lighting, and performance as labor.
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Delia D. is a Dazzling, Unapologetic Spectacle
A Filipino musical theater review rooted in OPM, drag performance, identity, and theatrical self-possession.
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ENDO Review 2026 at PETA Theater Center
A rhythm-driven stage review that sits near musical theater conversations because of its use of movement, sound, and symbolic repetition.
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Lean: A Filipino Musical to be Staged by UP Manila Dramatista
Archive preview for UP Manila Dramatista, student activism, Filipino musical theater, and campus-based historical memory.
Production Companies and Venues
GMG Productions sits in the review archive through large-scale commercial musical theater, especially shows staged at The Theatre at Solaire. These links connect Unsaulicited's criticism to major touring titles, accessibility stories, and the way global musical theater lands with Manila audiences.
The July 2026 Charlie and the Chocolate Factory review is the newest Solaire review linked here. Jesus Christ Superstar and Dear Evan Hansen extend the archive through earlier GMG productions.
Continue to the GMG Productions hub for show guides, Solaire coverage, accessibility features, and future Manila musical theater titles.
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GMG Productions Manila: Musicals, Reviews, Shows, and Theater Coverage
The Unsaulicited hub for GMG Productions coverage, The Theatre at Solaire productions, major commercial musicals, reviews, accessibility stories, and show guides.
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Jesus Christ Superstar Review: A Stage That Breathes, Pulses, and Refuses to Stay in the Past
A May 2026 GMG review at The Theatre at Solaire, retained for its account of rock musical staging and Manila audience experience.
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Unsaulicited Review: Dear Evan Hansen Gala Night in Manila
An earlier GMG review centered on audience anticipation, staging, and emotional recognition at The Theatre at Solaire.
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Dear Evan Hansen Manila Opens Its Arms Wider
A companion feature on Filipino Sign Language interpretation, access, and the wider meaning of inclusion in Manila musical theater.
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Karylle as Mrs. Bucket in Charlie and the Chocolate Factory Manila 2026
An archive casting feature for Charlie’s July 2026 Manila run, useful beside the published review.
9 Works Theatrical connects this review hub to another major part of Manila's theater map: Rockwell Makati, Proscenium Theater, intimate black box work, commercial musicals, and productions that sit between spectacle and close-range stage craft.
Start with the July On Your Feet! review, then read YEMAYA for 9 Works Theatrical’s intimate straight-play staging. The company hub continues through earlier productions and Proscenium Theater coverage.
Read YEMAYA beside Tales of the Manuvu to connect Proscenium Theater, Rockwell stage coverage, Filipino performance, and the venue's growing place in Manila criticism.
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YEMAYA Review: 9 Works Theatrical Trusts Us to Wade Into Its Waters
A June 2026 9 Works Theatrical review of a straight play at The Black Box, focused on Filipino translation, water, memory, and intimate staging.
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9 Works Theatrical Manila: Musicals, Proscenium Theater, Reviews, and Stage Coverage
The Unsaulicited hub for 9 Works Theatrical, Manila musicals, Proscenium Theater, Rockwell Makati, The Bodyguard, RENT, tick, tick BOOM!, YEMAYA, and related stage coverage.
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9 Works Theatrical Archive
The automatic Blogger archive for current and future 9 Works Theatrical-tagged posts on Unsaulicited.
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Tales of the Manuvu Review 2026 at Proscenium Theater Makati
A Proscenium Theater review of Filipino performing arts, Rockwell Makati, dance-theater, mythology, and venue context.
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Proscenium Theater Archive
Related venue coverage for Proscenium Theater, Rockwell Makati, concerts, dance-theater, stage productions, and live performance.
Stage Plays, Political Theater, and Filipino Works
This selection covers Filipino plays, adaptations, and political theater, with reviews and supporting features clearly identified.
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Ang Babae sa Septic Tank 4 Review
A PETA Theater Center review for Philippine theater satire, self-examination, Quezon City stage work, and the uncomfortable joke inside the room.
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Double Take Review: Reverse Card and AL.TER
A queer twin-bill review for Makati theater, grief, trauma, survival, and the danger of turning pain into easy spectacle.
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ENDO Review 2026: Stage Retelling at PETA Theater Center
An April 2026 review for labor-centered Philippine theater and contemporary stage adaptation.
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University Theater Manila
The campus theater hub for university productions, student-led staging, campus performance spaces, and organizations such as Ateneo ENTABLADO, Tanghalang Ateneo, FEU Theater Guild, and UP Manila Dramatista.
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Santa Juana ng mga Katayan by Ateneo ENTABLADO
A political theater and university stage link for Brecht, capitalism, labor, resistance, and Filipino translation.
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Emilia by Tanghalang Ateneo
A feminist campus theater link for authorship, erasure, women's voices, and historical reimagination.
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Do Not Miss Your Chance to Sing, Remember, and Resist
A review and reflection on The Kundiman Party, useful for Dulaang UP, political theater, kundiman, and resistance-centered Filipino stage work.
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REVIEW: Tag-Ani, Love in One's Twilight Years
Archive review link for intimate Filipino theater, language, aging, love, and Artist Playground.
From the Theater Archive
Older reviews and production stories from Unsaulicited. The linked articles retain their original publication dates.
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REVIEW: Silent Sky teaches love is space and time measured by our hearts
A theater review from 2019 that connects science, love, performance, and RCBC Plaza stage coverage.
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The Kundiman Party: Do Not Miss Your Chance to Sing, Remember, and Resist
A politically charged archive piece for Filipino stage writing, Dulaang UP, and music as memory.
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Tag-Ani, Love in One's Twilight Years
Saul's review of Artist Playground's Tag-Ani.
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Lean: A Filipino Musical to be Staged by UP Manila Dramatista
Archive preview connected to UP Manila Dramatista, student activism, Filipino musical theater, and historical memory.