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Theater productions cancelled, postponed, while some forge on amid coronavirus fears

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Totel V. de Jesus

<div class="embed-wrap"><figure data-feedback="fb:likes,fb:comments"><img src="http://sa.kapamilya.com/absnews/abscbnnews/media/2020/life/03/12/the-bands-visit.jpg"/><figcaption>A promotion photo of &#x27;The Band&#x27;s Visit,&#x27; which has now been cancelled. Photo from the Facebook page of Atlantis Theatrical</figcaption></figure></div>MANILA (UPDATED) -- Like disappointed music and sports fans, theater followers would now have to wait for a couple of days or months to see the recently cancelled and postponed productions due to the COVID-19 outbreak. As of posting, the Department of Health&#x27;s list of patients positive of the virus is nearing 50. The first Filipino patient has died on Wednesday. <div>ONGOING, OPENING</div>As of Thursday, March 12, only &quot;Matilda&quot; at The Theatre at Solaire is pushing through with shows until March 22.Repertory Philippines is also forging on with the opening of &quot;Anna and the Tropics&quot; on Friday.<div>CANCELLED</div>Theater fans woke up Thursday morning to the news that Atlantis Theatrical Entertainment Group is cancelling &quot;The Band&#x27;s Visit,&quot; which was originally set to open on Friday, and its June staging of &quot;Oliver.&quot;&quot;Para akong nakunan. Para bang &#x27;yung ayan na, o lalabas na, o tapos oops, hindi. Ang sakit pala (It&#x27;s like I had a miscarriage. It&#x27;s like [the baby is coming] out but it&#x27;s not. It&#x27;s painful),&quot; said Rody Vera, one of the lead actors in &quot;The Band&#x27;s Visit,&quot; which is his first production with Atlantis. In her official Facebook account, Lea Salonga also shared Atlantis&#x27; advisory with the comment: &quot;Heartbroken, but I totally understand. Ironic though that a musical that speaks of human connection has been cancelled due to the risks posed by human connection.&quot;&quot;But yes, greater crises than this have been overcome. And theater will live no matter what,&quot; she added. Also on Thursday, the Cultural Center of the Philippines (CCP) announced the cancellation of all its shows, exhibits, and public events for the month of March.These include the PPO Concert Series VII scheduled on March 13; Ballet Philippines&#x27; &quot;Rama Hari&quot; slated from March 20 to 29; CCP Arthouse Cinema film screenings on March 14, 26, and 28; &quot;Allegories and Realties: Ofelia Gelvezon-Tequi in Retrospect&quot; guided tours on March 12, 14, 26, and 28; and the crystal-making workshop with Samantha Feleo on March 21. CCP added that its galleries, library, and gift shop will also be closed to the public until further notice.For the ongoing &quot;Under My Skin&quot; at the PETA Theater Center, it was announced on Wednesday that it is cancelling its shows from March 12 to 15. It has remaining shows until March 22. <div>POSTPONED SHOWS</div>On March 10, &quot;Tabing-Ilog the Musical&quot; via its official social media accounts announced that it is rescheduling its shows for the weekend at the Dolphy Theater. On Tuesday, Black Box Productions announced the postponement of the last four remaining shows of &quot;Dekada &#x27;70,&quot; set on March 12 to 14. It added that the new schedules might be &quot;a week in September to October&quot; this year. On Wednesday, The Sandbox Collective and 9 Works Theatrical announced the postponement of &quot;Every Brilliant Thing,&quot; which opened on March 6, and the opening of &quot;Lungs&quot; this weekend. It added that sold tickets may be honored or transferred to other dates. Both shows are supposed to run until March 28. <div>UNIVERSITY-BASED PRODUCTIONS</div>As early as the government advisory on the cancellation of classes on all levels in Metro Manila until Saturday, March 14, university-based productions were automatically postponed.Based on the advisories issued by their respective communications team, all the ongoing plays at the University of the Philippines and Ateneo de Manila University have been postponed.Ateneo de Manila University&#x27;s resident theater group, &quot;Blue Repertory&quot; said &quot;Next To Normal&quot; will resume on March 19, Thursday. Earlier, it announced that it has sold-out shows until March 22. Ateneo Entablado&#x27;s &quot;Macli-ing: Rebisita&quot; cancelled all shows until March 18. It hasn&#x27;t issued yet a statement if it will push through with other playdates. It was supposed to run until March 21. Tanghalang Ateneo&#x27;s &quot;Top Girls&quot; postponed its opening date to March 19. It runs until April 4. For the ongoing &quot;Nana Rosa&quot; by the Dulaang Unibersidad ng Pilipinas - University of the Philippines Playwrights Theatre, it has cancelled its shows from March 12 to 15. It has yet to announce if its final weekend shows, March 20 to 22, will push through. Earlier this week, Teatro Tomasino of the University of Santo Tomas, announced it is cancelling all shows of &quot;Ang Pangahas na si Pepe Rodriguez,&quot; which was supposed to end its run on March 14. Dulaang ROC of the University of Asia and the Pacific earlier announced it has postponed the March 10 opening of &quot;Juan Tamban.&quot;

Like disappointed music and sports fans, theater followers would now have to wait for a couple of days or months to see the recently cancelled and postponed productions due to the COVID-19 outbreak.

Like disappointed music and sports fans, theater followers would now have to wait for a couple of days or months to see the recently cancelled and postponed productions due to the COVID-19 outbreak.