Toff de Venecia makes Rep directorial debut with 'Carousel'

MANILA -- Repertory Philippines artistic director Liesl Batucan-del Rosario had only one director in mind when she picked “Carousel” to be part of Rep’s season.

“I chose Toff (de Vencia) and I handpicked him,” Del Rosario told ABS-CBN News. “My heart wanted it to be Toff for many reasons. Toff knows legacy, continuity and how to bring it forward.

“He is a galvanizer. In the pandemic, he galvanized the entire theater industry and helped to uplift the Philippine creative industry. He is galvanizing Rep’s ‘Carousel.’ Toff is brilliant and his brilliance is succeeded only by his brilliant art.”

De Venecia had to soul search when asked when was the first time he encountered the Rodgers and Hammerstein musical.

“It was the ‘Hey, Mr. Producer’ Cameron McKintosh concert where they performed the ballet that went straight into the porch scene and then into the ‘You’ll Never Walk Alone’ reprise, that ended the show,” he recalled.

“I remember from that memory of watching that show, wow, the dancing was amazing. The singing was amazing.

"Where we are now, here we are on our adjustments in terms of our views on violence and misogyny. That was clear to me that if we were going to stage the show again.”

De Venecia remembers the “Carousel” with Jessie Mueller and Joshua Henry brought by Gab Pangilinan and Gabby Teodoro.

“I felt the necessity to address all the bad minds in the text of the show,” De Venecia admitted. “Sure, it’s easy not to think about those things, given the music, orchestration and the choreography.

“This is actually the closest of an R&H work to an operetta. So the musical leans towards that and if you’ve seen previous staging of the show, there’s always the romanticism and grandiosity which crosses over all of these things that you cannot simply ignore at this point.

“As a director, that has always been my thing. I like to find the social justice component to any text, either a play or a musical, although I directed mostly musicals. That was like a way forward to the 2020 ‘Carousel’ that we were preparing for. There were all these devices that we were supposed to use for the staging.

“The version that you will see is radically different from the 2020 staging, which was also radically different, anyway.

“I guess I’m most excited about being able to comment on this classical Rodgers and Hammerstein, 20th century musical and sort of come from a 21st century, post-modern perspective.

“That’s very clear on the mindset. Everyone who’s working on the show will attest that it’s the ‘Carousel’ that we know, but then, it’s also the ‘Carousel’ that we don’t. Maybe that can present a vision for theater in terms of how it is to be created post-pandemic."

The 2020 staging was supposed to have an orchestra and a cast of 30-plus actors. “I never worked with a cast that was more than five [characters],” De Venecia admitted. “That was a new thing for us and personally, for me, as a creative.

“But when we continued the conversation for ‘Carousel’ throughout the pandemic, I was already keeping in mind the economics of theater, with my background as a producer also comes int play.

“The protocols of having too many people in the cast became a main concern. We started with four – Karylle as Julie Jordan, Gian Magdangal as Billy Bigelow, Lorenz Martinez as Enoch Snow and Mickey Bradshaw-Volante as Carrie Pipperidge.

“Then, the next four came in and they are absolutely necessary – Mia Bolaños will play Nettie Fowler and she sings ‘You’ll Never Walk Alone.’ Noel Rayos is Jigger Craigin, Roxy Aldosa is Mrs. Mullin and Louise will be played by Gia Gequinto, who is a Ballet Philippines company member.

“Then, I need SATB [soprano, alto, tenor, bass] to amplify those voices, so we arrived at 12. We have two swings, male and female, so we settled into a cast of 14. Working with those limitations, the economics of theater and the black box is what I’m excited about.”

De Venecia believes this “Carousel” is a new vision that Rep is presenting onstage. “Without the bells and whistles which we are excited to explore,” he maintained. “I always go back to Badong Bernal when he said, ‘The poverty of resources is not the poverty of the mind.’

“You can still very much tell the story without all those bells and whistles. We waited for two-and-a-half years. We don’t go back to that thing with business as usual. This is a musical that normally, you’ll see on the proscenium stage, with set pieces, costumes and choreography.

“We’re doing this on the black box still with all of those ingredients that create an alchemy of a romantic ‘Carousel.’ All of those bells and whistles gone. Basically, we are returning to the text and the space, infusing it with intention.

“Trusting that if we infuse something with intention and energy, something will happen. Every time we find ourselves guessing or second guessing ourselves – are we doing this right? Are we even going to get this?”

De Venecia always takes inspiration from choreographer Agnes de Mille, a collaborator of Rodgers and Hammerstein for “Carousel” and before that, “Oklahoma.”

“She [De Mille] said basically, ‘In theater, we don’t really know. We can only make guesses and we have to take lead after lead in the dark.

“I guess all of us are really 100 percent into this thing that we are exploring, which will hopefully take shape. You will appreciate what will come out on November 26 when ‘Carousel’ opens.”