Daven Tamayo

‘Delia D’ review: Dreams, dilemmas of a Pinoy drag diva

Article (news)

Fred Hawson

<div><img src="https://od2-image-api.abs-cbn.com/prod/editorImage/17461673814931746167385238.jpeg" style="width:960px" class="fr-fic fr-dib" alt="Phi Palmos in &#x27;Delia D.&#x27; Handout"/>Phi Palmos in &#x27;Delia D.&#x27; Handout </div>Delia (Phi Palmos) was a drag queen who performed at the Drag &amp; Tell nightclub run by Mama Eme (John Lapus). However, instead of the required lipsyncing, Delia wanted to sing her songs live. It was the big dream of her dear mother Anet (Joann Yap Co) back in Ozamis that she should succeed as a singer. So she joined the Idol of the Galaxy singing contest of the JBC station. Delia&#x27;s favorite singer Mamon (Tex Ordonez-de Leon) was one of the judges.Because of her popularity with the TV audiences, the flamboyant Delia (now with a mysterious D as her surname) managed to make it to the semifinal round, together with her shy new BFF Kiki (Shaira Opsimar), his handsome crush Raymond (Omar Uddin), and bitchy mean girl Phoebe (Chaye Mogg). Station manager Sir T (Floyd Tena) seemed very sure that Delia D will win, but Kiki was gaining more confidence in her flawless belting and was catching up fast. This is the latest original Filipino jukebox musical theater show after those featuring Aegis (&quot;Rak of Aegis&quot;), the Eraserheads (&quot;Ang Huling El Bimbo&quot;), Ben&amp;Ben (&quot;One More Chance&quot;), Parokya ni Edgar (&quot;Buruguduy...&quot;), and Rico Blanco (&quot;Liwanag sa Dilim&quot;). The songs of &quot;Delia D.&quot; are derived from the songs written by composer Jonathan Manalo, whose breakthrough as a songwriter came in 2003 when his song &quot;Tara Tena&quot; won an ABS-CBN songwriting contest.  If you are not familiar with Manalo&#x27;s name (probably Gen X like me) and which songs he wrote, you may not know which songs will be included in the show, even if they were very popular. Of course, Manalo&#x27;s ultimate torch &quot;Gusto Ko Nang Bumitaw&quot; was the most ubiquitous song of the show. It was the first song we hear in the show, then it was sung a couple more times, once as a rousing duet, and the other, a painful solo. Aside from &quot;Bumitaw,&quot; Manalo had other melodramatic ballads like &quot;Patuloy ang Pangarap&quot; and &quot;Pangarap Kong Pangarap Mo.&quot; Manalo also wrote youthful pop like &quot;Tara Tena&quot; and &quot;Pinoy Ako,&quot; dance bangers like &quot;Unleash the Diva&quot; and &quot;Let It Loose,&quot; or novelty hits, notably &quot;Boom Panes&quot; and &quot;Rampa.&quot; Manalo&#x27;s versatility to write such a broad range of musical genres made his discography a rich and eclectic collection. On the other hand, some may find show&#x27;s overall tone rather unfocused, yet undeniably entertaining.Compared to previous jukebox musicals where the songs had to be integrated in the story, the storyline of &quot;Delia D.&quot; made it easier for musical director Vince Lim to stuff in a lot of random Manalo&#x27;s songs as contest pieces of various contestants. Delia D.&#x27;s manager thought she was only good for novelty songs, so songs with silly comical topics like &quot;Pancit Habhab&quot; could make it into the show.<div><img src="https://od2-image-api.abs-cbn.com/prod/editorImage/17461674186751746167425982.jpeg" style="width:960px" class="fr-fic fr-dib" alt="Phi Palmos in &#x27;Delia D.&#x27; Handout"/>Phi Palmos in &#x27;Delia D.&#x27; Handout </div>After a series of award-winning featured roles, Phi Palmos finally broke out as a lead star here. His Delia D. was delightful, endearing, and someone you&#x27;d want to root for to get back on track. He went for every song 100%, even if was beyond Delia D&#x27;s range.  As Kiki, Shaira Opsimar was given all the big belting songs and she knocked them out of the park each time. She is such a vocal powerhouse, I&#x27;ve never noticed how petite she was in stature till now.Floyd Tena&#x27;s stage career is on a roll these days as he gets bigger and more varied featured roles. His Sir T was a two-faced anti-hero one here. Ever since she wowed me in &quot;Lam-Ang&quot; (2019), whenever I see Tex Ordonez-de Leon name in a show, I look forward to her songs. In this show, she sang with Opsimar in what is for me the most impressive duet number &quot;Pagbigyang Muli&quot; with de Leon even taking the higher harmony part. After making his mark in smaller roles in &quot;Bar Boys&quot; and &quot;Next to Normal,&quot; Omar Uddin gets to step further out more into the spotlight as Delia D&#x27;s love interest with love duets like &quot;Puede Ba?&quot; and &quot; Easy Boy Easy Girl.&quot; <div><img src="https://od2-image-api.abs-cbn.com/prod/editorImage/17461674454751746167450542.jpeg" style="width:960px" class="fr-fic fr-dib" alt="John Lapus in &#x27;Delia D.&#x27; Handout"/>John Lapus in &#x27;Delia D.&#x27; Handout</div>John Lapus&#x27; rough voice sounded like it was on the brink of hoarseness, but he was still giving his hilarious all as Mama Eme. Mimi Marquez was GVB, the elegantly dressed CEO of JBC, whose singing vocals were also just elegant. Miah Canton has really gone a long way from her innocent ingenue stage debut, here playing Tonee, a high-energy show host with a knack for intrigue. Too bad the run of Alfritz Blanche&#x27;s character Billy gets cut short, we do not hear him sing more, especially with Natasha Cabrera playing his girlfriend Sheryn. Joann Yap Co can really wring the tears out of yet another mother role here, while Joshua Cabiladas played Delia&#x27;s older brother Jose. I do not follow the local drag scene, but I have to say that Delia D&#x27;s drag sisters at Drag and Tell were truly impressive queens. Franco Reyes stood out with her yellow wig and beer belly proudly hanging out. Bomba Ding was fierce with her red wig and beard. Having heard him sing in the &quot;Zsazsa Zaturnnah&quot; musical before, I thought Almond Bolante would be singing a lot more. He just had one brief yet spectacular belting run, that elicited spontaneous applause. <div><img src="https://od2-image-api.abs-cbn.com/prod/editorImage/17461674912341746167497948.jpeg" style="width:960px" class="fr-fic fr-dib" alt="A scene from &#x27;Delia D.&#x27; Handout"/>A scene from &#x27;Delia D.&#x27; Handout</div>Kudos to director Dexter M. Santos, with Menchu Lauchengco-Yulo and Michael Williams assisting. Book was by Dolly Dulu with Vince Lim as musical director. Budget seemed to be no issue for scenic designer Lawyn Cruz, video designer GA Fallarme and lighting director John Batalla for those fabulous sets they collaborated on. As this was practically full-length drag show, choreographer Stephen Viñas, costume designer Mitoy Sta. Ana and makeup and hair designer Marlon Rivera maxed on the groove, color and glitter.<div>Newport World Resorts and Full House Theater Company&#x27;s production of &quot;DELIA D.&quot; runs from April 25 to June 8, 2025. You can buy tickets from TicketWorld and the Newport World Resorts Box Office: P3,500 (SVIP), P3,000 (VIP), P2,500 (GOLD), P1,800 (SILVER), and P1,000 (BRONZE).</div>This review was originally published in the author&#x27;s blog, “<a href="https://3xhcch.blogspot.com/2025/04/full-house-review-of-delia-d-dilemma-of.html">Fred Said</a>.”

The songs of 'Delia D.' are derived from the songs written by composer Jonathan Manalo, whose breakthrough as a songwriter came in 2003 when his song 'Tara Tena' won a songwriting contest.

The songs of 'Delia D.' are derived from the songs written by composer Jonathan Manalo, whose breakthrough as a songwriter came in 2003 when his song 'Tara Tena' won a songwriting contest.