“I am just a simple girl/If you want to know the truth/I’m even dumb/I’m not as smart/As anyone of you/If you’re asking for a miracle/I/I’m not the one that you should call on to/I’m just a simple messenger/A bearer of her words…”
These are the humble words of St. Bernadette Sobirous – the girl from Lourdes, France who claimed to have seen “a lady so beautiful, wearing a blue girdle, with golden roses underneath her feet” on February 11, 1858. But it is the “gifted musician and lyricist” in Jude Thaddeus Gitamondoc that makes over 10 songs in the “Song of Bernadette” musical sound contemporary; thus, appealing even to very young audiences.
On being commissioned to put words and music for the “Song of Bernadette: A Musical of Our Lady of Lourdes Story” for the 150th anniversary of the Apparition which occurred 18 times at the grotto in Massabielle near the Gave River, Gitamondoc said, “we need songs to highlight the major parts of the musical. It’s a story of transformation of a girl who admitted she is weak and simple-minded to becoming one with strength after the apparitions. We need to research on what kind of music that fits the musical – the era, the time.”
“It’s a Miracle” which is song number 10 used for the play’s first scene of Act Two is in itself a tapestry of testimonies. First, that of a crippled man who after drinking from the spring, which flowed from a muddy portion of the grotto that Bernadette had dug out, cried out loud: “I never thought in Massabielle/There’d be such a mighty sight/Look at all the thousands gathered here/To catch a glimpse of light/Never thought that I’d be standing here/When I have been a cripple all my life.”
Another, a deaf man, rejoiced in such life-changing experience, “Heaven must be here on earth/And angels touch the ground/For in this God-forsaken place/His miracles abound/Coz I used to be a deaf and mute/Until today when I heard a glorious sound/And I join the chorus now.”
And a man named Bouriet, after washing his face from the spring, looked up to high heavens and uttered exultantly, “I know it’s quite impossible/But it cannot be denied/If you listen to my story now/And I’ll let you decide/Coz I’ve been a blind man all my life/Till yesterday when I saw the light of day.”
Characters of a story that’s 150 years old are able to speak (and sing!) the language of our times through the ultra-gifted Gitamondoc who swept this year’s Cebu Pop Music Festival earning the two plum prizes. “Song of Bernadette” is his sixth musical in the seven years of exposure in theater production. Of the six, only one was not a Salesian work. “I really grew up with Salesians. I love the work of Don Bosco. I am proud to be a Bosconian,” Gitamondoc said.
He is also marking ground in the national music scene with songs wending their way into the albums of Gary Valenciano, Toni Gonzaga, Piolo Pascual , Chad Peralta, Luke Mejares, KC Concepcion and Raki Vega.
As for “Song of Bernadette”, he explained that “when schooled musicians do music, they have rules to follow; a lot of analysis goes into their music. Our main aim is to deliver the story of apparition through a music that is easy to listen to. It’s a very tricky balance in the songs.”
“We went for classic nga naa’y recall. Dili kaayo siya intellectual, not too scholastic, but songs with mass appeal. The musical is a way of evangelizing; now if you put in music that is not accessible, people might be lost on what the music is, and in analyzing it. We put a balance on the music nga masabtan, but with class, with finesse,” he added.
Also, Gitamondoc pointed out that “Song of Bernadette” is not pure entertainment; that there is a lot more to discuss or learn. Bernadette from a shy, simple girl rose to greatness because of her faith, simplicity and honesty. The apparitions had a lot of miracles but actually, Bernadette was the first miracle of the Blessed Virgin, he said.
Further, Gitamondoc said that the musical serves to remind us that God appears in the most unlikely places. “It does not mean nga kung pari na ka, ikaw ra’y pinangga sa Ginoo; nga kung beggar ka, wala ka’y bili.”
“Song of Bernadette” does not promise to change everything. But it can be a start of something – the message we should plant like seeds in each one of us. Through music, evangelizing, catechizing, and venerating the Blessed Virgin Mary touches base.
Other songs written by Gitamondoc for the play are Life is Hell in Massabielle, What Good Can Come From Out of Me?, Please Be Kind to Her, What Do You See in Her?, The Lady’s Promise, God Takes Care of Me, among others.
The mounting of the musical is a response of the Shrine of Lourdes (in barangay Punta Princesa) to the call of Archbishop Ricardo Cardinal Vidal to come up with special activities for the Jubilee celebration of the Apparition which would tap the young people.
You may contact 2616935 for tickets to today’s (July 5) and tomorrow’s (July 6) shows at the SM City Cebu Cinema 1 with matinee at 10 a.m. and 3 p.m. and a gala at 7 p.m.