A hundred years of laughter and fun

We feel it is a stroke of genius for the UP Alumni Association (UPAA) and director Maryo J. de los Reyes (AB, 1974) to have come up with the concept of a hundred years of laughter and fun to usher in the State University’s centennial celebration in 2008.          

Within an impossible time frame, De los Reyes gathered UP alumni who have distinguished themselves in the field of comedy and satire. Of course, the King and Queen of character assassination Willie Nepomuceno (FineArts, 1971) and Tessie “Meldita” Tomas (Masscom) reign to bring the production to a whopping success. The UP Theater in Diliman was filled with laughter, that the UPAA board immediately met on the regional repeats during the centennial at satellite UP campuses nationwide and most definitely Cebu and Davao, says UPAA president lawyer Gari Tiongco.

Billed Ciento Comico, the recent show serves to hype the year-long activities of the club that include A Night of Music featuring the best UP artists in the classical field in March, a grand reunion in June, a Choral Festival during the last quarter and a December Balikbayan reunion. “We would like to fly in those artists who have made their names internationally like soprano Evelyn Mandac,” lawyer Tiongco told us. (Mandac was the First Filipina to sing at the Met Opera in New York, at Kennedy Center in Washington D.C., and the first to sing with Placido Domingo in a full-length opera.)

On Jan. 8, a fun run starts off the grand launch of the Centennial Year throughout the day with the ringing of the UP Carillion bells at 6 p.m. followed by free performances of the Madrigals and the UP Concert Chorus and fireworks. The Carillion project which cost the UPAA  P12-M will ring for the first time since 1988.

The decision to produce Ciento Comico came out of the Board’s desire to show the country that UP is not only academic excellence, social commentary, artistic expression and student activism. As lawyer Tiongco puts it, “We want to show the frivolous side, and that we also know how to laugh.”

And laugh they do at Willie Nep’s sketch of Erap as the deposed leader who tries his best to associate himself with UP (which has produced seven out of 14 presidents; 36 out of 57 National Artists; consistent board and bar topnotchers), even to the point of ridiculing the Ateneo where he went for college for not having produced a single president. There were also jabs at other schools (PUP standing for Pekeng UP, MAPUA for May Panaginip Maging UP Ako, FEU for Failed to Enter UP, etc.) that naturally has the predominantly UP audience in stitches. Tessie Tomas did Meldita, her most successful character after Bonnie Buendia and Amada Pineda. Like Erap, Meldy belittles her alma mater PWU for being inferior to UP, and continuously reminisces occasions when Marcos would bring her to the UP.

It is unfortunate that in Ciento Comico, Meldy and Macoy do not meet, and Meldy only talks to him from beyond the grave. It is also unfortunate that Tessie and Willie don’t have an exchange together as Erap and Meldy. That would have been a blast. We understand from Willie that the Meldita character was born in 1986 after People Power in Willie’s first show Balimbing at Iba Pa held at the Light and Sound in Makati. “I talked to so many comediennes to do the role, and only Tessie accepted,” recalls Willie.  

Also in the show are Nanette Inventor in a taped sketch as Donya Buding, Roderick Paulate and Eugene Domingo as hosts who tie up the entire show very well, Candy Pangilinan as a UP janitress, RS Franciso in a Deal or No Deal sketch, Rene Boy Facunla or Ate Glow, Herbs Samonte as Buni Misalucha, Eugene Laudit, Andor Cuntapay, the Pep Squad gymnasts, UP Street Dance Club dancers and original indie filmmaker Kidlat Tahimik (AB, 1963) and his bamboo camera.

 The drawback of the show is that it was more than three hours long, and that the characters except for Roderick and Eugene fail to interact with one another. Blame the busy Christmas season, and the limited time for little or no rehearsals. But director De los Reyes did his best orchestrating the entire production from the technical and stage staff, Rollie de Leon who did the stage design, writers led by Jake Tordesillas, to marketing and publicity headed by board member lawyer Rita Linda Jimeno who did a cameo on the show, and Tom Banguis, 2007 UPAA awardee in advertising. Direk Maryo was 2007 UPAA awardee in Film.  

But more than the length, more than the lack of interaction all of which can be quickly resolved, we find the most limiting factor to be the many “private jokes” that can only be understood and enjoyed by those from UP like us. Our companion during the show, not being from UP, wasn’t laughing as wildly as the rest. All those jokes about the pregnancies and miracles at the Sunken Garden, the ikot jeep, were completely lost on her. Major re-editing for a more general audience would, however, lose this flavor.

Ciento Comico will therefore stay limited to State U friends and lovers. So sorry, but those who have Failed to Enter UP will just have to come up with their own comedy production, perhaps this time denigrating those from UP.

 (E-mail the author at [email protected])