Lessons from Temporary Insanity

Last night, we ended our concert series titled Temporary Insanity at the Mandarin Oriental Manila’s Captain’s Bar. These shows had a powerhouse cast that featured Nanette Inventor, Mitch Valdes and my group, The CompanY. It was such a big thrill to finish this series on a high note because the venue was literally fully packed with ticket holders who refused to let the economic depression depress them.

Actually, Temporary Insanity represents a full circle moment for The CompanY. Some 23 years ago, The CompanY accepted its very first paying job as back-up singers in Celeste Legaspi’s Komiks Konsierto at the Main Theater of the Cultural Center of the Philippines. It was in that very show where The CompanY witnessed the brilliance of Miss Legaspi’s featured guest artists, you guessed it right — Mitch and Nanette. In Komiks Konsierto, Mitch spoofed Wonder Woman and Nanette parodied Supergirl. They could do no wrong. They could sing, dance act and best of all — these ladies were comedic geniuses whose wit was razor sharp and comedic timing was dead on.

Cut to cut to last night, there we were, Annie Quintos and myself (the only remaining CompanY members from that 1985 Komiks Konsierto show), Sweet Plantado, Jay Marquez and Cecile Bautista, sharing the stage with Nanette and Mitch after more than two decades. We were no longer Nanette and Mitch’s back-up singers but were now doing comedic and musical production numbers with them as peers.

Since last year, The CompanY has dreamt of staging a concert that would be more comedy-centric than music-based. I’m talking about the kind cabaret show that one would usually catch in the likes of New York (off Broadway) or Chicago (Second City Players). Though our group has always dabbled in music-based comedy in most of our major concerts, we had never done a show that went all-out comedy. So when concert producers Priscilla Dee Go, Jeanette Yu and Valerie Siy expressed their interest in staging a musical/comedy show, this was clearly an obvious sign that the stars were aligning in our favor to pursue our pipe dream. It was actually these producers who suggested the members of the cast and it all made sense to us.

As this production unfolded and came into fruition, we realized that Temporary Insanity was going to be The CompanY’s version of comedy boot camp. This was to be a master class of sorts in the performing arts to be given by no less than our country’s best and most enduring live performers.

Nanette and Mitch were nothing short of wonderful to us. We never got diva attitude from either of them and they were very gracious and generous in teaching us how to come up with our most effective comedic performance in the show. From the joke set up, to the staging, to the sequencing and the most important lesson for us in The CompanY — spontaneity!

Working in a vocal harmony group always required that we work as a unified team; hearing out each other’s voices to produce a good blend. In a vocal group, the vocalists must always stick to one’s part in the vocal arrangement leaving very little room for improvisation and spontaneity. We would always go through our show with militaristic precision and discipline so as to keep us safe and confident with our shows. By opening night, our music, our spiels and our act were already set in cement. In a sense, the over preparation and rigidity in our process became both our safety net and our trap that prevented us from discovering wonderful accidents; a double edged sword so to speak.

Conversely, we serendipitously learned that when working in a comedic setting, one had to be willing to take chances on whatever might happen onstage — whether it was a mistake, a miscue, a failed punchline or a brilliant comedic ad-lib. One always had to be on your toes to keep up with the likes of Mitch and Nanette. Anything was possible at that moment onstage. Admittedly, the spontaneous attitude onstage was a scarier scenario for us in The CompanY. We had been so used to the order and organization of our efficient no nonsense system. However, it is precisely upon leaving the comfort zone that one grows and learns more. Yup, it’s a cliché but it’s still so very true.

Yes, The CompanY is well aware that comedy is not and will never be our main forte. We are a vocal group that records and performs a wide spectrum of music from disparate music genres and style. Having said that, we still wanted to acquire more skills and further expand as live performers. Learning to flex our comedic muscles from Nanette and Mitch was both a privilege and pleasure for us. This lesson makes me recall Boy Abunda’s 1994 advice to the group when he said, “surround yourselves with excellence. Eventually, it will rub off on you!”

Similar to the 1985 Komiks Konsierto performance, Mitch and Nanette delivered comedic homeruns in last night’s Temporary Insanity closing night. Time has not diminished their brilliance and excellence in what they do best. Nanette and Mitch showed us how it’s supposed to be done with flair, ease and a whole lotta class. They did impressions, social commentaries via characters, sang pop classics with their own personal stamp; pretty much anything and everything that would keep our audience entertained for the next two hours.

For our part, The CompanY’s gamble in dabbling in all out comedic numbers did pay off when the audience gave us not only their applause, we got rewarded with big laughs, too.

Temporary Insanity once again proved why we Filipinos are ranked as the second happiest race in Asia. We still know how to get a laugh even in the most challenging of times. I think this follows the logic of a vaccination. One needs a dose of insanity to stay sane these days.

Postscript: Our sincerest condolences to Nanette Inventor and family on the passing of their beloved mother, Esperanza last Oct. 12.