Simon has found its way onstage

The devotion to Our Lady Of Peñafrancia is one of the best known and one of the oldest in the Philippines. This is most especially true in the Bicol Region where the lives of the natives revolve around what is perceived as the wishes of their Blessed Mother. This is why Bicolanos living away from home make it a point to come back at least once a year particularly during Her feast day in September.

That is why novenas, processions and other ways of honoring the Virgin are offered up during difficult times such as famine, war, or even just a bad harvest. I guess this is also why there is always this feeling of hope in the midst of strife in the province. It comes from the innate knowledge that the Virgin of Peñafrancia will not let them down.

This devotion is what inspired Ferdinand Dimadura to spend the last 12 years writing the cine-musical Simon’s Way. This is about Simon Vela and his long search for the image of the Blessed Mother in Peñafrancia in Caceres, Spain in 1434. And I find it most heartening that Simon’s Way has found its way to the local stage and is getting the full-blown musical treatment from a top flight cast of actors and theater people.

This is thanks to the guidance and support of the Most Reverend Leonardo Z. Legaspi, O.P., D.D. Archbishop of Caceres, who like everybody involved with the project hopes to further propagate and increase the devotion of the Filipinos to Our Lady Of Peñafrancia in honor of her 300th anniversary. They also aim to raise funds to help the poor priests and their respective barangays in Caceres.

Simon, was a Franciscan brother who lived in a monastery in Paris. He went off in search of a hidden statue at the bidding of a voice he believed to be of the Virgin Mary. The Christian countries of Europe were at the time in the midst of war to get Spain from under the control of the Muslims. To save the religious images from being destroyed or desecrated, the people hid them in unlikely places. All that he was told was that the image would be on Peñafrancia.

It was a difficult search. Simon was accused of witchcraft by the Spanish Inquisition, was in danger from bandits and wild animals in the forests, lost his chance for love and suffered many other hardships. He nearly gave up on his quest but the voice kept urging him to go on. And five years later, it was in the village of Caceres, in a mountain named Peñafrancia that he found the image hidden inside a cave.

The voice of the Lady predicted that the image, which turned out to be miraculous would be venerated everywhere. It began in the church that Simon built and which still stands today in Peñafrancia. It was from there, 400 years later that Father Miguel Cobarrubias brought the devotion to the city of Naga in the island of Bicol, which became the home of the Lady of Peñafrancia in the Philippines. And this is the story that Dimadura set to song and dance and which became Simon’s Way.

Simon’s Way will have a benefit gala performance at 8 p.m. on April 19 at the Newport Performing Arts Theater, at Resorts World Manila in Pasay City. Also scheduled is a special show sponsored by the City Government of Legaspi and Aquinas University at the Legaspi Astrodome on May 14 at 7 p.m. Then for those who want to find out what Simon’s Way is like before the gala, there is a special Palm Sunday promo show at The Block on SM City North EDSA on April 17, 4 p.m.

Incidentally, Resorts World Manila, which is fast becoming the place to go to for entertainment, is helping support Simon’s Way by giving a free ticket to the musical spectacle Kaos, when you buy tickets to the musical. Ticket prices are as follows: P3,888 (VIP); P3,688 (Premier); P2,888 (De Luxe); P2,188 (Balcony); and P1,988 (Upper Balcony).

Playing the role of Simon is the renowned Cocoy Laurel. Also in the cast are Jenine Desiderio, Cris Villonco, Fr. Miguel Bagayaua, Jon Joven, Nicole Laurel-Asensio and Ms. Fides Cuyugan Asensio in a special cameo role. Providing the music will be the Manila Symphony Orchestra conducted by Prof. Arturo Molina.