The night ‘Le Corsaire’ becomes ‘Medora’

The invitation said 7 p.m. Susan Macuja, treasurer of the Ballet Manila Secretariat and mother of ballerina Lisa Macuja-Elizalde, said we should come early to the theater because the show, Ballet Manila’s all-Filipino production of Le Corsaire, would start on time. But Saturdays have always been difficult days for shoppers, like me, and gym goers, like my friend Olive Oil. Try as we did, we made it to Star Theater at Star City half an hour late.

Mrs. Macuja was standing by the door, waiting for us earnestly. "Naku! It already started," she exclaimed. She waved at an usher. "Ihatid mo na sila."

The usher whisked us through the theater’s rightside corridor and opened one of the many doors that lined the theater’s side. It was crammed full with people inside. Some were standing at the aisles, while children squatted where they could on the floor.

We walked through an aisle towards the other side of the theater. There were two empty seats in that packed theater. Our usher pointed us to them. A man handed us two programs as we relaxed in our seats and settled down. The house lights were a little up and it was a bit bright inside. As I looked around, Olive Oil nudged me, "Isn’t that Missy?"

"Missy?" The little girl beside me, curly hair and all, was sitting on her yaya’s lap. She was dressed up as a lion, complete with a long tail.

Act I, Scene 1 was coming to its close. As the curtain fell, people cheered enthusiastically. The little girl beside me literally jumped up from her yaya’s lap and screamed automatically, "Bravo! Bravo!" It was Missy all right, Missy Macuja-Elizalde, Lisa’s daughter. Little brother Mac, seated a seat away, was more reticent and shy in his cheers.

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Le Corsaire is one of the world’s most popular ballets because it has all the elements of good theater – pirates, slaves, shipwrecks, a harem and rescues. It also requires four good danseurs, since the roles of the pirates Conrad, Birbanto and Ali and the slave trader Lankadem require not just stamina and good technique but also bravura performances.

Considering the dearth of good male dancers in the world now, any staging of Le Corsaire promises to be a dazzling affair. After a long time, the American Ballet Theater only mounted it a few years ago when it had the fortune of having four good male danseurs.

When Ballet Manila first staged a full production of Le Corsaire in 1998, it relied on a collaboration with the Krasnoyarsk Ballet to fill up the required dancers. It was a production we missed, sadly, because Manila was abuzz with talk of Russian danseurs flying in the air.

For its recent production, BM presented an all-Filipino production, with all its male dancers sharing among themselves the male roles. Alternating in the role of Conrad were Osias Barroso, Christopher Mohnani and Jeffrey Espejo, Jeffrey Espejo and Christopher Mohnani in the role of Lankadem, Eduardo Espejo and Marcus Tolentino as Birbanto and Jerome Espejo and Eduardo Espejo as Ali. During the Aug. 3 evening performance, Osias Barroso essayed Conrad, Jeffrey Espejo was Lankadem, Christopher Mohnani was Birbanto, and Jerome Espejo was Ali

For balletomanes, the sight of all these male dance talents on a single stage was heartening. It is an assurance that the stage will not run out of Princes for productions of Cinderella, The Nutcracker and Sleeping Beauty, Albrechts for Giselle, Romeos for Romeo and Juliet, Siegfrieds for Swan Lake, and so on.

Much as BM’s danseurs are accomplished dancers, their movements were earth-bound. They executed their jumps cleanly and with finesse. They had reserves of energy that seemed boundless. But after a time, all those leaps and jumps had a sameness to them. There was nothing to distinguish between Conrad, Birbanto, Ali and Lankadem except for their costumes. Maybe their ability to cover the ballet’s different male roles contributed to this. It was like seeing just one dancer performing the different roles.

For many theater goers that night, there was only one reason to see Le Corsaire: Lisa Macuja-Elizalde. And it wasn’t surprising that the crowd cheered the ballerina on each time she stepped on stage and after she completed her dances.

As she went through spins and jumps, you could feel the entire hall holding its breath, waiting for her every move. She never seemed to make a mistake, each movement was flawless and without any effort. In the Rose Divertissement, Lisa was partnered by Pamela Asprer for dancing that was both dazzling and delicate.

After every solo, my friend would nudge my elbow. Olive Oil muttered, "I don’t believe this woman. How can she make it look so easy?"

What more could I say? Ditto.

In fact, on the basis of Lisa’s performance, maybe we could rename Le Corsaire Medora? Makes perfect sense to all who trooped to Star Theater.

* * *

As the Rose Divertissement was being performed, Missy’s yaya started measuring powdered milk into a bottle. After a few shakes, the little girl was comfortably drinking and slowly falling asleep. By the end of Act III, she was silent. No more bravos for Mommy.

As the audience applauded at the end of the ballet, only Mac was awake, clapping heartily with everybody else.

As the house lights went up, the giant posters on a wall of Star Theater announced Ballet Manila’s next production, Giselle this September and Pinocchio in November.

After seeing Lisa in Swan Lake a decade ago and Le Corsaire recently, we’ll be sure not to miss her transformation into a wilis. Maybe, we’ll get to sit again beside Missy, this time dressed as a spirit.