ART IS A BANG: : Lorenzo

We all know Lorenzo Ruiz De Manila as the saint who lived during the Spanish regime and the first Filipino saint. But how is his life relevant to the Filipinos of today? LORENZO the musical is a timely tale about the life of the saint and a OFW in verge of death sentence overseas.

The two  Lorenzos, OJ Mariano as Laurence, an OFW on death row in an Arab country, and Lorenz Martinez as St. Lorenzo Ruiz, performing in Filipino from the usual English plays where is known for makes it one of the reasons one should watch this one of a kind play.

Though it seem to have the common perception that it would be just like any other play out there, Lorenzo has broken free from the conventional storytelling of the martyrdom of the saints and his companions who was revered for their unwavering faith in God. 

The connection of past and present gives a lot of significance to their works and to the situation of OFWs who also face challenges including facing death in the process. With still many of Filipinos does not know what really happened to San Lorenzo on his mission to Japan and the excruciating suffering they have to go through just to turn back on their faith.

Christopher De Leon, the executive producer of Lorenzo chose the saint's life as the production's first project beacuse of the beauty of his life and how he stayed with his faith until the end. This is also where the main character Laurence will find his inspiration and hope to live despite all of the tragic things that have happened to him.

As I have mentioned that it is a play like no other as it breaks away from the usual theatrical formula which makes it predictable and boring, they incorporated unusual styles catching the attention of the audience. Highly commendable is the production design which they made a huge wall of "Balikbayan Boxes" and costumes that has a lot of symbolisms yet keeps the characters true to their time period. Each scene will bring you to a surprize with different cultures, styles and even big unexpected things that will appear as you watch the play.

With music made by Maestro Ryan Cayabyab and directed by industry veteran, Nonon Padilla, written by Juan Ekis and Paul Dumol with the collaboration of Joem Antonio, the production team line up speaks for itself of how much talent, love and effort has been given to this project.

The production team also looks forward that this would be played in CCP hopefully soon by next year.

Catch LORENZO on Sept 5, 6, 7, 12, 13, and 14 at 1pm and 6pm at the De La Salle - College of Saint Benilde’s SDA Theater along P. Ocampo Street (formerly Vito Cruz), Malate, Manila.

Tickets are available through TicketWorld or the LORENZO official website: www.lorenzorocks.com.