LAST Sunday’s matinee of Jose Rizal’s Noli Me Tangere received a standing ovation from the predominantly young audience. As seniors my wife and I share their enthusiasm. In our time we have seen adaptations of Rizal’s novels in film and stage including a few musicals and this is the first time I came out of a Philippine theater whistling the haunting theme song of a local musical play.

Ably directed by Audie Gemora, the CCP Tanghalang Filipino presentation of Ryan Cayabyab’s musicaL (libretto by Bienvenido Lumbera) has a set design (by Mio Infante), stark and bare, symbolic of Rizal’s intent to expose, as in ancient times, the sick on the steps of a temple so that devotees may propose cures for the afflicted. The steps are suitable for the action, or blocking of characters and the choreography of Agnes Locsin. The fin de siècle costumes designed by National Artist Salvador Bernal are appropriately opulent for the elite and austere for the lower class. The vital singing (directed by Balsama) of lead characters, Maria Clara played by Cris Villonco and Crisostomo Ibarra by Gian Magdangal, and the rest of the cast and chorus remind us of some Webber musical hits in polish and tempo.