Play review - SOAR the Musical

“SOAR: The Musical” is a musical play presented by the Nursing Service Department in celebration of De La Salle University-Health Sciences Institute and DLSU Medical Center’s  25/35th Jubilee Year and in celebration of the Roman Catholic Church’s “Year of Faith”. The play was presented from June 20 and 21 at HSI’s Animo Center. I was able to watch it free thanks to one of the cast/staff members, a girl whom I’ll refer to as Miss Big Bun.

I arrived at the Animo Center early for the gala night as per instruction of Miss Big Bun; but I don’t have a complimentary ticket on hand. One of the staff saw me standing there like a schmuck and let me in when she found out I was Miss Big Bun’s guest. God bless her heart! I was led by a courteous usher to the reserved seats, just five rows from the front!

“SOAR” is a story of redemption reminiscent of the Parable of the Prodigal Son. The protagonist of the story is a young girl named Mia, whose father, Tom, had to go abroad.  She then succumbs to youthful rebellion and temptation until she finds redemption in God’s grace.

The cast was composed wholly of DLSUMC’s staff nurses. This convinced me that it was possible for a bunch of nurses to produce a musical play than for a roomful of monkeys banging away at typewriters to write the script for Hamlet.

The set was simple and functional; the lights and sounds were topnotch because of the services of a professional light and sound company. Too bad I didn’t snap any pictures because the fear of God prevented me from doing so. (Maybe I’ll grab some off Miss Big Bun’s Facebook account.)

The performance of the cast was superb. Tom, his wife Lisa, his son Max, and Mia had to act, sing, and dance—not an easy thing to do in front of a live audience. But they managed and did very well! The chorus was very versatile, playing several roles in quick succession: people at a park, a hip-hop dance ensemble, a bunch of construction workers, partying teenagers, etc. Hats off to the chorus!

The music was also superb. I was told that all of the songs are original compositions, made just for the play. I wish that they’d sell soundtrack albums. Kudos to the musical composer!

Miss Big Bun warned me that there’s going to be some raunchy scenes in the play. Okay, it was necessary to show Mia’s slide into the Dark Side. I was just horrified of the thought that there were nuns sitting on the front row. I suddenly got self-conscious of the clergy collar I was wearing.

In the end, Mia got burned with her fast lifestyle and at her lowest, she was found by a youth group (apparently from church) which led her back to the light. (“The ‘New Evangelization’", Miss Big Bun explained to me.) I found it novel that the youth group was producing a musical within the musical. (“Yo, dawg! I heard you like musicals so I got a musical in your musical so you can watch a musical while watching a musical!”) She was then reunited with her mother, her brother (I think I missed the part why Max’s leg was in a cast and he had to be in a wheelchair). Then like a deus ex machina, the father, Tom, returns from abroad and they were reunited as a family.

I find the theology presented in the play most agreeable to the Wesleyan-Arminian theology I adhere to, namely the theology of grace. Mia did nothing to be redeemed. She was down and out until she was found by a bunch of young people; and that’s how she was redeemed by God’s saving grace.

After the play, I greeted Miss Big Bun for a job well done. She introduced me to her mother and her sister; and pictures were snapped. I left unbidden because I know she’ll be busy. It was their night after all, and everyone involved in the play—both onstage and behind—all deserve to SOAR.

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UPDATE BOARD:
This morning (June 26), I had an unscheduled breakfast with some of the cast of SOAR. I was pleasantly surprised to see a copy of my review posted at the Nursing Service Department. (I was also informed that the nuns were not bothered by the "raunchy scenes" :))

Photo courtesy of Robert Santiago, RN.