Another Balagtas Work: "Orosman at Zafira"

The first thing that comes to my mind when I hear the name Francisco "Balagtas" Baltazar is his work "Florante at Laura" which tortured me when I was studying about it during high school. Studying it is one of the requirements in high school. I remember trying to memorize and understand the lines whose words are no longer being used this day so upon hearing that Dulaang UP is going to stage "Orosman at Zafira" which is another Balagtas's work in Centerstage, SM Mall of Asia on February, I begin to wonder if I'll be able to understand the lines of the play.

Nazer Saledo as Bulasem; Jean Judith Javier as Gulnara

Maita Ponce as Zafira; Jay Gonzaga as Orosman; Delphine Buencamino as Zafira


Roeder Camanag as Abdalap


Ronnie Martinez as Ben Azar; Tao Aves as Zelima; Acey Aguilar as Zelim

During their press conference last week, I met the producers, director and composer of the play who explained about the upcoming show. They do feel the same way that I feel about the lines in a Balagtas work. Apparently, they changed some of the lines to fit modern day language and even the songs were changed into a mix of pop, world music and rock so that the modern generation will be able to relate to this play.

Darwin Mariano - Executive Producer

Why "Orosman at Zafira" and not "Florante at Laura"? Well, since "Florante at Laura" is already being tackled in high schools and "Orosman at Zafira" which is also one of the best written works of Balagtas but is not discussed because of lack of time for the given high school curriculum, I think Dulaang UP chose this play to make us be aware that Balagtas has other works of art that makes him a genius during his time. He is a genius not only because there's "Florante at Laura" but he has other works as well to prove this.

Aside from this, Executive Producer Darwin Mariano has a personal cause for choosing this show. Mariano is actually a lawyer who fell in love with the theater and he came from the same province where Balagtas came from.

According to Mariano, he saw this play back when he was studying in UP and was amazed by the story and production. He said that he felt the production must be staged at a bigger stage to show to a wider audience because it is really a masterpiece. He also told us another reason is that he is crazy. We'll see if he is because to my opinion, he is doing this for a good cause. Lately, the theater has been growing here in our country and most of the plays are in English. I think it is time for us to have something our own Filipino play being staged commercially.

Toots Tolentino - PR/Publicity Consultant; Alex Cortez - Dulaang UP; Carol Bello - Composer

Dexter Santos - Director and Choreographer; The band

"Orosman at Zafira" is originally a comedya during the Spanish era. Comedya is a form of entertainment brought by the Spanish to the Philippines which usually revolves around love, war between Christians and Muslims and it is also used to spread out the Catholic faith. Even though this play is from the Spanish era, it shows Filipinoism through the songs, dances and costumes which is all-original Filipino.

Red Concepcion as Aldervesin and Jean Judith Javier as Gulnara performs an exerpt.

One can notice how sexy their costumes are so I asked them if it is required for them to workout or diet for this play. According to the actors and actresses, they usually do warm-ups before they rehearse since their dance moves need it so eventually, their body becomes fit. Although, it cannot be denied that some of them like Jay Gonzaga works out because it's part of his lifestyle and the ladies do diet because they're conscious with their body but it's not a requirement.

Maita Ponce as Zafira and Jay Gonzaga as Orosman performs an exerpt.

"Orosman at Zafira" is set to open on February 4, 2011 at 8pm in Centerstage, SM Mall of Asia. The other schedules are: Feb 5 - 10am; 3pm; 8pm; Feb 11 - 8pm; Feb 12 - 10am; 3pm; 8pm; Feb 18 - 8pm; Feb 19 - 10am; 3pm; 8pm; Feb 25 - 8pm; Feb 26 - 3pm; 8pm.

Ticket prices:
All 8pm shows - PhP 1,067.20 / PhP 853.76 / PhP 640.32 / PhP 426.88
All 3pm shows - PhP 373.52

Delphine Buencamino as Zafira performs an exerpt.

Tickets are now available at all SM Cinema Ticket Booths nationwide and all TicketWorld outlets in major National Bookstore branches, Robinsons Department Stores, and at Greenbelt 1, Glorietta 5 and Trinoma Cinema ticket booths. Call SM Tickets at (02) 470.2222 or TicketWorld at (02) 891.9999.

As a special treat to all students, all matinee performances is only P350.00 per ticket.

Tao Aves as Zelima performs an exerpt together with the rest of the casts.

After watching the four excerpts which the actors and actresses have shown during the press conference, I highly recommend each and every Filipino to come watch this. Let us support our artists. Let's be patriotic through a simple gesture of watching this play. I'll leave you this quote which I heard from Toots Tolentino, "It's going to be an EXPERIENCE!"

For more information, call or text (0949) 434.5239 / (0917) 842.7346 or (0922) 842.7346 or log on to www.orosmanatzafira.com or like the official "Orosman at Zafira" Fan Page on Facebook.