"pinapalabhan nyo ba yan, Sir?"

[levity]

When it comes to Philippine politics, there's no such thing as subtlety.

I have this to say about U. Ave: it doesn't waste time. Aside from the fact that it started half an hour late, it doesn't waste time. You have characters, you have issues, you drop said issues on the audience with a song and dance number to boot, and everything flows together from there. It was funny and over-the-top and it had awesome, awesome music and it dropped the anvil it wanted to drop. That's all.

Okay, that isn't all. I won't say anything about the lyrics, because learning how to write lyrics is something that comes with practice, and because I can't write lyrics to save my life. And I won't say anything about the characterizations, because the reason stereotypes are stereotypes is because they work if your main objective is to drop anvils, and as stereotypes went they were at least believable stereotypes. (My favorite's the janitor. And is it any wonder that we vote for the people we do, with the way we love villains as long as they're funny villains?)

But really? You don't go around screaming for change without offering viable solutions. You don't stick your neck out just to make a point. There are things worth dying for, and if you have to die you have to die, but it'd be nice if the people who saw what was wrong with society stayed alive long enough to try and do something about it. And if you're a rebellious teenager being offered a car and flat in exchange for calming down, take the car and flat, and then you can do whatever the hell you want.

After all, just because you're idealistic doesn't mean you can't be practical.

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I have to write a proper criticism of the play for Hum1, don't expect me to do ti here, too. XD