SEATTLE, WA – I cannot think of a better pun than Martial Low to come close with Guard Down – it alludes to a night with the Tony-cum-Grammy Award winner Jhett Tolentino, who has figuratively let his guard down as we trod more personal last week in San Francisco.

Jhett: Julius, I will refund your ticket 100% if you think you did not enjoy the show.
Ate Kim: Wow, Julius. I hate you for that. Grab that chance. I will not have had that moneyback chance!

This is not a musical review. This is an in-depth character profile of an inspiring human being. The title is somewhat of a clickbait – just as all headlines should be. Go on. Read.

I was hesitant to watch the show because Seattle is a 2-hr flight (or a half-day drive) away from the Bay Area; the event is formal (thus, a barong is necessary); and the closest relative I know in Cascadia Region is in Vancouver. But, listening to Owl City’s Hello Seattle helped me get things in line – the producer gives you a moneyback guarantee (and a donation tax receipt), Global Filipino Network answered portion of my fare, and I have found a place around the University of Washington (Their student council president is a friend from Bulacan). Also, my girlfriend’s cousin is staying here for a few weeks. Company is not an issue.

But, let us do a little rewind.

I was not exactly sure how I ended up having dinner with Jhett Tolentino – the guy who sent Kris Aquino to Hollywood. (The title refers to Kris and not Ninoy. Yes. Jhett thought Kris fits the Crazy Rich Asians role.)

When they asked me for a recommendation, I had to know what the role was. And it was everything that she is. That’s how I knew it had to be Kris Aquino.

Going back, I just thought I was in good company if Joanne Boston, a Bay Area community leader, leads this San Francisco Friday-night pack towards a Filipino restaurant – partly owned by Marvin “Augustine”, at least according to Ate Joanne’s elocution. It became an instant inside joke during our night at Bao Down.

 

At age 40, Sir Jhett does not look the age. The discipline, perhaps? I’m 24 and I just have to smile when people think my age has gone off the calendar, or married… with kids, and I ordered the shining, shimmering, truly splendid lengua de gato. And my opposite is a youthful man ordering adobong bruselas. The night was full of hearty laughs as we have also encountered restaurant staffers – one of whom we had to guess the name of. I think I have had too much fun I forgot why I was there.

It would be vacuous for the theatre fanatic in me to miss an opportunity to get closer with someone as big as the name. But, prior the prestige and the pomp, there is more telling in Tolentino’s tale towards the triumphs.

This time, I had to drop the “Sir” for Kuya Jhett.

From the Athens of the Philippines

It starts with Arthur Tolentino of Iloilo. No, it’s not Ferdinand Marcos’ running mate (because it’s Arturo). Arthur is a meager jeepney driver who has found Cupid’s other arrow in a Bicolana beauty. True to word, Gloria Dizon was a beautician.

Their love has produced a daughter and three sons. Among them, the youngest, is Jhett. The family had not been initially favored by the fates as they had been living in a community where sewerage, running water, and electricity are mere concepts. However, the family was pretty happy and intact, with values formed by a house built on love and flimsy tangibles, and a view of the mighty sea, a few meters away, with each wave brushing the shores of Molo portending the better life to come. I am not sure if it was just Jhett or Iloilo’s soils or waters are endemic talismans transforming it into a cognoscenti (konyoSHENti) powerhouse – The Barretto Sisters, The Kapamilya Lopez Family, Miguel Syjuco, Jose Mari Chan, Jed Madela, Florenz Regalado, F. Landa Jocano, Franklin Drilon, Kiefer Ravena, and the Lady Senator from Iloilo Miriam Defensor Santiago, and a lot more. One thing is for sure – Jhett is a child prodigy.

 

At a young age, he realized that his mother hardly have fingerprints due to cosmetic chemicals and his father driving for hours in the city could only provide so much. While the shore provides him an avenue for solace, leisure, and a childish afterschool, he cannot ask the sea for a toy, a book, and even a prom ticket – neither could Gloria and Arthur. And he knew it. It has come early to Jhett the ability to weigh fiscal proportions. However, while he may never have attended expensive field trips and watched the Metro Manila Filmfest entries, come each nighttime, when children are customarily home by virtue of a strongman in Malacañang, he starts daydreaming.

It was around this time that the Marcos government encourages countries to mass hire Filipinos laborers. Among these OFW aspirants was Gloria. But, at that time, the tears of children cleansed the sweat of tediousness.

“Jhett, we’ll have to wait until your siblings finish school. Then, they will help us send you to one,” Gloria tells the mama’s boy.

I may be poor but I am smart. Why do I have to wait for them? God gave me the wits.

The Meguko Program

When Jhett finished elementary, the coined word K12 does not exist in the Filipino patois, but it did not make it easier for those who think of budgeting. Many parents have thought of creative ways to provide for matriculation, including drugs and prostitution. Jhett’s parents were not very creative – but he is.

In Athens, scholars roam around. In Iloilo, Jhett roamed around with his family’s hearts and letters, searching for grants, scholarships, or sponsors who might help him towards attaining his dreams. The goddesses of Athens led him to Miraculous medal Parish, who in turn, pointed him to Jesuits.

 

 

Sophia University, a Jesuit university in Tokyo, organizes the MEGUKO Society. Meguko is an acronym from the Nihongo for Action for Self-reliance of Children in Asia, catering most especially to impoverished children in India and the Philippines. Jhett was favored by the fates as Meguko provided for his quality high school education at then Kapamilya Lopez-owned University of Iloilo. The child prodigy has performed well in his school: maintained outstanding grades, joined the student government, and even bagging a Best Actor award for a theatre activity. Nobody knew it was fate forecasting. After finishing high school, Jhett did an Oliver Twist as he asked for some more from the Meguko. Two maxims: If you don’t ask, the answer is always no. Ask and ye shall find.

He petitioned for assistance from Meguko, and the society continued supporting Jhett through college with open arms. While Jhett wanted to become a flight attendant, his mental fiscal schema has set that option aside. For one, no courses are offered in Iloilo for steward aspirants; and secondly, he knows he is good with money. He obviously fended for himself. Thus, accountancy was seen a good choice. He continued attending University of Iloilo and graduated with so much pride that he considers his college ring (“the walking diploma”) as his standard adornment.

It sets you from the rest when you have a diploma and I take pride in it.

Decades later, after his glories, he visits Japan for the first time and personally thanked the institution he will forever be indebted unto. In turn, when he was chosen by the Philippine Embassy in Washington, D.C. and the Ayala Foundation as among the young Filipino leaders in the United States, he is resolved that his benchmark thrust shall focus on Education and the Performing Arts in the Philippines.

The Accountant, The Lawyer, The Shrink

 

It is said that if you make it to New York, you would need an accountant, a lawyer, and a shrink.

In our conversations, I had to ask him what shrink meant. Using my musical reference, Annie’s “It’s a Hard-Knock Life”, I think shrink meant to become smaller. I don’t think my SRA readings taught me such usage. Anyway, shrink meant therapist.

After graduating from University of Iloilo, he worked right away to start working on his dreams. Among his first few goals was to build a house of concrete. The accountant Jhett worked formally for the first time in Iloilo. From then, with his resourcefulness, brilliance, and discipline, his hard work resulted to their first mattress. It was a family celebration when the poor coastal family have had their taste of a genuinely comfortable bed.

While Jhett smiles at his family celebrating with the fluff furniture, he thinks of the fingerprints of his mother, and his father enduring heat and sweat in the city streets. He searches for the eyes of his older siblings who have failed to provide what initially were expected of them. He knew he needed to do more.

In his early twenties, he flew to Hong Kong to moonlight as Sales and Marketing Executive for Inside Fashion. This has prompted his meeting with a JP Capital senior Koji Nakamura. Nakamura hired Jhett as an internal auditor for specific clients. It was at these times that the accountant had to balance six jobs apart from becoming a sentient human being, and a loyal son and brother. But even in times calling for deliberate study of life appropriations, something lurks in his guts – the adrenaline gushing like the restless waves of Molo: do not settle.

The shores of San Francisco greeted him when he decided to move there for career growth. He worked in sales and marketing, but like many industrious Filipino migrants, one job is never enough. Add into the vitae, he waited tables. Not to put anyone into bad light but the stereotype chronicles a restaurant owned by three Filipinos – the Ilocano managing the finances, the Kapampangan serving as chef, and the Ilonggo leading customer relations. While the Batchoy and Pancit Molo are culinary classics, leave to the Ilonggos the matters of amiability and delight.

Jhett was searching for his own delight, for happiness. The Bay Area has been very good to him but he opted to wave The Golden Gate Bridge goodbye for Lady Liberty. He has garnered even better professional success in the city of the Charging Bull. But the finance didn’t suffice Jhett’s need for growth. He took a nursing assistance course in New York and proved that the Ilonggo’s harmonious character and mellowing candor are put forward in healthcare. It appears surprising for a financial genius who shares he started his job in New York only a few years before the infamous 2008 Financial Crisis. Little did he know that crisis in his life will roll together with the housing crash. The most beautiful woman in his life, the beautician that was Gloria, passed away.

Whatever the reason is, it is easy to surmise the whole narrative of his sacrifices, his responsibilities, his tasks, and his need for a shrink.

The Theatre is my Shrink

 

The concrete jungle is a beast of its own kind. The inhabitants should fend for themselves by becoming resourceful in the harsh ecosystem. Jhett has found the light in total darkness. Literally.

I love the idea that when I come into a theatre, lights out, it’s a signal that I will get entertained. I laugh, I cry. Sometimes, I’m annoyed. There is beauty in finding myself in certain characters or there is someone I know that deals with the same events a character has to go through in the play. I have no friends and family in New York when I arrive in 2004. So, compared to the price of a therapist, I’d rather buy a ticket to a theatre. It’s way cheaper.

Although, it’s not cheap when you have seen a thousand shows. But, I asked myself: ‘What do I do with this?’ I did not realize I have that much of an artistic mind, but due to watching so many shows, I have met a lot of people who have convinced me that I have the knack for it. I didn’t go to school for film, theatre, or music, but my background tells me I have to advocate for the paying public because the artists, the producers, the industry owe it to us. We deserve a good show, a better show, a great show. So, I started writing theatre reviews in my blog.

I started scrutinizing even more. I observed the lighting, the design, the makeup, the wig, and the costumes. I follow the spotter. It was weird. I didn’t know what happens up there but in my head, even when I didn’t know the term ‘produce’, I was putting up a show while compartmentalizing the budget for the set designs, audio, visuals, and I put it in writing. I did not think I would be found by anybody so I wrote my thoughts and reviews under my name. I know I am not The New York Times but apparently someone noticed. I am now part of the intelligentsia, met playwrights, dramaturgy people, and suddenly they wanted to hear my take on workshops, on readings, on everything. I started getting invites. I loved it. I love to be included. I met the people – even those I reviewed not so nicely. But, I didn’t think much of them, because, again, my priority is the paying public.

In 2010, after tumultuous roller coaster of an unwitting journey far from home, he thought of a beautiful way to hopefully culminate his theater brouhaha. He bought a $650 ticket to attend the 64th Antoinette Perry Award for Excellence in Broadway Theatre ceremonies. Tony for short, it is an award that caricature gays introduced to me in The Producers – a 2005 movie based on a 2001 musical based on a 1968 movie about a 1959 musical. I cannot forget the gay chorus: “Tony. Tony. Tony. Tony. Tony.” (But, Neil Patrick Harris sings it is not just for gays anymore.)

The Producers comes into full circle as it bagged 12 Tony Awards – the most number of Tony Awards for a production in history. Jhett thought that attending the $650-worth event would be his ‘full circle’ moment, culminating his theatre craziness. It hasn’t struck him yet that it was an epiphany instead. A year after, he is the producer.

Jhett, The Producer

To put better context in the world of theatre, one has to understand that the peak of

theater glory in the industry is when a production gets staged in one of the 41 professional theaters of Broadway in New York or at the 38 professional theaters of Theaterland in West End of London. Anything Off-Broadway is a professional theater in New York smaller than the Broadway ones. Off-Broadway is largely considered as stepping stone to a Broadway production. London has an “Off-West End” as well. Contemporary categories include Off-Off-Broadway – a 100-seater theater.

In 2012, Jhett ventures with Jewish friends when he staged My Name is Asher Lev, and he has had Alien’s Sigourney Weaver to play Masha in the staging of Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike. Both plays initially ran off-Broadway, and were equally praised by critics and winning accolades. But, one ranked a notch better than the other.

In 2013, the straight comedy play Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike debuted in Broadway. Out of 6 nominations, it received the grandest of the Tony in the category – Best Play. And who goes to bring that swiveling-medal-of-a-trophy home? The producer.

After 22 years of musical prodigy Lea Salonga gracing the stage, here comes a non-singer, a non-musician, an unwitting spectator, a kid from the poor coasts of Molo, an international aid beneficiary, an immigrant, an orphan, and a natural-born Filipino from Iloilo to receive a Tony. Tony. Tony. Tony. Tony. The first of his and the second for his talented motherland.

Soon after, he received two more Tony Awards for A Gentlemen’s Guide to Love and Murder (Best Musical), and A Raisin in The Sun (Best Revival of a Play) which stars Denzel Washington, Sophie Okenedo, Audrea McDonald, and Anika Noni Rose.

In 2017, he received a Grammy for the musical album The Color Purple where Jennifer Hudson starred. (You can queue in ‘You’re gonna loooooveeee meeeeee’.) This makes Jhett a contender for the grand-slam of American showbiz – the EGOT or the Emmy-Grammy-Oscar-Tony. He comes halfway closer to the status than to our beloved Miss Salonga.

Here Lies Love

 

But, we cannot compare Lea Salonga to Jhett Tolentino. Though making their wonderful riots in the same circle, Lea does not produce and Jhett does not perform. But wouldn’t it be great if we could see them together in one production?

If anything, I would say both Jhett and Lea are political people. From his candid comments on issues and icons, a keen ear should read Jhett as very politically-minded – and he should be, as the industry entails a lot of it. And so is Lea.

If one could remember the 2016 election season, Lea was placed on hot water for being vocal of her gratitude to the Marcoses which started with an innocent tweet.

They have always been kind to me and my family.

Lea has reiterated how artists have been prioritized during the time of Marcos.

I still remember vividly what type of presentations there would be at the palace. Bayanihan danced our folk dances, Pitoy Moreno showed his wares, and I sang.

As netizens were equally vocal on their dismay, Lea was quick to justify.

Do not assume you know my entire perspective from one exchange on Facebook… And in celebrating the good, I don’t ignore the bad. The good and bad are part of the whole truth… I don’t know about making blanket statement, but the abuses should not ever be forgotten… I said they’ve always been kind to me and my family. That’s it. That’s all… I do not doubt the truth about Martial Law experience for many of our countrymen. That would be spitting on history.

Interestingly, while ruckus fills the Philippine sociopolitical scene, and while Lea gets busy with The Voice, Jhett blasts the theater scene in New York with a musical – and it still revolves around the poster couple which circumstantially ruled that Jhett is to come home before the tides rise in all archipelago shores.

Here Lies Love is a musical based from a concept album by Oscar-cum-Grammy winner David Byrne and multiple VMA and Brits awardee Fatboy Slim. The concept album is a product of David Byrne’s penchant towards this colorful character in our history – the Steel Butterfly, Imelda Marcos.

Gaining critical acclaim for challenging norms in theater production in the Broadway and Off-Broadway scene, the poperetta (portmanteau for pop and operetta) is an industry avant-garde. Its premiere in New York bagged awards from the Henry Hewes Design Awards, Obie Awards, Outer Critics Circle Award, and the Drama Desk. The musical continued taking more awards home, winning 5 Lucille Lortel Awards. And in its run in Off-West End London, it received a nomination nod for three categories in the Laurence Olivier Award.

Jhett is far from culminating as he realized the need to stage Here Lies Love on the mainstream. As each nation may have a defining cultural classic on Broadway they can relate to with the global audience, in the tradition of Les Miserables (France), The Sound of Music (Austria), Miss Saigon (Vietnam), A Christmas Carol (United Kingdom), The King and I (Thailand), Flower Drum Song (China), Allegiance (Japan), Aladdin (Arabia), Pippin (Italy), The Lion King (Africa), Hamilton (United States), and Evita (Argentina), Here Lies Love (Philippines) needs to be right where these forerunners are.

Even with a foreign material, Here Lies Love is a Filipino-produced musical. Like how foreigners have helped Jhett triumph on education, Jhett seeks for the musical to bridge certain gaps: he opened opportunities for Asians to be casted on major professional theatre, he awakened the discussion on the Marcoses, and made another case for his brand of global Filipino pride.

One thing he made clear, the musical should not be viewed as something political or a reference for academic history, but as entertainment and inspiration.

Here. Lies. Love.

Two Aquinos have already become president and the Aquino murder has not been resolved. Why would our show hint at anything political? This show is about Imelda Marcos from the eyes of David Byrne. This show meant to entertain.

So, where does love lie for Jhett in this context? Is that an insensitive answer if we put it beside gruesome photos of Martial Law atrocities? Is that a calculated PR statement? But, why do I have to doubt it more when he clearly stated that the show is meant to entertain?

Jhett is now a man of the arts. The waves of Molo have pushed his vessel toward the wider sea uncertain. But, as his journey gets tumultuous, he gains more courage and tenacity to withstand tests.

I raised my eyebrows when I figured out that the San Francisco Filipino community strongly protested against the staging of Here Lies Love here in San Francisco – a city that once cradled Jhett in his humble beginnings as a hopeful immigrant. I cannot fathom how sad it was for him. But, even more difficult is trying to read through the San Francisco Filipino community I thought of to be encouraging and supportive. I agree that shows have the agency and platform of politics, but I choose to look beyond it and see the sociocultural change it could trigger, should the production be a success. Here Lies Love is not a just a political statement but an opportunity for the Filipino to be empowered and to be recognized in a grander stage of talents and opportunities.

A man of this success, Jhett Tolentino, took courage in producing a show such as this. He realized he has the agency to carry his nation towards the stage he is at. He lets his guard down for the Filipino. He deserves… uhh…what’s the word? Mama Morton says it is reciprocity.

Good thing, Seattle has been more loving. As of writing, Here Lies Love is showing at Seattle Repertory Theater.

P.S. Salamat gid, Manong Jhett.