Goodbye, Cats merchandise booth. Hello, "normalcy."

Cats finally closed last night. But my last shift at the merchandise booth was last Friday, so I had lots of free time during the weekend. It was actually amusing to find friends and other familiar faces during the shows, and there were people that I didn't expect would watch the show. Well, probably because it was a well-known musical with a well-known Filipina performer? Oh well.

Some of the most amusing friends who dropped by the merchandise booth were Patton and Mika, who took quite a while to decide between buying a shirt or a cap, and because of the time spent just debating over it, Patton ended up going back during intermission just to buy the shirt. On the other hand, I didn't recognize Mios when she came up with her dad to buy tons of merchandise. I was almost ready to ask them to decide because we were almost ready to close up, but when she recognized who I was, I let them buy more time, because they really bought a lot of stuff!

Script analysis class was canceled last week because half the class were part of Banaag at Sikat, so I managed to squeeze in some sleep between my morning shift in the office and my final Cats duty in the evening. Too bad. And class this week will also be canceled for the same reason.

I came pretty early during my last day on Friday, and as soon as I got off the jeep at CCP, I found out that Nicco and I were riding the same jeep. We ended up hanging out for a while in the LT lobby, catching up on each other's news. It was great to talk with my baby bro again. More to come, I hope?

Because I had nothing to do on Saturday after my shift, I ended up meeting up with Gino for lunch, despite the fact that he has sore eyes, ahahaha. Yan ang friend, hehe. I hung out for a while in the lobby, then decided on a whim to watch Banaag at Sikat the following evening instead of next week, as Gino and I had scheduled.

Once I got home, I had an early dinner, and decided to take a nap. Holy kamote, I woke up 14 hours later! That was a great sleep!

Back to CCP yesterday, but I decided to go there early to meet with some of the AFLS gang, who were watching the final show of Cats. Easily found Betsy and Edcel in the Main Theater lobby, and chatted with them for a bit. I parted with them for a while so I can go around the Little Theater lobby, then after a while, rejoined them for dinner at Army Navy, along with Jeff, Noel (? My oh my, my memory is going) and Sheila. Hahaha, photo ops for a while, and I noticed that I was the only one wearing white while they were all wearing black. Parang may birthday daw ako sa photos because I was the only one wearing a different color.

I headed back to CCP earlier than they did, and dropped by the Cats merchandise booth for a while, before I found Allein in the Little Theater lobby. As it turned out, she and students had trekked all the way from Nueva Ecija to watch Banaag at Sikat. Hung out with her in the lobby along with Dan until the house opened, then we got seats in the middle.

Banaag at Sikat as a rock musical was a pretty interesting concept, but it did remind me of a localized Spring Awakening, which was attempted when TP staged EJ a couple of years ago. The opening number alone had the right amount of energy, and it was amusing to watch them move about. Yes, Edna Vida's choreography was awesome. There were some dull moments, but it picked up every now and then. I have to admit, I've never read Lope K. Santos' book, so I had to rely on the synopsis. There were some actors that pretty much stood out aside from the leads, and it was refreshing to watch them spring into action like that.

After the show, I said hello to some of the cast who came out into the lobby, then I crossed the street to Dencio's to meet up again with the AFLS gang. Sheila and I were crossing the street at almost the same time, so we walked there together. There were only Betsy and Jeff who were left, plus 3 boys who pretty huge fans of Lea. We ended up just getting something light as they already had a heavy dinner before their show (and so did I before then), and talked until we all called it a night.

Cats had finally closed its curtains in Manila, and now the Jellicle Cats will be off to Taiwan. As for me, I can't wait to watch another play later this week. Orosman at Zafira, here I come. =)