Ebe Dancel takes us behind the music, the curtains of 'Sa Wakas'

So how does having your songs used in a stage musical affect your rock star credibility?

Fortunately for Ebe Dancel, formerly frontman of the defunct alterna-pop band Sugarfree, he found something to hang on to. It took a while to recover from laughing so hard.

 

“I haven't thought about that!” said Dancel, hanging on for dear life.

 

The last hour or two was spent listening to stripped-down excerpts from the stage musical “Sa Wakas”. The basis of the show are Sugarfree's songs, penned by Dancel and re-worked for the stage musical libretto.  

Dancel was standing outside of the bar, Route 196, along Katipunan Avenue, while we talked, ignoring heavy traffic that was trying to inch its way along. He pitches his voice a little louder as he's trying to explain, above the cacophony of the traffic and bar patrons, how Sugarfree's music ended up as fodder for the stage.

 

Finally recovered from the laughing fit, he recalled how Culture Shock Productions approached his former label, which owns the rights to Sugarfree's songs, about the stage musical idea. It was the label that told him about “Sa Wakas.”

 

For Dancel, it was a lightning bolt of good fortune.

 

“Dapat yung huling album ng Sugarfree, made for the stage sana. Hindi natuloy, it didn't work out,” he explained, “But this is a dream come true for me.”

 

According to the producers, the Sugarfree catalog lent itself well to the new format. There was a narrative element to the Sugarfree songs that takes the Sa Wakas plot through the lifecycle of a love story. Co-written by Andrei Nikolai Pamintuan, also the show's director, and Mariane Abuan, the plot is a bittersweet love story that chronicles the end of one relationship and the beginning of another.

 

"[It's about] how relationships work, how relationships don't work," explained Pamintuan, who was recently doing freelance theater work in New York and across the river in New Jersey before working on 'Sa Wakas.' Thematically, we wanted to touch on the life choices that each character makes and how those choices define them as people.

 

"Hopefully, that's something a lot of us can relate with, because every day we make choices: anong kape mo, anong kakainin mo sa umaga. And also sa relationships natin, everyday: sa mama mo, sa papa mo, at sa kabiyak mo."

 

For musical director Ejay Yatco this was the first tagalog musical he's ever worked on. He was enamored with the project as he believes the language to be beautiful.

 

However, the pressure was on. "Ang hirap talaga niyang gawin! Two weeks akong hindi ako natulog," said Yatco, who eventually conceded that he did manage an hour or two of sleep each night.

 

"I wanted to respect Ebe's style. But put my own [stamp] on it," said Yatco, explaining the process. "That was the most challenging part."

 

It can be an unusual treatment. Sugarfree's rocking song attack, edgy at times despite the pop chops, has been substituted for a more studied, controlled approach. The songs that you used to unhesitatingly drunkenly sway to, is now a tool which more deliberately tries to provoke you.  

 

The formerly ubiquitous but undeniably anthemic "Hari ng Sablay" has become somewhat friendlier. Its former roaring rock persona has been taken over by this soaring musical theater pick me up that manages to lift you off your seat without you knowing it.

 

And “Sa Wakas” takes you all the way to the other end of the emotional spectrum. All the way to the ultra-violet end as it can be soul-crushingly depressing. The arrangement given “Kwarto”, a very downbeat song to start with, turns the volume way down and cranks the emotion all the way up. As performed that night by Vic Robinson and Caisa Borromeo, it was uncomfortable how the characters they played, Topper and Lexi, picked at the debris of a relationship gone kaput.

 

But Dancel wasn't complete written out of “Sa Wakas”. His contribution was substantial, though at the same, not overbearing. "He was very hands on in this project," explained Yatco. "Pumunta si Ebe to a lot of our rehearsals. I also gave him the mp3 so he could listen to it."

 

He made some corrections here and there. It was more about accuracy regarding the Sugarfree material rather than a creative push, the way Yatco made it sound. And that was about the limit of it.

 

Dancel had no qualms about giving the production control over his songs. He had met with the Sa Wakas people and concluded that "the songs are in excellent hands."

 

"Meron silang 'Walang-makakapigil-sa-akin' attitude," said Dancel, "It's a great touch."

 

It, therefore, never crossed his mind to get on the stage himself in order to control the material.

Besides, he had long ago, figured his place in the world. "At hindi yun sa teatro!"

 

But he did write a new song just for Sa Wakas - “Bawat Daan”. "Initially, I was hesitant about writing a new song," said Dancel, "I had loaned them 20 plus [songs]!"

 

But the “Sa Wakas” production as well as his publisher insisted that he do so. In the end, he was glad he was pushed into it.

 

“Bawat Daan” was a different song for Dancel. The way he normally writes songs, he'd write in one burst. He'd then sleep over it and do some editing the day after. But this time, it was a 15-hour marathon.

 

And it all seemed to come together for him as his state of mind, where he is right now, fit right in with Sa Wakas. "Early this year, ang [naging] mantra ko ay 'bawasan ang bagahe sa buhay. And the only way to truly move forward is to embrace the past.

 

"Pasok naman siya (the new song) sa musical," concluded Dancel. "Pasok na pasok," someone else chimed. -- KDM, GMA News 

 

"Sa Wakas" is on its final weekend, April 26, 27 and 28 with evening and matinee performances at the PETA-PHINMA Theater.