There’s a familiar feeling the entire time when watching Sa Wakas The Musical. For the record, it wasn’t as devastating as one expects it to be—the premise is just simple, but its charm lies in the little things that speak to us.
Now on its final run, we’ve listed our favorite things about the musical that made us find pleasure in singing along even in heartbreak and makes us say that it deserves a re-watch!
8. The story is real
The play tells a story we are all familiar with—a relationship that has fallen apart because of another relationship. But for what it’s worth, it’s not your typical kabit story. The play focused on the people, it delved deep into the characters’ personality—their hobbies, abilities and even dreams, plus the life struggles they faced (which are very much relatable to our generation). All the reasons why they come up with decisions that eventually turned into success and heartbreaks. We find a lot of scenes painfully relatable, and that is what makes the characters and the story real.
7. Topper, The “Bad” Guy
From the first scene, it’s easy to label Topper as the bad guy. He broke his ten-year romantic relationship by sleeping with another girl, for Pete’s sake! But when the story goes on, we get to see his own struggles as an aspiring photographer who is quite unsure of his decisions—something that resonates to most millennials dealing with quarter-life crisis. What the character lacks, though, is he didn’t redeem himself in the end. Or maybe because cheating isn’t really a redeemable act to begin with.
6. Gabbi, The ”Homewrecker”
The moment Gabbi’s character takes the stage, we already have pre-judgments about her: homewrecker, third-party, kabit… she’s a character that is not hard to hate… at first. But Gabbi is written and laid out beautifully that we eventually became fond of her wit, clumsiness and appeal. In the end, we realize that she is just a simple, young woman who fell in love, just like most of us. That she is just a victim of love and life itself—a character that resonates to every hopeless romantic.
5. Lexi, The “Strong Woman”
Lexi is the woman we’ve always wanted to be: strong, independent and successful. She could actually be the theater version of Cristina Yang from Grey’s Anatomy, only that she is a hopeful romantic, and she wants to a start a family. Lexi is almost perfect—until we realize that her success has shaped her into both the woman you would love and hate. There are instances when we’d sympathize with her, and then there are other times that we’d get the pressure of being her partner. She is an example that no matter how tough you are, there is always a breaking point, and that’s what makes her human.
4. The music of Sugarfree
From the first scene, “Kwarto” up to the final goodbyes with “Prom”, what made our hearts flutter aside from the story is the melancholic and nostalgic songs of Sugarfree. It’s like having our life anthems come to life, being reenacted in ways that resonate to us, paired with heartbreaking lines that we’ve probably heard and uttered before in our personal lives. Former Sugarfree’s frontman, Ebe Dancel has been involved in some parts of the musical since its debut run in 2013, so we know that the story, its characters and the music is well fleshed-out based on real-life experiences and meanings of the songs.
3. The stage design
If you’ve watched the previous runs of Sa Wakas in the past years, the stage design is entirely different in its farewell run. This time, it’s simpler, less grand and very innovative. Who knew that you could pull a bed from a simple grey wall? The possibilities are endless! The rooftop scene of Gabbi and Topper is highlighted very well, and you can imagine the beauty of the scene with the set and the lights.
2. Hugot culture
Pinoys definitely hate being hurt, but they love to make themselves feel their hearts break when they’re watching a film, theater play or even listening to music. Sa Wakas is a great example on how this hugot culture has become entertaining to Pinoys, with its portrayal of the scenes that happened to us at some point. One reason, probably, is because we’ve always wanted to hear or see something that resonate us, to make us feel like we’re not the only one who got our hearts broken. And Sa Wakas, with its hugot lines and melancholic songs that hit so close to home, is a great companion to release that feeling of a broken heart.
1. One last cry
Sa Wakas The Musical started with a limited run back in 2013, a musical that has captured the hearts of its audience that they even demanded for a second run. Fast forward five years, critical acclaims and a few accolades later, its final run beautifully wraps up the bittersweet story of Topper, Lexi and Gabbi—leaving us with a broken feeling that felt too real. Because one way or another, it’s the musical that retells the story of our broken hearts.
Sa Wakas the Musical is now on its third and final run and will be having shows until May 27. Get your tickets here.
