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Lifestyle

Senior moments, notwithstanding


Granted, I had paid for really good tickets, treating my mom to what I thought she would find enjoyable, as a matter of friendship (with Tita Mitch), as a matter of wit and humor, the kind that we both know is few and far between as far as contemporary Pinoy comedy is concerned. So on that tiny stage of Music Museum, on their Manila run (they’ve been touring the country, apparently), the Juicy Cat Dolls strutted their stuff. And there was a lot of good that was expected, some bad that was unexpected, plenty of laughter in between, all in all good enough. This ain’t a rave, but it’s still hopeful. After all Mitch Valdes, Nanette Inventor and Pilita Corrales go onstage ready to make us laugh. They begin with an original song about being a Juicy Cat Doll, competing with the younger and sexier women of this world, and putting their foot down: we are more intelligent, and that has to count for something. And boy, do they show us how!

The Juicy Cat Dolls. Mitch Valdes, Nanette Inventor and Pilita Corrales prove talent and intelligence also come with age.
It’s difficult to watch and hear Pilita Corrales’ singing, missed lines notwithstanding, without getting goose bumps: this woman ain’t a legend for nothing. She was older and less funny than the other two, but her class (and goodness those heels!) more than made up for it. It’s almost a disservice that we haven’t come up with a better show for her, the kind that won’t require her to be comedic, but will allow her humor to shine. Her class is enough reason to watch her after all, and with a good concept, it’s easy to imagine what else Corrales can do.
The Legend. Pilita Corrales gives a goosebumps-worthy performance.
What Inventor and Valdes did on Juicy Cat Dolls, meanwhile, is exactly what we expect. There’s some good ol’ singing, a lot of comedy, and plenty of intelligence. This in itself is refreshing in the age of Pokwang needing to do slapstick and pamimintas, and Vice Ganda needing hydraulics to survive their careers. Now is the time when very few comedians can live off of just getting on a stage and delivering their lines. It’s a sign of the times that practically refuse intelligent comedy, with well-thought out scripts, fantastic concepts and great delivery.
No need for slapstick. Mitch Valdes shows intelligent humor can still be a hit.
And yet this is still what works for Valdes and Inventor, even when it was too high-pitched for comfort (particularly for that congressmen’s wives segment). In fact, for both Inventor and Valdes, the comedy segments were funny without making fun of other people, and these were mini-productions in themselves, possibly a segment for a yet to be planned comedy-musicale show that I’ve seen Valdes do before, with the class of someone like Bette Midler.
Clean fun. Nanette Inventor can be funny without making fun of other people.
This is in the end what we miss in Juicy Cat Dolls, a sense of how talented these women are and the kind of things they can still do onstage, despite age and senior citizenship, despite the middle-age spread and lost loves. Because here and now, Valdes, Inventor and Corrales don’t just have more signs of age, they have the wisdom and class that comes with it, too, the kind that makes for shows that can blow us away with its talent, and pull the rug from under us with its wit and candor, and its truth(s). Now that’s a show I’d like to see. - HS, GMANews.TV Juicy Cat Dolls, No Preservatives Added, A Musical Revue, is presented by Maxi Music Inc., written and directed by Floy Quintos, musically directed by Monet Silvestre.
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