Season Recap, FAHM, Asian Persuasion, PH Time Is Now & Patch’s Broadway Debut!

Carmina & Patch commemorate Filipino-American History Month by recapping the season and celebrating Fil-Am creative achievements. Topping the episode is a shoutout to the rom-com Asian Persuasion, which won the Audience Award at the Soho International Film Festival. They invite listeners to PH Time Is Now virtually or in-person on Oct. 28 to meet Fil-Am trailblazers. Finally, hear about Patch’s Broadway debut and listen to their in-depth review of Here Lies Love!

Asian Persuasion will be released in the Philippines on Nov. 29, 2023. Track @asianpersuasionfilm on Instagram for festival and theater drops.

Register here for PH Time Is Now by Oct. 15 to join Pinoy trailblazers virtually or in person at the Harvard Club of New York on Oct. 28.

Visit Here Lies Love’s official website for show details and ticketing information.

The complete Voltes V Blu Ray disc collection can be found here.

To support FilTrip, go to the Patreon page here and PayPal page here.

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Transcript

Carmina 0:06

Welcome to FilTrip, a podcast where we explore everything fun, weird, and in between about the Philippines. And now a quick shout out. Check out Manila Candle. Manila Candle features Filipino inspired scents like Tagaytay, Palawan, Ube Halaya and Buco and Mango. They also have fun ones like Ay Nako and Bahala Ka Sa Buhay Mo.

Patch 0:35

Enjoy their car fresheners, wax melts and merchandise too. Visit manilacandle.com and take a trip to the Philippines through their scents.

Carmina 0:46

Back to our show. Hi Patch, Happy Filipino American History Month!

Patch 0:51

Hi, Carmina. Happy Filipino American History Month everyone.!

Carmina 0:55

October was designated as the official Filipino American History Month by US Congress in 2009. So I hope everyone takes the month of October to remember our heritage and to celebrate being Filipino and Filipino American.

Patch 1:12

Part of it is we're going to talk about Here Lies Love later.

Carmina 1:16

And the other thing that we want to make sure people check out is a film titled Asian Persuasion. There's a tie into Broadway, actually, the person who directed and produced it. Jett Tolentino is a three time Tony Award winner and Grammy winner.

Patch 1:34

Wow, that's so impressive.

Carmina 1:36

He's joined in the cast by Dante Basco , Paolo Montalban and KC Conception in the lead roles.

Patch 1:46

Queen <laugh> .

Carmina 1:47

Yeah. So at a future episode, we hope to talk to Jett and share it with our listeners.

Patch 1:53

That's something to both us and our audience can look forward to in the future. I can't believe our second season is ending.

Carmina 2:03

Can you believe that two seasons already, Patch .

Patch 2:06

Looking back at this season, we have our favorites.

Carmina 2:10

I really like the episodes where we explored Cebu. I've never been as well as Guam.

Patch 2:17

What about traveling back in time for me? And I'm sure for you as well, one of the most emotional episodes was our , uh, people Power Revolution episode, which I think for this season is our most popular.

Carmina 2:33

Yes.

Patch 2:33

Yeah. For good reason. I don't wanna say I've forgotten about that experience, but certainly it was kind of in the back burner of my mind.

Carmina 2:43

Mm-hmm. <affirmative> .

Patch 2:43

And when we went through that episode, the images just really came to life again. Um, with sadness, wondering what happened after such an iconic part of our history, it seems that it was erased. And so I'm very grateful for the opportunity to bring that back.

Carmina 3:03

Yeah. We seem to keep , uh, picking on that scab because <laugh> , that was also one of our most popular episodes in last season, right? Not directly about the People Power Revolution, but we talked about it when we discussed the elections.

Patch 3:22

Speaking of elections last season, we profiled our favorite candidate. And this season I was grateful also to learn about other prominent women in our society. Currently, obviously Maria Ressa.

Carmina 3:38

And Patch, our girl Maria Ressa, we discovered we have a connection with. Right?

Patch 3:43

Right.

Carmina 3:44

She attended our school, even if it was just for three years. <laugh> , we claim that connection proudly. <laugh> .

Patch 3:52

We're choosing to think that was a very formative time. <laugh>

Carmina 3:55

In her life.

Patch 3:56

In her life.

Carmina 3:58

But Patch the ones that really made me laugh so much <laugh> were also my favorites.

Patch 4:05

For me, the most recent was the Voltes V episode. Yes.

Carmina 4:09

That really brought me back. The nostalgia and also the rage.

Patch 4:15

Did it help you with the trauma of not knowing the ending <laugh>.

Carmina 4:19

Well, I'm still traumatized because I still don't know the ending.

Patch 4:25

Oh right, me too .

Carmina 4:26

Guess what though?

Patch 4:28

What?

Carmina 4:29

One of our listeners sent me a link to where I can buy Blu-ray discs . <laugh> .

Patch 4:35

Ooh.

Carmina 4:36

We'll link it in our show notes if anyone else is interested

Patch 4:40

From start to finish?

Carmina 4:41

Yes.

Patch 4:42

Oh my.

Carmina 4:42

The complete collection. So,

Patch 4:45

Okay .

Carmina 4:45

I guess we know what we're gonna be doing during our break. <laugh>

Patch 4:49

Mm-hmm . <affirmative> .

Carmina 4:50

Oh , Patch. Guess what? So remember in episode two, Spooktacular, Pinoy True Crimes.

Patch 4:57

Yes?

Carmina 4:57

We talked about the first serial killer in the Philippines, or maybe even the only serial killer that we know of <laugh> . There's now a movie that was made about it.

Patch 5:10

Really?

Carmina 5:11

So I saw an article, I mean, back in maybe May or June timeframe, Dennis Trilio and Piolo Pascual, who are famous actors in the Philippines, are going to be playing Father Malari in two different formats. So Piolo Pascual will be playing him in a film, and Dennis Trilio will be playing him in a series <laugh> .

Patch 5:35

Oh my. Does it say where it's going to be available and will it be available to the American audience?

Carmina 5:42

I mean, maybe the film will at some point, but the series is airing on GMA.

Patch 5:47

Mm-hmm. <affirmative> .

Carmina 5:48

I would like to think that they were inspired by our episode <laugh> .

Patch 5:52

Yes. Let's think that. Why not? Who's going to stop us? Honestly?

Carmina 5:58

So please join us in our delusion. <laugh>.

Patch 6:01

One of my other favorite episodes was our episode about the Manila Men being Filipino American. It's really amazing to learn about these first Filipino settlers, how they lived, how they basically had to defend themselves from fake news <laugh>.

Carmina 6:21

Exactly.

Patch 6:23

It also saddens me that the recordings of our history were, as we learned, also destroyed because of natural causes. And also, hopefully most of our history going forward will be recorded in books, et cetera . Like you've discussed in our past episodes, it's very hard to purchase or read about anything that's related to Filipino American history.

Carmina 6:47

Yeah. Not even Filipino American. Right? Apolinario Mabini or one of our national heroes. All of this important work, and I'm not just saying important from my perspective, important even from historian's perspectives.

Patch 7:02

Right.

Carmina 7:03

They're not anywhere. So yes. Call to action to anybody who would listen, caause I haven't won my lottery yet. <laugh>

Patch 7:12

Mm-hmm . <affirmative>

Carmina 7:13

Connecting this season to next season. So we're gonna have a bit of a break until we drop another episode in 2024. And because of the formats that we're exploring, we're thinking of having 10 episodes per season moving forward.

Patch 7:29

And also Carmina, I really enjoy it when we discover Tea <laugh>.

Carmina 7:34

Uh , that is the thread between season one and season two. And I think our listeners appreciate it too. Right?

Patch 7:42

Right.

Carmina 7:43

One of the things that I wanted to make sure we mentioned before we end the season is to send a huge thank you to our patrons.

Patch 7:51

Yes, absolutely! We really appreciate their support.

Carmina 7:55

We wanna thank Solepack

Patch 7:57

We want to thank Manila Candle.

Carmina 7:59

And by the way, we haven't talked about this in the past Patch, but both Solepack and Manila Candle, are Filipino and Filipino American owned , because one of the things that we really want to be able to do is highlight and showcase Filipino entrepreneurs. And of course, our listeners. We wouldn't be here without people listening to us < laugh>, or would we < laugh>. I feel like even if there w as nobody listening to us, < laugh>.

Patch 8:28

Nothing's gonna stop us.

Carmina 8:31

Nothing's gonna stop us. Honestly.

Patch 8:34

That's right. Well, you know, we are doing this also because we have so much fun going on this journey and discovering what we discover. So...

Carmina 8:44

That's true. But of course we'd love to have new listeners, <laugh>. We'd love to have our old listeners back and our new listeners too. And Patch , speaking of our listeners, I discovered a new feature on Spotify.

Patch 9:00

What ?

Carmina 9:01

So on Spotify. Now there's a Q&A for every episode. So listeners, whenever you go to Spotify and listen to our episodes, if you scroll down far enough, you're going to see a Q&A tab where you can comment on each episode On Apple Podcasts, you can't really do that. It's just one comment overall. But for Spotify, they've now activated that feature. So please let us know what you think about each of our episodes and we'll make sure to check them and maybe even read them out right during our episodes.

Patch 9:34

Oh yeah, that's a good idea.

Carmina 9:36

Patch . The only other thing that I wanted to make sure we mention, because it's going to be very timely when we release this episode, we are participating in an event called PH Time Is Now.

Patch 9:48

There's going to be some noteworthy personalities that are going to speak to us about personal stories as Filipino change makers .

Carmina 9:59

PH Time Is Now was launched in 2018, and the big objective is to gather Filipino Trailblazers, mentors. So it's gonna be hosted by Karen Davila , who is a news anchor and a correspondent for ABS CBN network. Other people who are gonna be there are Loida, Nicolas Lewis . I mean, does she need any introduction? <laugh> ? Actually, if you're a Filipino or Filipino American and don't know her, I mean, what rock have you been living under?

Patch 10:32

Absolutely. One of the most respected Filipino business women out there.

Carmina 10:37

Yep . And she's also a philanthropist and an activist still to this day. The other one that I wanted to make sure we mentioned was Sheila Lirio Marcelo. We talked about her in our Filipino Entrepreneur episode back in season one.

Patch 10:52

And there's also Bobby Lopez , who is a double EGOT winner. So that's very exciting.

Carmina 10:58

And Jose Antonio Vargas, who is a Pulitzer Prize winning journalist. I mean, he really kind of burst onto the scene through his work as an advocate for undocumented immigrants.

Patch 11:11

We also hope to see Beth De La Cruz , who is the president of Jolly Bee Foods Corporation. It's interesting that she started her career in Jolly Bee as a shift manager. I wanna hear her journey.

Carmina 11:25

Yeah. Do you think there's gonna be Jolly Bee at the Harvard Club when we go <laugh> ? Now I'm getting hungry. I hope she brings some Peach Mango Pie. <Laugh> .

Patch 11:37

That's an excellent point.

Carmina 11:40

Or um , maybe palabok <laugh> . Anyway .

Patch 11:44

Okay. And also, we hope to meet Clint Ramos, who is a Tony Award recipient.

Carmina 11:52

So Patch , he is a recipient of a Tony Award for best costume design of a play for ESclipsed. And that makes him the first person of color to win that category.

Patch 12:04

Wow.

Carmina 12:05

So for people who are interested, the event is on October 28th, it's going to be at the Harvard Club of New York, and there are virtual seats available if people aren't from New York or can't make it to New York, we're gonna link their event information in our show notes so people can check it out and hopefully come join us or join us virtually. And speaking of Clint Ramos, he is also involved in Here Lies Love.

Patch 12:36

I'm so happy to share <laugh> that we recently watched Hear Lies Love together.

Carmina 12:43

Yes! We were really waiting for you to be able to watch it. Right? Because I had all confession of an addict. I've already watched it multiple times, but I waited for you to watch it from the dance floor.

Patch 12:59

Here Lies Love is a musical that is showing in Broadway. There's a little bit of controversy around the topic. You know, it centers around Emelda, Marcos and her rise and fall. What do you think of it being that you've seen it several times, several different angles?I

Carmina 13:17

I'm not really sure if I'm the most objective person to ask about this. 'cause I am such a fan that I have watched it, as you said, from several different angles. Well , let me talk about that first, because...

Patch 13:29

Okay.

Carmina 13:30

That's probably the least controversial, right?

Patch 13:32

Mm-hmm. <affirmative>.

Carmina 13:33

This is the first musical I've ever watched where I've had a very different experience depending on where I sat. So we encourage folks to check out the official website because it really describes in much more detail what each of the seating options are. But I've already watched it from what they call the floor side seats on the side of the stage. And it's elevated, and you veer over the railing and you can see all the action, but there's only two rows on each side of the floor side seats. And then of course, there's the regular mezzanine seats. From the mezzanine seats. You're really able to see a sweeping view of everything that's happening down in the orchestra. The show that we watch, from what I'm calling the dance floor, is actually, you know, the traditional orchestra. But the difference being, they ripped out all of the seats and created this disco atmosphere. And people are basically watching it standing up because the stage is at eye level.

Patch 14:37

This stage moves around depending on the scene. You have the actors walking and moving around with you essentially. It's really immersive. It's also kind of funny because you have people to assist and make sure that everyone is walking in the right direction safely. <laugh>

Carmina 14:57

Right, they're called the Wranglers.

Patch 14:59

You're not going to get lost, don't worry. It's not as chaotic as it might sound. But it's really very immersive. And the whole experience outside of the stage moving around and the actors being very near you, the whole experience is , it feels like being in a gigantic disco ball. <laugh>

Carmina 15:19

Even the MC of the show, the DJ, right? Calls it the Blender. I thought that was really apt.

Patch 15:25

And I know we're like describing it to death <laugh> . Right? But it really is so unique. It's such a unique experience, at least in what I've seen in Broadway in the past.

Carmina 15:38

Not only that we're talking about the stage, but when I was sitting in the mezzanine, a lot of the key scenes also happen in the mezzanine. They utilize so many areas of the theater, including stairs up into the mezzanine so that the singers are able to move up to the mezzanine. And when I was sitting there one time Patch, I had people like singing in my face, <laugh> .

Patch 16:02

Mm-hmm. <affirmative> .

Carmina 16:02

That's how close they were. And that's the mezzanine where usually you're like just seeing dots on the stage.

Patch 16:10

<laugh> . Exactly. So no matter where you're going to find yourself seated, you will not miss out on the action outside of the set. Music is so catchy. My favorite one is God Draws Straight, which was the only acoustic song. The lyrics are based on actual comments of the people who experienced that particular event. How about you? Which one was your favorite? Or do you have more than one favorite?

Carmina 16:37

Child of the Philippines. And the other one is this song called Perfect Hand . It also recently became my more favorite song because at some point in the musical, Jose Llana, who plays Marcos, selects people from the audience as he's moving through the audience. And you got selected! <Laugh>

Patch 17:03

That was both terrifying and exhilarating at the same time. And it was really funny to see my face plastered on the screen.

Carmina 17:11

Every time I hear that song. Now your face <laugh> , is going to be the first memory that comes up for me . <laugh> . And you described your expression perfectly <laugh> . Like, I couldn't tell, is she ecstatic? Is she mortified? It's both.

Patch 17:31

I was all of that <laugh>,

Carmina 17:32

And we shouldn't really gloss over the fact that the person who conceived of all this is David Byrne , who was the front man for Talking Heads, which in its time was also its own brand of music.

Patch 17:48

Mm-hmm. <affirmative> .

Carmina 17:49

And of course, the most important feature of this whole thing is it's the first all Filipino musical.

Patch 17:56

Right.

Carmina 17:57

So not only a Filipino story, but all the actors are Filipino. It also has a large contingent of Filipino producers, which is also sort of a, you know, groundbreaking thing on Broadway. There's not a lot of them ,

Patch 18:13

And it's heartwarming to know, you know, these people really are supportive of a trailblazing project.

Carmina 18:21

So you mentioned earlier the controversies, and there are many, but let's tackle the one that's really been dominating the narrative around this. Some of the criticisms I've read online, say it's glorifying Imelda Marcos, or not enough time is devoted to talking about the negative aspects of her origins or her rise to power. What do we have to say about that?

Patch 18:48

Well, and also I read that it was humanizing her.

Carmina 18:52

Mm-hmm. <affirmative> ,

Patch 18:52

I was kind of wary that that was going to be true.

Carmina 18:57

Mm-hmm. <affirmative> .

Patch 18:57

But I disagree for anyone who's not familiar with what happened to our history. You go through and learn about it in such a way that A, obviously not boring. B, your emotions are carried throughout the whole show. So even if you didn't live through those times, you're invested in it.

Carmina 19:21

Mm-hmm. <affirmative> ,

Patch 19:22

It's a great way of making people essentially care, because you're going through the whole emotions.

Carmina 19:28

That's what people forget. Right? This is a Broadway musical, not a documentary <laugh>.

Patch 19:33

Right, exactly.

Carmina 19:35

I also think that the criticism about humanizing her, is kind of misplaced because you really do need to try to understand why the person that we see today potentially could have evolved in this way. And that's kind of the gap that this musical is trying to fill.

Patch 19:53

I think it was in our first season when we were talking about the Korean entertainment industry.

Carmina 20:01

Mm-hmm. <affirmative> ,

Patch 20:01

They do a great job of keeping history present in entertainment. And that's really important because it's one of the ways we don't forget about our past. And people may disagree with me, but I don't believe the effort is popular, or there's not a lot. This is very encouraging to me that if you do something like this where it's really entertaining, and yet it makes us look at our history so we don't forget. I think this is really important, and I'm so happy that we're doing this.

Carmina 20:36

The other thing that I wanted to mention is, I mean, not the entire audience is Filipino.

Patch 20:41

Right.

Carmina 20:42

One of the things that I have experienced every single time I've watched the show and walked out of the theater, hearing what the people are talking about after the show. Many times I've experienced when we're already like feet from the theater, like we're on the street crossing, whatever, many blocks from the theater, there would be groups of people curious and hungry for more history. I remember one time when I watched this with my family, and we were eavesdropping <laugh> in certain conversations. A lot of, oh my God, I didn't even know that happened. Or what's this part of the history, or that part of the history. It really took all of my effort not to jump in <laugh> to these conversations, <laugh>,

Patch 21:26

Because you were obviously eavesdropping, <laugh>

Carmina 21:31

But I hope that when they got home, that they got straight to their computer and you know, started really educating themselves a little deeper aside from the show.

Patch 21:40

Right.

Carmina 21:41

Because a show, the 90 Minute musical, will not give you all the color and the context, but from that respect, and just anecdotally, I think it achieved the purpose of making people care about Philippine history, our connection with American history, and how it resonates with what's happening here in America, and how democracies are under threat all over the world. So in that respect, I really think it's relevant too .

Patch 22:10

That's a good point. I didn't even think about its relevance outside of the Filipino experience.

Carmina 22:17

I , I'm really curious to hear your thoughts about it, is the fact that a white dude and or two white dudes, because the other person who's involved in this is Fat Boy Slim. So I hear a lot of these commentary about, wow , oh my God, two , you know, perspective of two white men, and we have so many other origin stories that we can showcase. And so why is this the one.

Patch 22:40

Who cares? I , I have to be careful about that comment. But if it was done with research, it was done with purpose. They're the ones who were able to put this to the table. They're the ones who succeeded in creating this and making this happen. Maybe it will open doors for Filipinos and the artistic and creative industry to say, hey, if we put up a show that is Filipino oriented or has the Filipino cast, it's gonna be wonderful. So let's keep on producing similar shows . Or let's keep the Filipino talent engaged. You know.

Carmina 23:18

It's what happens after this that is also important. So now we have this for better or for worse, whether you like it or not, this is the first introduction to the Philippines on Broadway. I think it's what happens after and who kind of takes up the baton and continues this, that arguably could be more important. So I really hope that after this, Filipinos are inspired to say to themselves, I can create something now about a topic or topics that I want to be out there more than this. But opening the door to me is such an important piece of how we're going to move this forward. I'll take anyone's help to break the door.

Patch 24:02

Well, I mean, we do have prominent Filipino Americans or Filipino talent, but to your point, you know, if they can use this as a door to basically prove that these kinds of things can make money, these kinds of topics, Filipino talent will succeed. Why not?

Carmina 24:21

We forgot to mention Lea is also part of this, right?

Patch 24:25

R ight.

Carmina 24:25

Leia Salonga is one of the producers, and she was performing in it for a limited run who never played a Filipino part until now. So it's what we do with that opportunity that will make the difference. Right.

Patch 24:38

And it has to be enjoyable, entertaining,

Carmina 24:40

Which this is.

Patch 24:41

Definitely is.

Carmina 24:43

Well, how about the fact that it's about Imelda? No one is criticizing the actors. Everybody agree that Arielle Jacobs, Conrad Ricamora, Jose Llana, they're all excellent and they're ensemble, the all Filipino ensemble, all of them are so excellent and I'm so proud to see them on stage. The negative reviews are centering around these two things that we're talking about right now, which are the creators and the topic.

Patch 25:11

Again, it doesn't take away from it being a good show. This is not the first time that a very , uh, controversial figure was made into a musical. We have obviously Evita.

Carmina 25:25

So the barometer that a lot of people measure this against is number one, are they lying about anything or are they hiding anything to those two questions? My answer is no. It wasn't like there were excuses being made during the scenes where the atrocities were committed. They didn't gloss over those parts. They talked about the atrocities and the excesses. You can devote 90 minutes to it. <laugh> .

Patch 25:54

Mm-hmm. <affirmative> .

Carmina 25:55

I think it was just enough to show people there were also these things that happened.

Patch 26:01

I mean, I do appreciate that they were even able to show.

Carmina 26:06

Yeah, 'cause that's challenging.

Patch 26:08

Sorry, this is entertainment and a musical at that <laugh> . So they did a great job, including that very sensitive issue.

Carmina 26:17

The other criticism that I read was, why are we dancing or clapping to parts of the show that are showing support? What do we say to that?

Patch 26:27

I say, you should watch it, honestly, <laugh> , because we can talk about it until our throats are sore. But the experience itself will open your eyes. But what I like best is not only is it entertaining, but it makes people curious about our history.

Carmina 26:46

That's true. And any opportunity to showcase Filipino talent is a great opportunity.

Patch 26:54

Absolutely.

Carmina 26:55

So well said , Patch, go get your butts to a Broadway <laugh> box office and go see the show <laugh>. So Patch congratulations on our season two.

Patch 27:09

I thought you were going to congratulate me in my Broadway debut <laugh>. But yes. Also on season two,

Carmina 27:14

Oh my God, you did have your Broadway debut, <laugh> . Congratulations on that too. How can I forget that?

Patch 27:25

Thank you.

Carmina 27:27

That's our last episode for season two. We hope you join us in 2024, O siya, siya!

Patch 27:34

Inga! Thanks for listening to FilTrip with Carmina and Patch. Support FilTrip through Patreon or PayPal. And follow us on Instagram and Twitter. Subscribe at Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever all podcasts are downloaded.

Carmina 27:53

Thanks to Filtrip's sponsor Solepack, a functional shoe accessory bag. Visit thesolepack.com for more details.

Patch 28:03

Email us at thefiltrip @gmail.com.