ADULTS will remember the splendor of Christmas past when the streets and neighborhoods were a galaxy of lights. Windows were festooned with fancy lanterns. Commercial buildings and residences would set up dramatic dioramas on rooftops and lawns. With the spiraling gas and electricity prices and cost of living, the pomp and pageantry of the season are no more. Today the decor in the city as austere and somber as the bleak economy.

However, for a few minutes at Bonifacio High Street recently, the resplendence of Christmas was revived with a street performance, titled "A Christmas Spark." High in production values, the show was part of Bonifacio Global City?s endeavor to make the arts accessible to the public. Staged by the 9Works production company, "A Christmas Spark" was daring in the sense it was a postmodern theater genre, yet it successfully melded the commercial values that appealed to the YouTube/Facebook generations who find theater art arcane.

Inner journey

Chari Arespacochaga, the director and scriptwriter, explained that the story was inspired by the Three Kings who followed the Star of Bethlehem. In today?s context, the three kings were three typical kids, more like the ?Twilight? set in search of their own inner star, be it passions or vestiges of innocence.

As part of Bonifacio Global City?s campaign as a haven that nurtures passions, 9Works was tasked to create a Christmas musical that was "edgy and interactive."

The genre itself was non-traditional. As a postmodern play, it was metaphorical and incorporated a lot of multi-media forms and rejected notions of "high" and "low" art. It didn?t follow the conventional narrative which had a beginning, a climax and a denouement. Instead, the imagistic scenes gave way to a series of dramatic highlights. The characters were archetypes developed from the theme. The audience was an essential component to the shared endeavor in the performance process. The elements were tools for the audience to see the play as an inner journey. The intent of the postmodern theater is to find new ways of appreciating theater arts.

"Christmas Spark" was about three ?tweeners-- Jaded Teen (Kathleen Francisco), Nerdy Teen (Sam Enriquez) and Shy Teen (Regina Villongco) -- who were out into their passage of going beyond their self-created limitations. The Painter (Jake Macapagal) was the storyteller and their guide. He took them to specific places where they rediscover their true selves. The world-weary Jaded Teen was brought to the labyrinth wherein she learned to go beyond her boundaries and discover being a child again. The pragmatic Nerdy Teen was brought to the underwater where he saw an animated world and where he loosened up playing with the sea creatures. The Shy Teen came out of her shell on seeing the glittery world of Christmas ornaments.

Although the play?s theme was deep--a journey to self-discovery, it was made light and entertaining by the scoring. The core of the play was the familiar Christmas songs, albeit cheesy to cynical ears. Musical director Manman Angsico gave a fresh spin on "Let it Snow," "Joy to the World," and "Hark the Herald Angels Sing," which he strung together to carry the storyline.

"The music makes the play edgy because old Christmas songs have been rearranged to quasi-house music. The Christmas songs become a counterpoint to the pop songs and later the music climaxes to become orchestral," explains Arespacochaga.

Grand design

The piece de resistance was Villongco?s rendition of "Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas." To Starbucks junkies, that song may be coming out of everyone?s ears. But this ingenue?s interpretation and purity of voice melted the hearts of the audience.

Scenographer Mio Infante built a thrust stage that extended to the audience?s seating area, to create intimacy and to reflect the postmodern theater precept of audience involvement. The Painter engaged select members of the audience to be part of the scene. The main set was an arch of biomorphic stars and snowflakes, echoing the abstract Christmas decor and environmental art around the city. The decor crowned the screen at the center.

Videographer Robbie Guevara reworked graphics and animation for the actors to interact. The video provided textural interest and contrast to each scene.

At the start, The Painter got his brush and made the screen into a canvas for his landscape painting. Invariably the images on the screen established the different acts and created the atmosphere for the actors to interact.

Paul Morales? choreography, rendered by his company, Airdance, seamlessly blended with the elements. It never called attention to itself, but rather enhanced the moods of the scene. The dancers played Christmas ornaments, hedges of a labyrinth and sea creatures.

Infante said there were limitations. Although the open-air space lent itself to pocket performances, acoustics would be a problem. Hence, actors had to pre-record their lines and songs and perform with a click track, which is a series of audio cues used to synchronize sound recordings to the singing and dialogue of cast.

"We?re using technology, not live art. But the whole point of this play is communication," said Infante.

BGC and 9Works said they hope that the audience, most of them exposed only to technology-based entertainment, would be bowled over by the visceral experience of a live performance and the spontaneous interaction between the actors and the stage.

Now that?s when sparks start flying.

Catch these Christmas-inspired decors the ?Merry Troupers? , as they spread Christmas cheer around Bonifacio High Street today from 4 pm to 10 pm

Bonifacio Global City?s Passion for Christmas culminating event is ?Fusion?, on Dec. 20, 8 p.m., featuring Chino Toledo with the Metro Manila Community Orchestra, Las Pinas Boys Choir and Isay Alvarez