From Film to the Stage: PETA’s ONE MORE CHANCE The Musical Premieres April 12

Who would have thought this beautiful film will have it’s own stage musical version?

One More Chance, The Musical is based on the motion picture One More Chance (2007), produced by ABS-CBN Film Productions, Inc. 

One More Chance is a popular Filipino romantic drama film released in 2007. The movie tells the story of Popoy (John Lloyd Cruz) and Basha (Bea Alonzo), a couple whose long-term relationship faces numerous challenges. 

PETA’s musical adaptation not only brings the iconic love story of Popoy and Basha to life but also creates a more nuanced and expanded experience for audiences, thanks to Ben&Ben’s poetic, emotionally charged, and LSS-inducing songs. The musical includes the band’s smash hits “Kathang Isip,” “Araw-Araw,” “Leaves,” and “Paninidigan Kita,” to name a few.

With the stage play adaptation, we relive the moments of the central characters with much more intimacy, intensity, dimension, and perspective. Here we see them in the flesh; we are with them in the same room, watching them and seeing what goes behind every choice made and chance taken or not taken by the characters we all love so well.

The musical features the songs of the massively popular and award-winning Filipino nine-piece band, Ben&Ben.

One More Chance, The Musical is slated to run from April 12–June 30, 2024, at the PETA Theater Center in Quezon City. The musical is presented by PETA and co-presented by Metrobank and Robinsons Malls.

Overview

One More Chance is a classic and an icon. Loved by a generation that saw themselves in Popoy, Basha, and the many friends and lovers that came into their lives. In them, we saw how a seemingly picture-perfect and solid relationship can easily crumble when the small cracks are ignored, or worse, covered up. With Popoy, we learned that giving your best doesn’t mean you won’t get your heart broken, and with Basha, we hoped to be chosen once again for another chance for a better kind of love. In the present context, this story about taking chances and living life without regrets resonates more than ever.

A chance to get closer

The intimacy of theater and the nuanced expression

Hope, love, and chances. These are sentiments that don’t escape us, sentiments that were captured so well by One More Chance because of how the film provided a closer look at a couple growing into themselves as individuals, and as lovers. Now, with the stage play adaptation, we relive the moments of Popoy and Basha with much more intimacy, as lent by the theater. To see them in the flesh, to be with them in one room goes beyond what cinema captured. In this version, we not only show the nuanced and expanded experience of the couple but also their friends, the Thursday barkada—the level-headed Kenneth and Krizzy and their couple goals, the jovial Chino and his heartbreak, tough-loving Anj’s tenacity, and carefree JP’s adventures as a playboy. We can also look into the people who were there for the protagonists at their lowest, Mark and Tricia.

Beyond Love

Behind the choices and chances

 A musical provides the avenue to pick the characters’ hearts and minds, for their inner monologues to be heard in song as they make their choices. With the adaptation, the relevant themes and issues presented in the film can be further explored. More than the relationship, Popoy and Basha’s struggles were also tied up to the expectations shouldered by the age group they belonged to—young professionals making a name for themselves; breaking boundaries in society while establishing their own; expectations from family; expectations to hit the ground running in a rat race that diminishes the self and self-care. These, along with the interrogation of how one handles pressure, pain, heartbreak, and depression, among others, are possibilities the stage play could accommodate.

Icon for an icon

Bridging generations with music

 As an iconic film, One More Chance is only befitting of the iconic music that is Ben&Ben. Their songs capture the emotional angst that will bring the scenes of the movie to the ‘now’. The music of Ben&Ben reflects the brokenness of a person and his or her  journey to heal from it and come out stronger. Their music is a fitting anthem to the film that embodies just those. This coming together of cinema, music, and live performance aims to be a heartwarming welcome for Filipinos back to the theater, for one more chance at love, healing, and the songs that go along with it.

The musical is presented by PETA together with Metrobank and Robinsons Malls. Tickets thru Ticketworld.

For more information, follow PETA’s social media accounts at @petatheater (Facebook, Instagram, X, and TikTok). For partnerships, contact PETA’s Marketing and Public Relations Office at 0917-5765400 or petatheater@gmail.com.