Laugh - laughan at Live AIDS
This is my third year in a row to watch one of the most anticipated events in my alma mater. This year’s live AIDS pays homage to our beloved university by celebrating both the hundredth year of its existance as well as the twenty fifth year of laughs brought by the members of the organization SAMASKOM. But before we get into the details of Friday night’s entertainment I’d like to share a little about live AIDS by lifting something from their website (yeah, I’m too lazy to paraphrase!):
Live AIDS, Ang Istoryang Dinebelop ng SAMASKOM, is an annual musical-comedy series mounted by UP SAMASKOM, a student organization based in the UP College of Mass Communication. What started as a mere applicants’ batch project back in 1984 is now one of the most awaited events in the Diliman republic. This year, with the full backing of the UP Centennial Commission, Live AIDS, billed as “Live AIDS Silver: The UP Centennial Edition”, is touted to be the grandest and most spectacular version of the yearly extravaganza.
Each year, Live AIDS has never failed to surpass the previous record number of fans who trooped to its staging venues on all performances. Come November 28, 29, and 30, 2008 Live AIDS is set to break its own record of audience size as it conquers the gargantuan 2000-seater University of the Philippines Theater.
As the yearly production reaches a significant milestone – that of being in existence for one quarter of UP’s 100 years of excellent history – resident and alumni members of UP SAMASKOM will be in full force for this year’s Live AIDS Silver: The UP Centennial Edition. If only for the huge roster of well-known personalities it has produced, with the likes of TV/movie directors Lauren “Pinoy Big Brother” Dyogi, Jerry Lopez Sineneng, and Jeffrey Jeturian, prima ballerina Melanie Motus, broadcasters Tina Panganiban-Perez, Lei Alviz, and “Kuya” Kim Atienza, singers Raymond Lauchengco, Miro Valera (Stonefree), Kris Gorra (Cambio) and Wency Cornejo, and top humorists Tuesday Vargas, Rene Boy “Ate Glow” Facunla, and RS (M Butterfly) Francisco and Giselle Sanchez, Live AIDS Silver is certainly posed to give a grand treat to its fans.
This early, the temperature of anticipation for Live AIDS Silver has begun to inch to a fever-pitch climax. And as anybody who has seen Live AIDS could attest, its unique glint of hilarious wit through its comedic sketches and monologues and awe-inspiring high-energy production numbers is truly one for the books.
So off we went to the old campus to catch for the third time in a row the infectious disease called AIDS at the Aldaba hall. Show was to start at 7PM (as indicated in the tikets) but it was well beyond 8PM before the organizers let people in. As this was the first night, not a lot of people came in to watch but this was expected from our end that’s why we bought the tickets for the first day. It gets really jampacked days after the first run.
The stage was brilliantly set up with excellently captured billboard size pictures of UP (kudos to the photographer!), it was well lit and ambiance was perfect for a hearty laugh. The sound system wasn’t very good though, we caught ourselves going “ano daw?” one too many times and some punchlines got lost in transmission due to bad sound system. I especially loved the giant screens facing the audience as it was a very big help for myomic people like myself.
True entertainment came from the actors and actresses, stand up comics, singers and dancers who all graced the stage to bring us not just a hearty laugh but roll on the floor kick ass cackle! I’ve not laughed that hard for the whole year and I thank SAMASKOM for the 300+ pesos of happiness. Some of the characters that stuck in my mind were the very witty Michelle Obamshell, The you tube star (I forgot the name), and all the characters of Don’t Tell a Lie(Scarlet was dead on with impersonating Anglica P. down to the head movement and feet position). I say, falling in line and waiting for more than an hour was worth it 
To SAMASKOM, ¡Enhorabuena! Congratulazioni! Félicitations! Parabéns!
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