Sa Wakas
Sa Wakas, A New Pinoy Rock Musical
Client: Culture Shock Productions
Year: 2013
About the project
A jukebox musical centered around the songs of the now-defunct Filipino band Sugarfree. The story focuses on the lives of three contemporary characters: emerging photographer Topper, neurosurgeon Lexi, and magazine editor Gabby. Their lives intertwine, shaped by the questions that plague young professionals today: how to balance career and personal life, how to rekindle passion for art, how to cultivate one's own voice, and most prominently, why relationships fall apart.
Design notes
The overall goal was to create a fresh yet iconic identity for a new Filipino rock musical. For the logo, I wanted something simple yet memorable, in the tradition of the instantly recognizable identities of musicals (e.g. Cats eyes, Les Misérables girl, The Lion King lion, Miss Saigon helicopter, etc). For this musical, I created a wordmark that incorporates the silhouettes of the three main characters in the ‘A’ letterforms. Shadows set off the silhouettes, emphasizing the human forms, suggesting depth and a certain ominousness. Brush lettering gave me the flexibility to play with word and pictograph legibility, and at the same time inflected the wordmark with a youthful, energetic feel. The tone of the text was given a sedate feel with the consistent use of periods, subtly emphasizing finitude and finality.
Excerpt from Sa Wakas, reprised by Vic Robinson, Caisa Borromeo, and Kyla Rivera at Musikal! A Musical Theater Celebration of CCP's 45th at the Cultural Center of the Philippines Main Theater, September 2014. The stage blocking recalls that of the three characters in the logo.
Poster
“For a measure of the youthful cheek that informs Sa Wakas, the show’s makeshift playbill (itself a model of its kind with well-written program notes and hip visuals) is a good starting ground. ”
—Gibbs Cadiz, Philippine Daily Inquirer
Playbill
For the playbill, the sparse white cover is complemented by a richly colored photographic inside cover. The inside front and back covers are composed of a single continuous photo of two lovers in a room; they are literally separated by the playbill's contents.
Related links
Sa Wakas on Facebook
Credits
Producer: Charissa Ann Pammit
Director: Andrei Nikolai Pamintuan
Writers: Andrei Nikolai Pamintuan and Mariane A.R.T. Abuan
Musical Director: Ejay Yatco
Original music and lyrics: Ebe Dancel
Marketing Head: Cathy Bustos Guevara
Photographer: Carlo Ambrosio Lina