The Bus (The Musical)

Based purely on true-to-life events.

Cast: Elvin, Bus Conductor who looks like Erap, 2 Beefy Men who look like wrestlers, Girl in eyeglasses, Passenger ensemble

Synopsis: The play starts with Elvin getting on a Monumento-bound bus along Ayala Avenue. With the official Bus Drivers' FM station Love Radio (Kailangan pa bang i-memorize yan? Bisyo na'to!) blaring on the shabby speakers of the bus of Korean origin, Elvin picks a three-seater seat and sits on the place nearest the window.

The radio plays "Ocean Deep," Elvin discreetly sings along and surprises himself that he knows the song. In the middle of the song, he hears the girl in eyeglasses sitting behind him singing along too. He decides to stop singing.

And then the radio plays "On the Wings of Love." This time, almost half of the passengers are singing. Aloud. The kundoktor sings in a booming tenor voice that could shatter the bus windows. Elvin checks his bus ticket if it reads "Something Something Mental Institution."

The highlight of the play is when two muscled men, who, judging by their jargons, might be gym instructors, get on the bus and occupy the two-seater seat beside Elvin's seat. Their massive bulk scares Elvin for they can easily beat him up and throw him out of the window and make him taste EDSA asphalt. Then "Kailan Kaya," the theme song of MArina, Claudine Baretto's mermaid TV soap, plays. The two bulky men look at each other and excitedly sing along.

Elvin is now near his destination. Elvin walks along the bus aisle. And while he is about to get off, Love Radio plays a very memorable song. It is the first Top 40-type FM pop song that Elvin learned. The first Top 40-type FM pop song he performed before an audience. What a baduy kid.

"I was not so happy being lonely living without you

So I prayed so hard for your love in my heart I needed you

Then I looked up in the sky and I'm thinking why oh why,

These are all the many changes in my life..."

Curtains down. The End.