Tara Frejas's Blog, page 3

Tiny Beautiful Thoughts: An interview with Mr. Rody Vera

I LOVE the theatre. I might not have the means to see every single show running in my city at a given time, but when I do get my chance, I always have a great time. This weekend, I’m looking forward to discovering a play for the first time! It’s a straight play called Tiny Beautiful Things, which is a stage adaptation of the book with the same title, penned by American author Cheryl Strayed. In Tiny Beautiful Things, an anonymous advice columnist named Sugar encounters a colorful variety of pers...

My weekend with Pawssion Project

I don’t remember now how exactly I discovered Pawssion Project, but I do know it was before the pandemic happened, and I’d had aspirations of becoming a volunteer even back then. Fast forward to 2023, and I saw a call for volunteers on their Instagram page; I signed up and that was it! I became a Pawssion Project volunteer! I initially signed up as one of their content creators, but immediately realized I couldn’t contribute as much because of my day job and other author-related activities. Even...

Tara’s Thoughts On: PETA Theater Center’s One More Chance the Musical

When PETA’s One More Chance the Musical was announced last year, my first reaction was “WHY?” Now, hear me out—I don’t want to be a hater, but I think most of us who loved the Star Cinema movie when it first came out have grown older and wiser, and realized that a) Popoy, the male MC, was a toxic sadboi, and; b) his HFN with Basha wasn’t rightfully earned. Which is my way of saying I wasn’t exactly thrilled at the prospect of seeing it interpreted as a musical, even as a casual fan of Ben&Ben’s ...

I’m launching a book at #MIBF2024 this Saturday!

Yes, folks—it’s finally happening! But first… Look at these beauties! These are the new Blush Books edition covers for Six de los Reyes’ Beginner’s Guide: Love and Other Chemical Reactions, Mina V. Esguerra’s Better at Weddings Than You, and my book, Scandalized! Aren’t they amazing? Many thanks to talented local artists Enid Din, Ren Bit, and Shai San Jose for giving our books a glow-up! In case you missed it, Blush Books is a new imprint by Komiket that was created in partnership with #Romance...

LOOK: It’s an August $0.99 SALE!

Hey, hey! Where I’m from, August is a month spotlighting Filipino-authored work (although if you ask me, Filipinos should be reading more Filipino-authored work all year round), so here’s a month-long sale—Get a copy of What If We Fall In Love? for only $0.99! Awesome, I’d love a copy—let’s go! If you’ve already read and enjoyed this book, please feel free to share this post with someone you think would enjoy it as well. And as always, I hope you give it some love on Goodreads!

In SB19 Justin’s world, storytelling is KING

Before anything else, I will preface this post by saying I’m a (not-so) casual A’Tin who divides her time between two houses: the maisan, and the farm. I’m not a film or music expert, and I don’t claim to know everything about EVERYTHING. This blog post contains my personal interpretation and opinions, and anything said here should not be taken as FACT. Anyway, Justin of SB19 released a new single and music video last week called Kaibigan, and the visual storytelling just tickled my brain in a g...

Tara’s Thoughts On: The Sandbox Co.’s Little Shop of Horrors

Listennnnnn. I’m not a fan of the horror and gore genres, but put it in a musical and inject into it a dose of campiness and dark humor and I’ll most probably give it a try. (And it also kinda helps if I have a friend in the cast, ‘cos honestly that was the case here.) So yeah, we watched The Sandbox Co.’s Little Shop of Horrors over the weekend, and had so much fun! Little Shop of Horrors is an Alan Menken-Howard Ashman musical about a botanical geek, Seymour, who has discovered a strange new p...

Tara’s Thoughts On: 9Works Theatrical’s RENT

I was in my early 20s when I first encounted the musical RENT in its movie iteration. I’m not sure why, but it took me a bit of time warming up to it. Perhaps I felt too removed from the themes of the musical at the time, or because the music didn’t quite capture me at first listen. But the more I got into the material, the more my appreciation for it grew. However, it wasn’t until a week ago that I was actually able to see RENT on stage! My gosh, finally! RENT is a Jonathan Larson musical about...

Tara’s Thoughts On: SB19’s Pagtatag Finale Concert

05/18/2024 Dear Diary, SB19 finished their first day of the Pagtatag Finale concert today. They were soooooo cute! Sabi nila, A’Tin were so instrumental to their success, kaya lang, we’re OA. React much sa lahat ng bagay kasi eh! Mula ngayon… Goodbye—teka, ano’ng goodbye? *Maricel Soriano voice* WALANG MAGGU-GOODBYE!!! We might have said our farewell to the Pagtatag era, but just like Pablo said, this is not the end. And honestly, for someone like me who’s just attended her FIRST SB19 concert, t...

Download Play It By Ear for FREE!

Hello, friends and loved ones! It has (unfortunately) slipped my mind how one of my children turned five this week! FIVE! Oh my gosh, how time flies! (I’m so sorry Yihwan, it’s not you, it’s me.) Anyway, here’s a quick weekend giveaway for everyone! Play It By Ear (Backstage Pass #2) is now FREE to download on Gumroad until Sunday, May 19! Play It By Ear is the story of Jo Yihwan, a KPop rock band leader who reluctantly signs onto a talent-slash-reality TV show and meets a determined idol traine...