Jepoy & the Magic Circle

The play is based on a short story, “The Magic Circle,” by Gilda Cordero-Fernando, about Jepoy and his dog, Galís. Jepoy, the poorest kid in town, son of a lavandera named Aling Barang, grows up with an absent father who looks like a kapre and his mother like an aswang. Jepoy’s dog, Galís, runs off with a fine gown that his mother was washing.  He dashes into a massive Balete tree with Jepoy chasing her. They enter the giant Balete that is a home to Encantos (magical spirits).

There is a folk belief that when the sun shines even when it rains, it is a sign that a tikbalang wedding is going on (the tikbalang being a mythological horse-like creature, with body of a man, and head of a horse).  Jepoy attends the tikbalang wedding, and a tiyanak debut, (Chavacano-speaking hobbits,) and meets aswang cooks, a santelmo (fire elemental), and a slew of enchanted animals even an ipis (cockroach). There is also the Queen of the party, the voluminous Doña Geronima, who lends her finest china to the enchanted ones when they have parties, and a kapre, who mourns the loss of his trees due to construction of homes and buildings. 

Although it is a light-hearted musical geared towards children, with the enchanting and magical creatures that are comical and Disneyesque, the production cleverly incorporates the original intention of folk stories —  that there is always a lesson learned, this story being that of saving our environment.