Kakki Teodoro leads a moving, funny musical about unfinished dreams, the people we carry with us, and finding the courage to begin again.
I’m in my 30s, and I’ve had enough practice with “what if.”
What if I had made a different choice? What if I had kept going? What would life look like if someone I loved were still here?
I brought those questions with me to the press preview of Muli: An OPM Musical. Watching Anita, or Ani, look back on her life, I recognized something I knew well: the temptation to keep revisiting the past, hoping to find a version where things worked out differently.
I laughed a lot that night. I also cried. And between the high school memories, the friendships, and the songs, I found myself thinking about the things I still want to do with my life.
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Anita’s what-ifs felt close to home
Muli follows a woman who has spent much of her life caring for her family, with dreams of her own that she has put aside along the way. Music once meant everything to her. As she considers the choices that brought her here, the story opens up other possibilities—lives she might have lived, people she might have become.
Written by Charissa Pammit and Jose Paolo dela Cruz and directed by Andrei Pamintuan, the musical moves between memories and imagined possibilities. Watching it felt a little like stepping into a time machine with someone who hasn’t quite decided where she wants to land. The premise gives the production room to play, while keeping Ani’s questions familiar.
As a millennial, I understood that pull. You reach an age when you can remember exactly how excited you once felt about the future, even as you try to make sense of how differently things turned out. You can appreciate parts of your life and still wonder about the dreams you left unfinished. Both feelings can exist at once.
Muli reminded me of that. I know what it means to lose someone, to start again, and to look backward longer than I probably should. Ani’s circumstances aren’t identical to mine, but I understood the longing.
Kakki Teodoro gives Anita so much heart
Kakki Teodoro was the person I couldn’t stop watching. As Anita, she moves through the story’s different moods and possibilities with an energy that makes you want to follow her anywhere. She can be very funny, then leave you unexpectedly emotional a moment later.
Through all the changes around Ani, I kept seeing someone trying to understand herself. I wanted her to find her way back to the things she loved. Teodoro gives so much to the role, and that commitment reaches you.
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Janine Teñoso, who plays Anita’s daughter Kath, also gives the story some of its warmth. I loved the closeness between them. As a Gilmore Girls fan, I recognized that mother-daughter bond with a friendship inside it. The sense that these two people enjoy each other’s company and have a world of their own. Kath helps us see Ani beyond the role of being someone’s mother.
The cast received a standing ovation at the preview I attended. After watching Teodoro carry so much of the evening, alongside a cast that worked so well together, I understood the response.
The barkada brings the ’90s back
For all its emotional weight, Muli is very funny. Ani’s friendships were among my favorite parts, especially the high school dynamic of crushes, teasing, and having people around who believe in you while you’re still figuring yourself out.
Justine Peña, Marynor Madamesila, and Baus Rufo help bring that circle to life. Their chemistry with Teodoro makes the barkada scenes such a pleasure to watch. The ’90s nostalgia works because it brings back a feeling, too. I remembered the excitement of having dreams before I knew how complicated pursuing them could become. The musical gives you time to enjoy that younger world, with all its silliness and possibility.
I also appreciated a moment when the show took a stand on a current Philippine issue. I’ll leave the specifics for audiences to discover, but I liked that it had something to say about the present amid all that looking back.
Original songs that made me feel every bit of it
The original music by Nica del Rosario and Matthew Chang was another highlight. I loved how the songs let the characters express feelings that could be difficult to say plainly. There’s plenty of hugot, and several moments brought me to tears.
Ani’s love for music also made me think about the things we stop doing as life gets busier or harder. The interests we once made time for. The dreams we tell ourselves we’ll return to when the timing improves. Watching her reminded me how much of ourselves we leave in those things.
Music has always had a way of bringing people and memories close again. A song can remind me of someone I miss, or return me to a time I thought I had almost forgotten. That feeling belongs so naturally in this story.
There’s still a life to look forward to
What I loved most about Muli was the hope I carried out of the theater. I felt encouraged to pursue the dreams I still care about without treating my age or my past as reasons to stop.
Losing people changes you. I carry the people I’ve loved in my memories, in what they taught me, and in the person I’ve become because I knew them. Making room for new people and new experiences doesn’t make those connections matter any less.
Muli gave me space to feel all of that while also having a very good time. It has humor, beautiful music, a cast worth watching, and so much heart. If you’ve ever wondered whether you’ve missed your chance at something, this is a story I’d love for you to see.
I’m still in my 30s. There are things I want to try again. I left feeling a little more ready to try.
Catch Muli: An OPM Musical on Fridays, Saturdays, and Sundays through September 27, 2026, at the Globe Auditorium, Maybank Performing Arts Theater, BGC Arts Center in Taguig. Visit TicketWorld for performance options, current prices, and seat availability.
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