INTRODUCTION
I am delighted to be with you tonight for this gala world premiere of what I am certain will be a new Filipino musical and theatrical masterpiece.

Ordinarily, for the First Lady and myself, the opportunity to go to the theater is an occasion always accompanied by keen anticipation. Tonight’s presentation is truly special.
AN ACT OF SUPREME ARTISTRY
We are all aware of the literary and historical basis of this new work. The Noli Me Tangere was, and most likely still is, the greatest and most beloved novel ever written by a Filipino.

To have transformed it into a new art form, therefore, is an act of courage, an act of faith, and an act of supreme artistry on the part of Dr. Bienvenido Lumbera and Mr. Ryan Cayabyab. Let me extend these two men — these two brilliant Filipinos — my warmest congratulations for giving new life to the Noli.

I am elated to note that the cast includes some of the finest talents of Philippine theater — among them, Monique Wilson, Audie Gemora, Nanette Inventor, and Bernardo Bernardo. To them, and to the Tanghalang Pilipino’s artistic director, Mr. Nonon Padilla, my warm commendation.
COMMEMORATING THE CENTENNIAL
This musical event is particularly appropriate to our ongoing series of commemorations of the centennial of Philippine independence. The Noli itself may be more than a hundred years old, but its insights, and its message, are as fresh as this morning.

Today, we also signaled the start of the four-day celebration of the EDSA anniversary at the Libingan ng Mga Bayani — the hallowed ground where heroes of many campaigns lie.

By so doing, we reiterated our gratitude to those brave men and women — heroes from 1896 to 1986, not a few of whom sleep on nameless graves — who willingly paid the ultimate price for the freedom, peace and dignity we enjoy as a nation.

From Rizal’s martyrdom in 1896 to our 1986 People Power Revolution to the 1998 Centenary of Aguinaldo’s Declaration of Independence is a continuous tapestry of heroic deeds of Filipinos which resulted in triumph over crisis and their legacy to us of freedom, democracy and peace.
CLOSING
The Noli, Rizal said, was a book that he wrote specifically for his countrymen, to awaken their sentiments. “I shall be happy,” he wrote his friend M. H. del Pilar, “If among those I awaken I will find more notable champions.”

Let us hope that tonight’s performance awakens the champion in each of us.

And let us have an evening to remember.

Mabuhay ang Pilipinas!