After braving the Metro Manila traffic we had the chance to see Dirty Old Musical at the Music Museum last Friday.

The show follows the reunion of "The Bench Boys," an '80s Filipino boy band whose members have aged into that peculiar territory where Viagra jokes land with knowing chuckles and hair loss becomes a plot point. They've gathered to raise funds for their ailing former manager, but really, they're here to confront the ghosts of their shared past.

What makes the production sing – quite literally – is its stellar cast. John Arcilla (fresh from his triumph as Heneral Luna), Nonie Buencamino, Michael Williams, Bimbo Cerudo, and Robert Seña bring a lived-in authenticity to their roles that no amount of stage makeup could fake. When they perform, you forget you're watching actors playing former pop stars; you're simply watching men wrestling with time's unforgiving march.

The '80s fashion looks like a color wheel exploded in a Miami Vice wardrobe department, and the choreography must have kept the local pharmacies busy with pain reliever sales. But there's something endearing about watching these accomplished actors throw themselves into the physical demands of the show with the enthusiasm of men half their age.

At its heart, "Dirty Old Musical" taps into something universal: the stubborn weight of grudges we refuse to release, the selfish little hurts we nurse like precious wounds. The solution, the show suggests with disarming simplicity, is to just let go. It's a message that might seem trite if it weren't delivered with such winning sincerity by this ensemble.

The musical reminds me of what an old friend once said about aging: it's not the years that make us old, but the regrets we carry. In that sense, "Dirty Old Musical" isn't really about getting old at all – it's about growing up, even if it takes a few decades to get there.