Lea Salonga is one of the country's foremost national treasures back in the 1990's when she bagged the title role for Miss Saigon in London's West End and eventually Broadway. She won the coveted Sir Laurence Olivier award for best actress in a musical in 1990 and ultimately the Tony Award in 1991. She has paved the way for Filipino performers to be acquire acclaim in the theater realm, long before Charice, Arnel Pineda (Journey) and Apl.d.Ap (Black Eyed Peas) broke through in the pop scene in this digital age.
I have never seen Lea in concert. I was lucky to see her twice when she returned to Broadway in 2007-2008 to play Fantine in Les Miz. On my trip this year, I had the opportunity to catch her live in a non-musical atmosphere.
Lea Salonga Your Songs is a two-night engagement in the PICC Plenary Hall. It employs the "by request" concept common among Filipino artists. Lea put up a website specific for the concert wherein fans can send in their requests of songs for Lea to showcase in the show. Lea asked the fans to think 'out of the box,' to request songs that she has never performed before, songs from different genres of music. Lea has always been associated with Broadway and pop music so to open her doors to different genres is a welcome treat (not that she has not done it before; she did Buchikik, a well-known Filipino novelty song, in the past). In addition, fans are encouraged to submit their photos with Lea on the website. And as an extra bonus, Lea will give a special opportunity to a fan to sing with her onstage. Fans are asked to 'audition' by submitting their videos. I did not participate in the video thing but I did upload my pic with Lea taken after one of her Les Miz performance.
Lea started off with the concert title, 'Your Songs,' by Elton John. Then she segued to Beyoncé's 'Halo,' which delighted the fans. Lea is known for simplistic vocal stylings. She doesn't do melisma, the vocal acrobatics full of runs perfected by Mariah, Beyoncé and Christina Aguilera, and for her to do so in this number was very refreshing.
Then she introduced the winner of the video challenge, this guy who hails from Saudi Arabia. They sang 'A Whole New World' beautifully. One of the most applauded numbers and my personal favorite was Rehab, that song by Amy Winehouse. This she did with backup hiphop female dancers with choreography taken from the Glee handbook. It was amazing to see Lea dance, complete with a dance solo on the bridge, because this is very rare. Of course, she has had dance training from all the numerous musicals she has done but to witness her dance a hiphop-esque number was absolutely phenomenal.
Then she had a medley of Pinoy rock including the Eraserheads's 'Ang Huling El Bimbo' and brought out Jett Pangan for a duet of 'Salamat.' Another surprise was Lady Gaga's Poker Face, which she said was on the top 5 most requested (if I remember correctly, it was 4). Then another medley of Broadway hits -- I Dreamed A Dream and On My Own from Les Miz, Memory from Cats, Defying Gravity from Wicked and Electricity from Billy Elliot. Surprisingly absent from this segment were songs from Miss Saigon.
She brought out Richard Poon, Filipino crooner á la Michael Bublé, for a series of well-loved OPM love songs. Her final guest for the night was comedy queen, Ai Ai de las Alas, who held her own in doing Aegis songs and brought out all the laughs and hilarity. Ai Ai played the jologs bit to Lea's 'sosyal' act. Ai Ai was a big hit among the audience that she needed to be brought out a second time to do a reprise of 'Halik,' which was totally impromptu. For the finale, Lea sang the song from American Idol called 'No Boundaries,' which came in #2 in the requests before she did the #1, 'Bayan Ko,' that rousing rendition she did during the funeral of the late President Cory Aquino.
For the encore, Lea did Abba's 'Thank You For The Music' while a montage of photo submissions from fans played in the background. I waited for my pic to pop up but it never happened. Then she did 'The Journey,' that song from her internationally-released album in 1992, while private photos of her childhood, her accomplishments and her wedding were being shown. Truly, 'what a journey it has been,' as the line from the song says.
I thoroughly enjoyed the concert. It also marks my first concert with my boyfriend so it was certainly special. Lea Salonga is, indeed, a world-class act. I can't wait for her to be back in Broadway soon.
I have never seen Lea in concert. I was lucky to see her twice when she returned to Broadway in 2007-2008 to play Fantine in Les Miz. On my trip this year, I had the opportunity to catch her live in a non-musical atmosphere.
Lea Salonga Your Songs is a two-night engagement in the PICC Plenary Hall. It employs the "by request" concept common among Filipino artists. Lea put up a website specific for the concert wherein fans can send in their requests of songs for Lea to showcase in the show. Lea asked the fans to think 'out of the box,' to request songs that she has never performed before, songs from different genres of music. Lea has always been associated with Broadway and pop music so to open her doors to different genres is a welcome treat (not that she has not done it before; she did Buchikik, a well-known Filipino novelty song, in the past). In addition, fans are encouraged to submit their photos with Lea on the website. And as an extra bonus, Lea will give a special opportunity to a fan to sing with her onstage. Fans are asked to 'audition' by submitting their videos. I did not participate in the video thing but I did upload my pic with Lea taken after one of her Les Miz performance.
Lea started off with the concert title, 'Your Songs,' by Elton John. Then she segued to Beyoncé's 'Halo,' which delighted the fans. Lea is known for simplistic vocal stylings. She doesn't do melisma, the vocal acrobatics full of runs perfected by Mariah, Beyoncé and Christina Aguilera, and for her to do so in this number was very refreshing.
Then she introduced the winner of the video challenge, this guy who hails from Saudi Arabia. They sang 'A Whole New World' beautifully. One of the most applauded numbers and my personal favorite was Rehab, that song by Amy Winehouse. This she did with backup hiphop female dancers with choreography taken from the Glee handbook. It was amazing to see Lea dance, complete with a dance solo on the bridge, because this is very rare. Of course, she has had dance training from all the numerous musicals she has done but to witness her dance a hiphop-esque number was absolutely phenomenal.
Then she had a medley of Pinoy rock including the Eraserheads's 'Ang Huling El Bimbo' and brought out Jett Pangan for a duet of 'Salamat.' Another surprise was Lady Gaga's Poker Face, which she said was on the top 5 most requested (if I remember correctly, it was 4). Then another medley of Broadway hits -- I Dreamed A Dream and On My Own from Les Miz, Memory from Cats, Defying Gravity from Wicked and Electricity from Billy Elliot. Surprisingly absent from this segment were songs from Miss Saigon.
She brought out Richard Poon, Filipino crooner á la Michael Bublé, for a series of well-loved OPM love songs. Her final guest for the night was comedy queen, Ai Ai de las Alas, who held her own in doing Aegis songs and brought out all the laughs and hilarity. Ai Ai played the jologs bit to Lea's 'sosyal' act. Ai Ai was a big hit among the audience that she needed to be brought out a second time to do a reprise of 'Halik,' which was totally impromptu. For the finale, Lea sang the song from American Idol called 'No Boundaries,' which came in #2 in the requests before she did the #1, 'Bayan Ko,' that rousing rendition she did during the funeral of the late President Cory Aquino.
For the encore, Lea did Abba's 'Thank You For The Music' while a montage of photo submissions from fans played in the background. I waited for my pic to pop up but it never happened. Then she did 'The Journey,' that song from her internationally-released album in 1992, while private photos of her childhood, her accomplishments and her wedding were being shown. Truly, 'what a journey it has been,' as the line from the song says.
I thoroughly enjoyed the concert. It also marks my first concert with my boyfriend so it was certainly special. Lea Salonga is, indeed, a world-class act. I can't wait for her to be back in Broadway soon.
*you can hardly see her from these pics. Some are in my camera. :(
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