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Review: Best Lea Salonga concert so far

Vladimir Bunoan, ABS-CBN News

<div class="embed-wrap"><figure data-feedback="fb:likes,fb:comments"><img src="http://sa.kapamilya.com/absnews/abscbnnews/media/2017/life/02/18/lea1.jpg"/><figcaption><div class="embed-desc">Standing ovation for Lea Salonga during the opening night of her concert ‘Songs from the Stage.” <cite>Photo: Handout </cite></div></figcaption></figure></div><p>MANILA — Perhaps she is still on a high from her sold-out, well-reviewed concerts at the famed Sydney Opera House. Or maybe it’s the theater geek in her rejoicing since it’s been 15 years since she tackled an all-musical theater repertoire for a hometown crowd.</p><p>Whatever the reason, Lea Salonga’s latest solo concert, “Songs from the Stage,” which opened on Friday at the Philippine International Convention Center, is her best show yet since she staged “A Miss Called Lea” at the same venue when she was just 19.</p><p>And she didn’t even perform any songs from “Miss Saigon,” her famous Disney tunes or any of the showstoppers that have won her raves both here and abroad, although her brother Gerard Salonga and the ABS-CBN Philharmonic Orchestra included those in the overture, which set the mood for a wonderful night of show tunes. </p><p>As she noted in an early spiel, so many new shows have opened in New York since she mounted “The Broadway Concert” back in 2002 and choice numbers from these shows make up a bulk of her repertoire. But since Broadway has also seen numerous jukebox musicals, as well as movies adapted for the stage, this allowed Salonga to include such pop gems like “If I Can’t Have You” from “Saturday Night Fever” and even an OPM medley featuring songs from “Rak of Aegis.”</p><p>In fact, compositions by Carole King from the show “Beautiful” bookended the concert, with Salonga giving in to the post-Valentine mood with her take on “(You Make Me Feel Like A) Natural Woman.”</p><p>But given the overall flavor of the concert, Salonga attacked these numbers not just as pop hits but as show tunes, providing drama to “I Will Survive” from “Priscilla Queen of the Desert” and the Burt Bacharach chestnut “Don’t Make Me Over” from “Close to You.”</p><p>While Salonga has proven that she can shift to the more relaxed style of pop music in her more recent concerts like “Your Song” and “Playlist,” she is definitely in her element doing theatrical songs and she has never sounded this good. Salonga’s pristine vocal quality has set the bar for singers that it has become a meme (“when Lea Salonga’s voice is clearer than your future”) and she further raised that on Friday.</p><p>But even more than that, “Songs from the Stage,” which will have one more show on Saturday, showed Salonga’s remarkable maturity as a theater and concert performer.</p><p>Instead of choosing familiar tunes from popular shows, she chose songs that allow her to show her range — from the tender (“The Human Heart” from “Once on This Island”) to the more classic (“With One Look” from “Sunset Boulevard”) and lyrical (“Magbalik Ka Na Mahal” from “Rama Hari”).</p><p>Even her special guests had unusual choices. For the number featuring child performers which included Esang de Torres of “The Voice Kids” and Krystal Brimner from “Annie” — Salonga called them the future of Philippine theater — they chose “When I Get My Name in Lights” from “The Boy From Oz,” while her own daughter, Nicole Chien, sang “Ring of Keys” from “Fun Home,” about a young girl’s admiration for a butch lesbian. </p><div class="embed-wrap"><figure data-feedback="fb:likes,fb:comments"><img src="http://sa.kapamilya.com/absnews/abscbnnews/media/2017/life/02/18/lea2.jpg"/><figcaption><div class="embed-desc">Lea Salonga with some of her guest singers during her concert ‘Songs from the Stage.” <cite>Photo: Handout </cite></div></figcaption></figure></div><p>But Salonga’s particularly shines in the character pieces like the Stephen Sondheim medley of “So Many People” and “Loving You.” For her duet with special guest Jett Pangan, she chose another moving Sondheim masterpiece “Move On” from “Sunday in the Park with George.”</p><p>Her wondrous sense of storytelling was in full display in the Stephen Schwartz tune “Meadowlark,” and especially in the songs from three new Broadway musicals: the pensive “She Used to Be Mine” from “Waitress”; the inspiring “You Will Be Found” from “Dear Evan Hansen”; and the searing “Burn” from “Hamilton.”</p><p>While many of her peers are content with peddling nostalgia, Salonga continues to evolve as an artist, push herself even further and break new ground. </p>

<p>Lea Salonga’s latest solo concert, ''Songs from the Stage,'' which opened on Friday at the Philippine International Convention Center, is her best show yet since she staged ''A Miss Called Lea'' at the same venue when she was just 19.</p>

Lea Salonga’s latest solo concert, ''Songs from the Stage,'' which opened on Friday at the Philippine International Convention Center, is her best show yet since she staged ''A Miss Called Lea'' at the same venue when she was just 19.

Review: Best Lea Salonga concert so far

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Review: Best Lea Salonga concert so far

Vladimir Bunoan,

ABS-CBN News

Published February 18, 2017 05:41 PM PHT

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Updated February 18, 2017 07:25 PM PHT

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