Valentine’s concerts to remember

We spent two nights (February 13 and 14) watching two concerts featuring two amazing performers.

On February 13, we watched the Valentine show of the iconic singer Dionne Warwick at the Grand Ballroom of Solaire Hotel.

We were familiar with some of the songs of Ms. Warwick and we are glad that she sang most of her hits with a dash of a few songs we were not too familiar with. But that did not prevent us from enjoying the show, just like the grandmas and grandpas who came to watch. Of course, there were not just grandparents, but young adults as well who came to witness the concert.

Ms. Warwick, accompanied by a four-piece band, opened the show by singing “Walk on By.” She then followed this up with “You’ll Never Get to Heaven (If You Break My Heart).” And then came the very familiar song, “I’ll Never Fall in Love Again.”

By the third song, Ms. Warwick had the audience singing with her. Once in a while, she would stop performing and ask the crowd to sing instead, to which everyone obliged. At times, we couldn’t help but ask ourselves – what if she gets tired? Can she sustain her energy till the end of the show? Well she did, which is remarkable for someone who just turned 77 last December.

Ms. Warwick also rendered songs like “This Girl’s In Love with You,” “I Say A Little Prayer,” “Alfie” (the theme song from the 1977 movie starring Michael Caine), “Heartbreaker,” “Do You Know the Way To San Jose” (which won her a Grammy Award), “I’ll Never Love This Way Again,” “What The World Needs Now” and “That’s What Friends Are For,” one of the biggest hits of her career. She was given a standing ovation by the audience.

The following night, Valentine’s Day, we braved the traffic to reach the Globe Auditorium at the Mayland Performance Arts Theater to watch the 25th anniversary concert and Valentine Show of former Miss Saigon lead actress Ms. Joanna Ampil titled “Love Wins.”

Joanna and her guests Mark Bautista, Arman Ferrer and Joaquin Valdes prepared a wonderful night of beautiful music truly worth braving the traffic for. It was a musical event since it also marked Joanna’s first concert in the local music scene.

Joanna said it was a dream come true for her to perform before her kababayans. It was a delight to hear her sing. Her voice was crystal clear from start to finish. She sang with ease, even with difficult numbers like those songs from the Broadway musicals that she had done like “Les Miserables,” “The Phantom of the Opera,” “Jesus Christ Superstar,” “The Sound of Music” and “Mary Poppins.”

She had a beautiful duet with Joaquin Valdes of Sun and Moon from Miss Saigon.

Equally impressive was Arman Ferrer, dubbed as the Prince of Philippine Theater, who performed a number from “Ang Larawan,” the Best Picture winner at last year’s MMFF.

A much-awaited number was that of Mark Bautista. The concert was the first public appearance of the singer after he came out with his tell-all autobiography titled Beyond The Mark where he revealed much of himself and his gender orientation.

Mark was given a warm welcome by the audience when Joanna introduced him after which he sang a mashup of “Being Alive” and “Corner of the Sky.”

 “Thanks for the love and respect,” said Mark.

Mark and Joanna did a touching version of a counterpoint of “Even Now” and “Somewhere Down the Road,” so touching it moved us to tears. It was as if the song was telling us how Mark was feeling at the moment after revealing his true self in his book.

Another good number was the medley of Maestro Ryan Cayabyab compositions done by Joanna, Joaquin and Arman.

According to Ms. Girlie Rodis, the manager of Joanna, she is committed to finish the World Tour of CATS in China until September.

She is also doing a special story for “Maalaala Mo Kaya” in late February until early March before she rejoins the CATS world tour in April.

When we asked GR if Joanna would be open to do a pop album or a movie which is not a musical, her answer was, “If there is an offer, why not?”