Lea’s heartfelt homecoming

It was a heartfelt homecoming for Miss International Star Lea Salonga.

After all, the PICC Plenary Hall was the same venue where she mounted her past successful concerts, from the very first A Miss Called Lea to The Broadway Concert.

That is why the concept of the all-OPM Songs from Home concert last Sept. 12 and 13 proved all the more appropriate. It was refreshing (to say the least) to hear the toast of Broadway and West End perform songs from her own country with gusto.

Indeed, Lea interpreted each song with not just technical prowess (the girl is pitch perfect as always), but also with profound pride – with aplomb and much affection.

From the jubilant opening (Pagdating ng Panahon/Salamat, Salamat Musika) to the three rousing encore numbers (Laki sa Layaw – Jeprox, Ikaw and Balut), Lea was glowing with fiery Filipino-ness.

When Lea was singing Anak so quietly, so honestly at the PICC Plenary Hall stage, it was so heart-rending I thought angels were going to descend from heaven to wipe her tears. This was truly a moving rendition of Freddie Aguilar’s Anak – the best I have heard in a long, long time. The simplicity weakened my knees and I started to tremble as I was in perpetual standing ovation at the back of the theater in a dark corner near the place where ushers rest. Lea was magnificent in each number of the show, but she was divine in Anak.

In Laki sa Layaw, she was a fascinating headbanger having great fun. She was a joy to watch. She was jeproks without trying hard. Bettina had to stop me from banging my head against the PICC wall, lost in Lea’s jeproks interpretation.

Even a non-Lea fan would have surely been charmed by her firm declaration at the start of the show, "I am a Filipino!"

While her compatriots are humming Cantopop melodies, Lea bravely decided to pay homage to local musicmakers – the composer and performers who have somehow touched her life, both as an artist and as a woman, through the years.

It was her simple way of expressing her gratitude to artists whose songs have enriched the soundtrack of her life – make that, the soundtrack of all our lives.

As such, her rendition of the Metropop finalist Hahanapin Ko, which she dedicated to one of its two creators (the other is Jimmy Santiago), Jose Mari Chan, who was in attendance on the second night, became genuinely poignant. As performed by Lea, the maudlin song on homesickness became a stirring anthem for Pinoy OFWs everywhere.

After all, Lea herself knows only too well how painful it is to be far away from the land of one’s birth.

Most of the OPM songs included in the are the landmark ‘70s and ‘80s hits Lea grew up with – like the Dulce showstopper Ako ang Nagwagi, Ako ang Nasawi. In her spiel, Lea recounted how, as a little girl, she caught Dulce’s powerful performance in an Asian songfest on TV. She even acknowledged the presence of Dulce in the audience on the second night, blowing her a kiss from centerstage.

Dulce, my favorite singer, must have been proud of Lea’s version of Ako Ang Nagwagi, Ako ang Nasawi. It was soul-stirring interpretation, so different, so respectful of the original version.

But Lea also had a field day, warbling Filipino songs from an earlier era – specifically the ‘50s obras of Juan Silos and Levi Celerio (Waray-Waray, Galawgaw) and of Lucio San Pedro and Levi Celerio (Sa Ugoy ng Duyan).

When she sang Waray-Waray, I felt proud for all the Waray women, who are tough, sturdy and industrious. Yes, Waray women are more ferocious when provoked than Waray men. Lea was a lovely, funny Waray woman in Waray-Waray.

She also tipped her hat to more recent singer-songwriter tandems like Basil Valdez-George Canseco and Regine Velasquez-Ogie Alcasid in two well-applauded medleys.

Highlight of the evening was Lea’s touching tribute to "one of my favorite artists, one of my favorite people," Sharon Cuneta. Respectful and remaining true to the original interpretations, Lea’s medley of Sharon’s "modern classics" (from Langis at Tubig to Sana’y Wala Nang Wakas) was not only compelling, but unforgettable.

Another memorable medley was the Buchikik/Spageti Song and Manila Sound number, which Lea rendered with guests Ariel Rivera and Ogie Alcasid.

Can you imagine the Tony and Olivier award-winning actress-singer belting out the Yoyoy Villame novelty classic Buchikik with chutzpah and conviction?

With Lea leading the way, Ogie and Ariel also hammed it up onstage when they crooned such ‘70s hits as Sampaguita’s Bonggahan, Hotdog’s Bongga Ka Day and Beh Buti Nga and the Hagibis’s Katawan and Legs.

Lea also reprised her well-received version of the jukebox ditty Tukso (originally included in the Songs from the Screen concert) and threw in another campy ballad Isang Linggong Pag-ibig for good measure.

"It was thinking outside of the box," Lea said of the inclusion of these two very un-Lea songs.

Truth be told: Lea was uncharacteristically emotional in Songs from Home. Not that she is aiming to dethrone such sentimental drama queens as Imelda Papin and Eva Eugenio. But in this concert, Lea is revealing more of herself, more of the real Lea.

Case in point is the only new song in the lineup, Two Worlds (with music by Louie Ocampo and lyrics by Freddie Santos, Lea’s Daddy Warbucks in Annie). As she interpreted this wistful love song on the tentativeness of happiness, the mixed emotions of a future bride, Lea was on the verge of tears. In fact, the tears flowed freely by the songs, final note (This concert was her despedida de soltera, after all).

In Songs from Home, we detected a less guarded, more giving performer in Lea.

"In this show, we are going to relax a bit," she professed during the concert’s launch at the Elbow Room. "We are going to let our hair down."

And Lea, along with guests Ariel and Ogie, musical director Gerard Salonga and stage director Bobby Garcia (even the entire 50-strong Manila Philharmonic Orchestra), pulled it off – staging a concert with lots of laughter, lots of warmth, lots of heart, lots of soul.

In Magsimula Ka, Two Worlds and the Canseco medley, Lea was magnificent. She was glorious. If one can be canonized on the basis of seamless, brilliant, soulful performance, Lea should be declared a "saint." And please don’t call her a diva – the word has suddenly become senseless in reference to Lea, who that night was a great testament that the Filipino is worth living for.