Why Jose Llana decided to come back

He is performing in a concert at the Westin Ballroom of the Philippine Plaza on Friday, Sept. 3, but that is not the only reason why the talented Jose Llana is back in the country. The young man who has become one of Broadway’s prized leading men is also here to visit relatives, renew friendships he made during his stay in his birth country a year ago and bring his first locally-recorded album back to the attention of the Filipinos. This is because despite the impressive quality of the songs he usually performs, Jose has fallen in love with Filipino pop songs and wholeheartedly believes these should be heard more often.

Simply titled Jose Llana, the album is made up of some of the most romantic Filipino compositions of recent times. Leading the line-up of songs is the album’s sole original work To Love You Once Again, a composition by hitmaker Louie Ocampo with lyrics by theater actor and director Freddie Santos. This is a promise of love lasting more than forever written by Louie as a gift for his wife on their wedding anniversary and he was very pleased to find Jose available to record the song. Jose was most happy that Louie gave him the opportunity to sing such a special composition and even did the arrangement for him.

Jose is also very glad his album includes two duets featuring the hottest female artists in the country today. There is Regine Velasquez whom he greatly admires. He had heard a lot about Regine and he used to order her albums through the Net in the States. He listened to her songs lots of times before he came to Manila and feels privileged she agreed to join him in an enchanting version of Ryan Cayabyab’s Iduyan Mo. The other one is Star for a Night winner Sarah Geronimo who sings another Cayabyab song Nais Ko.

Other songs included in Jose Llana are Walang Kapalit, the Rey Valera composition revived by Sharon Cuneta, Kailangan Ko’y Ikaw, popularized by Regine plus Kailangan Kita and Bakit Ngayon Ka Lang all of which were written by Ogie Alcasid, two classics by the legendary George Canseco, Ngayon and Paano Kita Mapasasalamatan, Iisa Pa Lamang by Danny Tan and writer-director Jose Javier Reyes, Habang May Buhay by Wency Cornejo, two by Willy Cruz who also arranged the new versions of Let the Pain Remain and Sana’y Maghintay ang Walang Hanggan plus Ocampo’s collaboration with Martin Nievera, You are My Song, which he also arranged for Jose.

Jose returned to the US a year ago to continue his tour with the revival of the musical Flower Drum Song, for which he got rave reviews by the way. His next stop was surprisingly a stint in Hollywood where he made his motion picture acting debut in The Last First Kiss starring Will Smith and Eva Mendes. Take note he made his TV acting debut in the US in an episode of Sex and the City. In between these assignments, he continued to perform in assorted concerts, several of them for members of the Filipino community who were truly glad to discover how well Jose sings Tagalog songs. He is now in the middle of talks to probably take over the lead of another Broadway show, Mamma Mia! The Musical. If this pushes through, those lucky enough to be in the US during the run can watch Jose perform those wonderful songs created by the Swedish group ABBA.

For those interested to watch Jose Llana in concert, tickets to the Plaza show are priced at P2500 with dinner and P1000 for concert only. His guests are Bituin Escalante and Streamline. Proceeds will benefit the St. Aloysius Gonzaga Foundation. For more of his music, you might want to check out the soundtrack of Flower Drum Song where he plays opposite Lea Salonga. He is also one of the featured performers in Lagi Kitang Mamahalin, the tribute to the Filipino National Artist where he performs Constancio de Guzman’s Bayan Ko, and in which he is the featured soloist in the Lucio San Pedro oratorio Alamat ng Lahi. For a pop Jose, listen to Then Came You, his duet with Cris Villonco in her self-titled album.