How the West was won

NEW YORK – They came, they were seen, they conquered. Cliché? I know (sigh!). Their concert was a smash-hit! Try again. What about this: If you can make it there (New York), you’ll make it anywhere? Cliché, but true!

That’s exactly what the quartet of Sarah Geronimo, Mark Bautista and Rachelle Ann Go (all Star for a Night champions), together with Christian Bautista (of Star in a Million fame) did last Sept. 18 when the Night of the Champions concert was mounted at the full-packed Golden Center for the Performing Arts at Queens College, Queens, this city.

It was the first leg of the champions’ US concert tour, produced by Alice and Red Martinez of Re-Al Entertainment, Inc., with the same successful stagings last Sept. 24 in San Francisco (together with Star in a Million champion Erik Santos, as ABS-CBN/The Filipino Channel’s way of saying thank you to its patrons, held free at an open-air venue that drew an estimated 10,000 people) and Sept. 26 in Chicago, and the finale set for this Saturday, Oct. 2, in Los Angeles (the Muñoz brothers Leandro and Carlo are the front act) with Al Chu making his "debut" as concert producer.

The champions made it in New York – and how! – and Funfare should congratulate the Martinez couple for ushering in a new batch of Filipino entertainers into the US scene.

"At first," said Alice, "some people were discouraging me. But when I saw a videotape of their concert (held twice at the Araneta Coliseum), I knew they would also be a big hit in the US. I had that gut feeling. I wasn’t wrong."

Losing no time, Alice and Red contacted their good friend Aster Amoyo who in turn contacted the Viva people (big boss Vic del Rosario Jr. and children Veronique and Vincent, and Viva Concerts, Inc. head June Torrejon) and, without much ado, closed the deal.

On with the show!

It was the champions’ first ever trip to America and how excited they were! Ma’am June T. acted as the Mother Hen. Sarah was accompanied by her parents, Rachelle by her mother, Christian by his manager Carlo Orosa (who kept an eagle eye on his talent) and Mark by his lonesome (his production assistant’s application for a visa was denied).

On their first night at The Big Apple, Mark got "lost"; it turned out that, he said, he strolled to the St. Patrick’s Cathedral (a stone’s throw from the Radisson Lexington Hotel in Manhattan where they were billeted). Two days later, in a rush for the flight to Chicago, poor Mark lost his suitcase at the La Guardia Airport. Baby Navarete, producer of the Champions show in the Windy City, came to Mark’s rescue and bought him a new set of clothes. Hay, salamat po! was all Mark could say.

I knew that the concert at the Queens College would be a hit (not only because Alice and Red said that tickets were sold out) when, the night before, Filipino fans trooped to the Subic Restaurant in New Jersey for the "Meet & Greet" which was such a hit that dozens of fans had to be politely turned away (sorry, no reservations).

Wondering why Sarah and company are so popular in America? Simple: Thanks to The Filipino Channel which covers not only both coasts of America but parts of Europe, Australia, the Middle East and Asia.

"Thousands of Filipinos here are TFC subscribers," said Alice. "That’s why they are up-to-date on what’s happening in the Philippines. They are familiar with the soaps and other shows, and stars appearing on TFC are household names here." No wonder.

At the Queens College gym (capacity: More than 2,000), the champions promised right with their very first song: We Will Rock You/We Are The Champions.

And for more than two hours, they did rock ‘em – and how the audience reacted with delight! As I’ve been saying, fans are fans anywhere they are, whether in New York or in Nueva Ecija. They shriek, they scramble over one another to get their idols’ autograph and for a chance to have their pictures taken with them, they surge towards the stage as their idols sing and sway (but then, this is America and the burly security guys will let the fans go only that far) and they wait for their idols at the backstage exit for a last lingering look at them.

After the opening number, Christian took the spotlight solo with a heartfelt rendition of his hit song The Way You Look At Me, followed by Hands to Heaven and a Broadway Medley. Applause!

Then, he did a duet of You and Me (We Wanted It All) with Rachelle who then had her own moment, doing a Sharon Cuneta Medley, seguing to Mariah Carey’s Through The Rain (Rachelle’s winning piece at the Star for a Night grand finals) and Don’t Cry Out Loud. Applause, applause!!

Sarah and Mark made their entrance with a duet of Ako’y Maghihintay and, together with Christian and Rachelle, did a Novelty Medley (you know, those popular "naughty" songs with the corresponding "naughty" body language), totally winning the audience with their cute version of Otso-Otso, prompting several fans to jump out of their seats and, yes, "otso-otso-ed" with the champions. Applause, applause, applause!!!

That was only half of the show (the rest, I’m sure, you’ve seen at The Big Dome), made more exciting by a US-bred back-up band (with Pitchy Sarabia, a niece of Vivian Sarabia, as percussionist; she did a good job even if she was on crutches because of a bad leg).

Halfway through, Sarah and Mark called Alice and Red to the stage and sang to them Ikaw, the theme song of the Martinez couple who are celebrating their wedding anniversary second week of October. Alice tickled the audience when she gave the shy (and blushing) Red a hug and a kiss.

"First time it ever happened to us," said Alice. Being called onstage, that is.

Considering that she and Red have been at it (producing shows in America) for more than 14 years!

Re-Al (derived from the couple’s first names) took over in 1999 from Jose Ojeda Jr. (of JVR Productions – J for Jose, V for Val and R for Raul) which started mounting shows in 1987 (among them those of Kuh Ledesma, The APO, Pilita Corrales and Basil Valdez at the Carnegie Hall).

Since their first project, a Gary Valenciano concert, in 1990, Alice and Red have produced more than a dozen, including those of Regine Velasquez (1991); Jose Mari Chan (1992); Pops Fernandez and Martin Nievera (1993); Jose Mari, Janet Basco and Joey Albert (1994); Regine Velasquez and Ariel Rivera (1995); Regine Velasquez, Ariel Rivera and Janno Gibbs (1996); Martin Nievera and Jocelyn Enriquez (1997); Joey Albert, Janet Basco and Leah Navarro (1998); Pops Fernandez (1999); Jolina Magdangal, Roselle Nava and Angelika dela Cruz (2000); Regine Velasquez and Ogie Alcasid (2002); Sergio Mendez (2003); and Night of The Champions (2004).

The show, as I was saying, was a smash-hit – and to think that Sarah and Mark and Rachelle and Christian were shaking off jet lag!

They probably didn’t know it but they have just paved the way (to America) for the new breed of Filipino entertainers, a feat that should cause the "veterans" sleepless nights.

And that, ladies and gentlemen, was how the West was won by the Pinoy champions.

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