Pops on a sentimental journey without Martin

A milestone such as an anniversary, especially a silver one, is generally expected to be a joyous occasion.

Midway in the Pops Fernandez’s Divalicious concert billed as “Celebrating 25 Years of Pops: The Concert Queen Revealed,” one, however, gets an uneasy feeling that the unspoken revelation was that the “concert queen” has metamorphosed into the “crying queen.” Is she still in love with her former husband despite their leading separate lives now?

As we exited, a male audience in his 30s clasping the left hand of his girlfriend with his right said: “Masyadong maraming pasaring kay Martin. (There were far too many allusions to Martin.) Pops must learn to move on gracefully and quietly.” This reviewer’s constant concert companion matter-of-factly commented: “Ang daming Eye-Mo!, referring to the eye drop medication). Perhaps, the production staff members were equally surprised by the profuse tears that Pops shed during the concert, otherwise they would have prepared a box of tissue paper on stand-by. A ready-supply of tissue paper might have prevented Pops from using her body parts in wiping away her tears. Thankfully, audience seated in the front row gave her tissue paper, from time to time.

Pops, in her opening spiel, had apologetically warned her Araneta Coliseum audience: “I promised I won’t get emotional. But it’s hard not to get emotional when you are celebrating 25 years.” What she did not categorically declare about Martin became the tender yet anguished under-current theme of the Dec. 8 concert. Pops not even once mentioned the name of his former co-host in the highly-rated show Penthouse Live! during the pre-telenovela era, although video clips flashed on three giant screens showing their happy times together elicited strong positive reaction from the audience. Jomari Yllana, Pops’ current partner, gentlemanly smiled and endured the undue attention focused on him as the camera panned on him repeatedly.

The warning by Pops came right after the concert’s first suite which was described in the program as the “concert highlights” suite, a fairly shaky rendition of the songs Telephone, Together Again, Believe, Street Beat and Jump. This was aggravated by Pops’ poor lyrics pronunciation. Mercifully, Pops’ enunciation of the lyrics improved greatly as the two-hour show progressed. The “concert highlights” suite, however, was a visually-appealing one, featuring Pops in an outfit reminiscent of the ZsaZsa Zaturnnah Ze Movie where she portrayed the role of the vampy villainess Queen Femina. Her female back-up dancers appeared like Playboy bunnies with tails of colorful tulle while the male ones wore gaudy bustier.

The party for Pops’ 25th anniversary, labeled by her manager Arnold Vegafria as a “fashion musical,” took off after this segment.

Stage director Rowell Santiago, who is likewise marking his 25th year in the entertainment industry, cleverly provided time for Pops to slide into various costumes/gowns by allowing a guest-singer to render a song or two in between the suites before Pops joined her guest in a particular segment. The parade of gorgeous models in between suites also gave extra precious minutes to Pops to change costumes/gowns designed by Dennis Celestial, Ito Curata, Randy Ortiz, Puey Quinones and Maxi Cinco, among others.  Save for the “concert highlights” suite, musical director Homer Flores proved that he could still be relied upon. Choreography was done by Georcel. The use of giant screens and the stage design, however, was reminiscent of the recent Josh Groban concert at PICC.

In a poignant tribute, Pops performed Dito in memory of his father, the late Eddie Fernandez. Before singing Dito and before saying that the number was for his father, Pops announced while holding back tears: “This song is dedicated to a man, a very,  very special man who I wish was here. He’ll be proud of me,” prompting the audience to shout in joy, mistakenly thinking that she was referring to Martin. The erroneous idea immediately evaporated when video clips of a young, pre-enhanced Pops and her father were suddenly implanted on the screens.

To keep the tension high and the guessing whether Martin — who also had a show simultaneously with Pops although at a different venue — would make a surprise appearance, Dito was followed by the suite “duets no more” that presented songs such as Almost Paradise, Tonight I Celebrate My Love for You, With You I’m Born Again and Maybe. These songs, lovingly described by Pops as the “theme songs of my life,” were part of the Martin-Pops standards in the Penthouse Live! directed by the exalted Fritz Ynfante.

In between singing lines of Tonight I Celebrate My Love for You, Pops said “Puede naman po palang kantahin nang mag-isa. (It is possible to render this song alone.)” After Almost Paradise, Pops asked the audience: “Okey pa ho ba tayo? (Are we still doing fine?)” These two lines further fueled the audience expectation that somehow Martin would be able to lend his presence.

Then came With You I’m Born Again, a back-up singer who definitely sounded like Martin sang a few lines hidden from the stage, prompting the audience to go wild until he showed his face and body to prove the frenzy audience wrong. With a big smile, Pops kidded the audience: “Natakot kayo? Ako rin! (Were you anxious? I, too, was.)” Whoever thought of and executed this segment should be commended highly. The audience just went for it.

Kuh Ledesma, in the most elegant gown of all the gowns worn by the female singers in the concert, graced the stage with Pops in the Motown suite (Stop in the Name of Love, Ain’t No Mountain, Baby Love and I’m Gonna Make You Love Me). Gary Valenciano and Pops sang You’re My Everything. Their production number showed the two in their excellent dancing forms.

Sharon Cuneta — in a forgettable black gown but made up for it by dripping with diamonds, even lending an earring to Pops — joined her in the Bacharach suite (Say A Little Prayer, I’ll Never Fall in Love, Make It Easy on Yourself and That’s What Friends Are For). Rappers Jay-R and Kris Lawrence who sang Beautiful Liar and Beautiful Girls and sons Ram and Robin held their ground against the veterans.