Warm memories from Donny & Marie

When I heard that Osmonds were coming to town, I asked my friends if we could go. The Osmonds were part of my growing up. I felt like I grew up with Donny and Marie.

They had almost as large as a family as the one I grew up in.

We got to the PICC Plenary Hall about 10 minutes past 8 p.m. There was a long, long line. Apparently, the hall was not yet opened. After a few minutes of saying hello to various friends I saw lined up, we were finally let in. You could feel the excitement. We were all of a certain age. I did not see anyone from the MTV generation.

This was a crowd eager to relive its youth even if only for the next two hours. After getting settled into our front row seats, we were surprised at Donny suddenly appearing onstage with the lights still all on. Without fanfare, he grabbed a mike and apologized to all at the delay. He explained that there were some technical challenges they were still resolving. The ladies in the audience didn’t mind a bit as we screamed, “Love you, Donny!” He asked us, “How do you say that in Philippine? We shouted, “Mahal kita!”

He shouted back at us, “Mahar kta!” We all giggled  and turned to mush. He jumped down from the stage and ran to some lucky girl who couldn’t stop screaming. She had gifts for him all ready too. Someone handed him a miniature jeepney. This audience came bearing gifts.

Donny retreated after doing his best to make us forget the delay and before we knew it, the lights faded into stage lighting, music played and they were all there — The Osmonds were in the house! In Manila!

What followed was almost two hours of wholesome fun! The multi-musically gifted family just enthralled us with their love of what they do. You could feel their earnestness in wanting you to have a good time and it was  simply contagious. Marie being the only girl Osmond was busy changing costumes (I counted five) and was just endearing. She called out to some lucky guys in the audience — a Tony (who could not believe he was the “cute guy” she was referring to) and a Chris who she called “Gris” and asked to join her onstage. “Gris” was asked to help her dance the pasadoble and sing Crazy and he obliged despite being overwhelmed with her attention. A polaroid camera was brought onstage and a souvenir photo taken and given to the lucky “Gris.” Childhood footage of the adorable Osmonds in their youth were shown on large screens on both sides of the stage.

Unfortunately, a middle projector burnt out before the videos could be shown. The videos added a flavor to the show. It just brought up all these warm memories that heightened our enjoyment of an already very entertaining show.

As they ended the show, their adoring fans gave them a spontaneous standing ovation. Touched, the Osmonds declared to us all that they would love to put us in their pocket and take us with them on the rest of their tour. “You are the sweetest audience!” Marie declared.

Too bad for you if you missed this fun, fun show!