Jed Madela: Sweet intoxication

Jed Madela has a face the cross between Hans Montenegro’s and Jake Cuenca’s, but a voice like neither — nor, indeed, like anyone else’s in contemporary Philippine pop. His is a beautiful lyric voice, the color of which may be described as “Italianate.” The range of that voice was displayed at Music of the Night, a two-part concert and fundraiser for Ang Arko ng Pilipinas, a school for special children, held last Friday at the Philamlife auditorium.

The first part consisted of two short sets of theater  songs and Filipino compositions. Accompanied by the Metro Manila Community Orchestra conducted by Chino Toledo, Madela, for the most part, rode the notes as a dolphin rides crests of seawater. An earnestly rendered All I Ask of You, re-arranged for one voice and with the final refrain set a key higher, played up his formidable falsetto. Madela next number, Sa Ugoy ng Duyan, a song he dedicated to his mother, had him hitting the low notes. Two songs from The King and I (I Have Dreamed and We Kissed in the Shadow), mellifluously done, further evidenced the lyrical qualities of his voice. His Nessun dorma,  however, was more Paul Potts and Luciano Pavarotti. Still, one imperfect apple does not a rotten pie make.

The second part had Madela singing pop and rock songs. The orchestra disappeared sometime during the intermission to leave him singing Aerosmith (I Don’t Want to Miss a Thing); Mandy Moore (Only Hope); the New Radicals (Someday We’ll Know); Mariah Carey/David Cook (Always Be My Baby); and other such numbers, with Plug and Play. Obviously more relaxed, Madela clowned with and for the audience.

Guest performer Bituin Escalante was note-for-note Madela’s perfect match. In the few songs that she sang she proved why she is the “best singing actress” in a musical or a concert stage. Her voice has that amplitude which allows her to growl, sob, hiss, or belt as the moment demands. Her interpretation of I Dreamed a Dream can be placed alongside any by the Broadway greats. L-O-V-E and Orange Colored Sky in the second part were rendered with such insouciant aplomb it was impossible not to be spirited away.

While all that was enjoyable, there was hardly any preparation for the shift between acts one and two. The poster for Music of the Night shows Madela in a hood, half his face in shadow — an obvious reference to the phantom mask, a connection which is further strengthened by the very title of the concert.  The press release reads, “Experience the unique artistry of two-time platinum award winner Jed Madela, as he reveals his passion for Broadway musicals. Performing with him is three-time Aliw Awardee for Best Singing Actress in a Musical Bituin Escalante, and the Metro Manila Orchestra with Maestro Chino Toledo.”

Madela sang — all with passion, it must be admitted — no more than four songs from musical theater. Curious, too, is that while Madela said that he would like to play the Phantom on stage, he did not sing anything written for the part. There was music in the night, but no Music of the Night — unless one counted the eight-minute overture by the Metro Manila Community Orchestra of themes from The Phantom of the Opera. (Madela, however, sang Gethsemane,  Jesus Christ being the other role he would like to play.) Although most of the audience members did not seem to mind — the whole affair came across, in fact, as something contrived by them for his birthday, almost like a big insiders’ joke — it wasn’t the concert that those who weren’t in the tribe were expecting or had paid for.

In Music of the Night, Madela leaves one in no doubt about why he was the Grand Champion Performer of the World at the World Championship of Performing Arts (WCOPA) in 2005. Jed Madela in full cry leaves quite an impression. It is also comforting to know that funds were raised for Ang Arko ng Pilipinas. But his concerts in the future — and indeed, concerts in general — could benefit from less disingenuous advertising. That plus Madela would be, in the words of the Phantom, “sweet intoxication” indeed.