Divas are born, not made'

Thus said Kuh Ledesma, the producer of the recently successful one-night concert, Divas for Divas, at the Araneta Coliseum, where Kuh was joined by Zsa Zsa Padilla, Pops Fernandez and Regine Velasquez.

Call it a casting coup on the concert stage. Bringing together four of the top divas of local entertainment is quite an unprecedented feat. Knowing that Kuh, Zsa Zsa, Pops and Regine were performing in one stage was exciting enough. Seeing them live was even more thrilling.

“This is a celebration of friendship, the music we enjoy together, of everything good,” said the four divas at the start of the show.

Kuh, of course, gets the credit for gathering her fellow divas to perform with her in the one-night concert. “The show is very special to me and is a milestone for my career,” enthused Kuh, who produced the show with Music Museum owner Precy Florentino.

Kuh is considered a “visionary with lots of brilliant ideas for the entertainment industry,” said Pops. As producer of the show, Kuh made sure her impeccable taste and penchant for elegance were reflected in many aspects of the show.

The costumes alone were simply fabulous. The ladies had a veritable fashion show onstage as they were given the luxury of changing attires more than half a dozen times throughout the concert. No outfit was used for more than three songs. Top designers such as Maxie Cinco, Rajo Laurel and Edwin Uy created glittering and eye-popping gowns and wardrobes for the divas.

The opening number — with the four ladies in dramatic black opera coats for Queen of the Night — immediately wowed the crowd. The divas emerged from a mechanically powered platform from underneath the stage. Throughout the night, each of them also emerged from the same spot for their solo numbers.

Except for that high-tech part, the stage design did not complement the grand production aspects of the show. The giant video screen looming onstage projected the four divas in somewhat morphed images that made them look like midgets, with long-size thighs and legs. Or was it simply our location, which had poor vantage point of the stage and the screen?

It would have been probably better if an LED screen was used, instead. Or maybe I was still overwhelmed by the last Araneta concert I watched recently — Gary Valenciano’s 25th anniversary show, which had a jaw-dropping stage.

The divas shed off their opera coats to reveal some skin in their version of En Vogue’s Free Your Mind. The repertoire was interspersed with solo numbers, duets and quartets of the divas so that there was no need for a guest artist. The impressive song line-up had foreign and Original Pilipino Music (OPM) — from Diana Ross to Rihanna and Mariah Carey, even Broadway.

In Christina Aguilera’s Beautiful, the other ladies clearly allowed Regine to have all the high notes and vocal histrionics, which was also carried out in their other numbers together. It was understandable, since Regine has the highest vocal range among the four.

Regine likewise provided most of the comic relief and antics in the show. Her spiels consisted of witty one-liners and punch-lines that had the crowd roaring with laughter every time. She teased, “Ako ang pinakamalaking bayad dito. I was even given a portion of Hacienda Isabella (Kuh’s property in Tagaytay City).”

The divas crooned a beautiful version of Have You Ever Really Loved a Woman, originally recorded by Bryan Adams. However, the accompanying video of mountains and blue skies did not definitely match that number. Did this escape the perfectionist eye of the producer?

Despite that low, there were more worthy highlights of the show, particularly the grand production numbers of the divas together, like their Diana Ross medley — Ain’t No Mountain High Enough, I’m Gonna Make You Love Me, Baby Love and Stop in the Name of Love — complete with choreography.

Then there was the tribute to mothers, “the greatest divas of them all,” with Sa Ugoy ng Duyan, masterfully arranged by Bob Aves. The ladies were dressed in fashionable Maria Claras to conform with the Filipiniana piece.

They also paid tribute to Madonna in fabulous outfits laden with lots of borloloy, according to Regine — Take a Bow, Crazy for You, Live To Tell, Frozen, Vogue. And there was the medley of their signature songs — Kuh’s Paano Kita Mapasasalamatan, Pops’ Dito, Zsa Zsa’s Ikaw Lamang and Regine’s Kailangan Ko’y Ikaw.

There were a few emotional moments in the show. Regine was on tears when she rendered an acoustic version of And I Love You So, which she ended with, “I love you, Baba (her term of endearment for Ogie).”

Kuh was also not able to contain her tears when she dished out I Will Always Love You, that formed part of the medley with Zsa Zsa’s My Heart Will Go On, Pops’ The Greatest Love of All and Regine’s Butterfly.

Pops displayed her dancing skills in Rihanna numbers — Pon de Replay and Please Don’t Stop the Music. Other notable highlights were Kuh and Zsa Zsa’s Eurythmics medley of Sweet Dreams and Here Comes the Rain Again, plus the ’80s dance medley (We Are Family, Best of My Love, Souvenirs, Never Can Say Goodbye, I Love the Nightlife and Shake Your Groove Thing). They ended the show with And I Am Telling You from Dreamgirls.

The partners of the divas were in the audience to cheer them on as they performed. Dolphy for Zsa Zsa, Jomari Yllana for Pops and Ogie Alcasid, who was taking photos from the sidelines, for Regine. Kuh’s daughter, Isabella, was there to provide moral support to her mom. At the end of the show, they all went up onstage to offer flowers to the performers.

Celebrities in the audience that night included showbiz couples Richard Gomez and Lucy Torres, Ronnie and Ida Henares, with Viva’s Boss Vic del Rosario, Music Museum owner Precy Florentino, Sarah Geronimo, Pops’ mom Dulce Lukban, Eat, Bulaga! hosts Allan K and Pia Guanio.