Close Encounters with Foreign Acts

Did the Fil-American Friendship Day just pass by without us noticing? That used to be a holiday until about a few years ago. I can only hope we can break away from the American political claws completely in time.

But we will forever be giving them credit for giving us two E’s: Education and Entertainment. Yes, 50 years of Hollywood. To this day, American movies still outpace our own films in local theaters, which is why the Aquino administration should provide more support to Philippine cinema.

I am actually the type to push for anything Filipino, but I also do believe that we should also be exposed to Western culture because we can learn from theirs as much as they can pick up from ours.

Even before the Pacific War came to our shores, Italian opera companies had been coming to perform at the Manila Metropolitan Theater, which — as of late - German Moreno had been trying to help restore to its former glory.

After the Japanese Occupation — toward the late ‘50s — American singers began mounting concerts at the then newly-built Araneta Coliseum. But who can forget the Beatles visit of the mid-‘60s — when the British music greats became persona non-grata in the Philippines after antagonizing the press and public before, after and even during their performance at the Rizal Memorial Stadium open field?

American entertainers began steadily trooping to the Philippines until the ‘80s: Jack Jones, Manhattan Transfer and even Liza Minnelli. But when the dollar exchange rate began to balloon, we saw less and less of foreign singers coming to this country because they became too expensive for us given our devalued peso.

But in the past several years a new breed of impresarios had been bringing in foreign talent to Manila and though they’ve been around for quite some time, I only met them recently: Francis Lumen of All Youth Channel (AYC) and Bambi Verzo of Concertus (handling basically PR).

Along with Ticketworld, Lunchbox Theatrical Productions, David Atkins Enterprises and The Really Useful Group (with Citi as major presenter), they are importing the traveling production of Cats, the hit Broadway musical to the CCP starting July 24 till August. (For tickets, call 891-9999.)

This Cats production is made up of a predominantly Aussie cast, but with our very own Lea Salonga doing the key role of Grizabella, who gets to the sing the most popular song in the musical, Memory.

According to Francis, they decided to bring in Cats — “so that those who cannot afford to go abroad can still enjoy Broadway shows.” (They plan to bring in Phantom of the Opera next.)

Flying in foreign acts, Francis says, is not necessarily lucrative (although it would be nice to have a little profit since it’s still a business). Sometimes the aim is “for brand-building” for their company. Obviously, this practice had worked for both Francis and Bambi since they are the two most respected impresarios in the local concert scene today.

Of course, the road to where they are now was not necessarily lined with roses. It’s a tricky business and Francis cautions wannabes today to plan very carefully — or they can lose a lot of money. He admits, for instance, that they lost money when they brought in Jose Carreras.

Oh, but there are perks to it. For one, he gets to deal with the world-class talents up-close. Here are some of Francis’ experiences with the foreign singers he had brought in to Manila in the past:

Mariah Carey — She was rather difficult to handle. One of her demands was to be provided with a stretched limousine – in black. When they couldn’t find a black one, she settled for white – to their relief. She also asked for a brand of champagne that she actually never consumed. And then there was the matter of her cordon sanitaire – you can’t go to her straight. After the concert in Manila, she indulged herself by flying to Amanpulo.

Josh Groban — Initially, he was scared to come to Manila because of all the negative publicity the Philippines was getting – what with the kidnappings in Mindanao, the bombings and all that. He only agreed to fly to Manila after it was decided that his security would bring long arms with them — just in case. Francis had to talk to the US embassy in Manila and asked officials there to please explain to Josh Groban’s camp that the situation wasn’t really all that bad here in the Philippines.

When he finally came to perform for two nights at the PICC, he instantly fell in love with out country and the warmth of our people. He went to Embassy bar and had a grand time. Francis tells me that Josh is one of the nicest people he ever met. The singer would even hug him as his way of saying hello. And he actually wants to return to Manila to perform at the Araneta Coliseum so that more of his fans would be able to watch his concert — at more affordable prices.

Chris Brown and Rihanna – Their Manila concert was a huge treat for their fans: Imagine them watching perform and seeing in the flesh two popular artists for the price of one ticket. As their way of unwinding after the concert, the two went shopping at the Greenhills tiangge.

Beyonce – Francis only has two words to describe her: “Mabait” and warm. No problem with her at all.

Kevyn Lettau – In the beginning, she loved the Philippines and adored us Filipinos. Unfortunately, when she patronized one local establishment, she was way overcharged. The bills sent to her were astronomical. She had since become disappointed with our country and our people. There goes our supposedly world-famous Filipino hospitality.