The magical music of Webber

SYDNEY, Australia — “We produce things that make people happy, to bring them entertainment,” James Cundall, chief executive of Lunchbox Theatrical Productions Ltd. stated with emphasis when he treated to a hearty lunch some select Filipino and Singaporean press invited to watch the staging of the Music of Andrew Lloyd Webber at Star City’s Lyric Theatre.

“We take people away for a journey and make them smile for a while,” he added.

Having watched the show the night prior to meeting up with Cundall, I didn’t just smile for a moment but became an instant Andrew Lloyd Webber fan. I admit, it was my first time to be treated to a spectacle of songs from the music genius. Thus, when the curtain rolled up signaling the start of the two-hour theatrical presentation (or should I say “theatrical music concert,” if there is such a term) and the orchestra began to fill the air with soothing sounds that complemented Love Changes Everything from Aspects of Love, I and the rest of the audience became immovable. Not wanting to miss anything, all eyes were fixed on what’s happening on stage, wherein four large LED screens helped lit the stage in vibrant colors with images flashing nonstop and in sync with each song. My heart was filled with joy as my ears immensely relished the smooth singing. Hands automatically shot into the air to applaud each performance.

The magic works, I told myself remembering one review that mentioned Webber as the Magician of the Musical. But it’s not the kind of magic wherein one gets drowned in mere illusions. Here, the magic of the show lies not just in songs but also in the magnificent voices of the eight lead stars composed of Blake Bowden, Andrew Conaghan, Michael Cormick, Shaun Rennie, Delia Hannah, Kirsten Hobbs, Alinta Chidzey and Trisha Crowe. All eight had their moments to shine through solo numbers and each gladly served as backup vocals in other production numbers. The songs on love were Andrew and Alinta’s performance of I Believe My Heart from The Woman in White and Michael and Trisha’s emotion-filled The Phantom of the Opera The Music of the Night number.

Sir Andrew Lloyd Webber, the King of Musical Theater

“Most of the shows we do are for the whole family. Age ranges from 10 to 75 or even older. Like in Cats, there were grannies with granddaughters in tow,” Cundall replied when asked if age brackets are considered in conceptualizing a show. “The man (Andrew Lloyd Webber) is a genius. Here, he can go from sweeping melody to boy band sound. He was insistent in putting medleys.”

The Australian production features songs from 14 of Webber’s popular creations. In fact, watching snippets of the world’s finest musical in one sitting makes you experience different emotions — one minute the song would be lively, another minute it would be jolly and the next minute can be as sweet and touching as it can be. The ala Boyzone moves of Andrew, Blake and Shaun while performing No Matter What was a real crowd pleaser.

Asked how they manage to hold the audience and make them feel their songs, Andrew replied, “When we sing our songs, we try to get inside the character and really interpret the songs the best that we can, so we try to focus and think about what we sing.”

The cast renders performances eight times a week. I wonder how do they keep the same level of passion each night?

“By not going out and having a good time,” Blake answered. “It’s like a full-time process. If you work in theater, you need to be conscious of theater work to make sure you have enough energy to do it because it’s quite taxing.”

But 26-year-old Blake is not complaining. He knows he needs to get enough sleep. He doesn’t get upset if he can’t go out for a drink with friends because “I know when I come to work the next day and gave a great performance that makes me happier.”

The Music of Andrew Lloyd Webber cast (from left) Blake Bowden, Alinta Chidzey, Michael Cormick, Delia Hannah, Andrew Conaghan, Shaun Rennie, Kirsten Hobbs and Trisha Crowe

For Andrew, lots of rest and water plus not talking too loud help him to be on his toes all the time. “You just have to focus on the show if you want to give the best performance every night.”

Is there a particular part of the show that’s too tough to do?

“No, none at all,” Andrew offered. “I love doing All I Ask of You with Trisha Crowe, the Phantom stuff and that boy band number — that’s kind of fun. I think we became silly for about three or four minutes just to break a quite serious show.”

According to Michael, the biggest challenge of the show is bringing out part of the character and part of the performer’s self at the same time.

That’s why Kirsten, during auditions, did her best in immersing herself into the character while rendering Tell Me on a Sunday.

Alinta’s remarkable performance of I Don’t Know How to Love Him from Jesus Christ Superstar gave me goose bumps. She conveyed the message of the song straight to the audience’s heart. Delia moved the audience with Don’t Cry for Me Argentina from Evita and Memory from Cats while Shaun opened Act II with the affecting Heaven On Their Minds.

With Webber songs instantly becoming favorites, the cast members, themselves, have enumerated their own favorites. Find out below:

This writer (second from left) with Bulletin’s Crispina Belen (leftmost) with some of the cast members of the Music of Andrew Lloyd Webber.

Blake: Til I Hear You Sing is one of my favorites because it’s a beautiful piece of music and so wonderful.

Memory from Cats. I love listening to Delia sing it ‘coz I think she sings it better than anyone in the world.

Gethsemane from Jesus Christ Superstar. The drama in that piece is kind of wonderful and it creates passion to the Biblical story.

Andrew: For me, Gethsemane is Andrew Lloyd Webber’s best work. I really love that piece.

Til I Hear You Sing which Blake is performing on the show and last is Music of the Night. It’s so iconic and beautiful and sounds quite simple but it’s absolutely tough to sing.

Michael: I love doing stuff from Phantom of the Night.

Kirsten: Tell Me on a Sunday because it’s quite simple and it’s a really wonderful acting piece. It’s got a lot of dramatic meaning to it as well.

The same cast is expected to arrive in Manila this month to do 13 nights of performances starting from June 24 to July 3, 8 p.m. at the Tanghalang Nicanor Abelardo, CCP.

The Music of Andrew Lloyd Webber is presented in Manila by Lunchbox Theatrical Productions, David Atkins Enterprises, Hi Definition Radio, Inc., Concertus in association with Andrew Lloyd Webber’s The Really Useful Company. It is co-presented by Citibank, Philippine Airlines (official carrier), Ayala Malls, OOCL and Dusit Thani Manila (official residence of the cast).

(For tickets, call Concertus at 403-8646 or Ticketworld at 891-9999.)