BY PABLO A. TARIMAN
WEDNESDAY night at the Newport Performing Arts Theater at Resort World, Manila’s music lovers heard the pop opera quartet, Il Divo, for the second time around and loving every minute of it.
The group was apparently conceptualized to appeal to all races and thus the different nationalities of the members of the quartet namely tenor Urs Buhler of Switzerland, baritone Carlos Marin of Spain, pop artist Sebastien Izambard of France and tenor David Miller from the United States.
The evening’s repertoire consisted of songs from the musical theater starting with “Some Enchanted Evening” from “South Pacific” and ending with “Impossible Dream” from “Man of La Mancha” and “You’ll Never Walk Alone” from “Carousel.”
The songs are nothing new but they remain an audience favorite through the years and given new arrangement to showcase the four voices and a guest singer who happens to be Lea Salonga who thrilled with seldom heard high notes in “Music of the Night” from “Phantom of the Opera.”
Conceptualized by Simon Cowell of the “American Idol” fame, Il Divo is now on its 10th year as blockbuster crossover quartet with amazing credentials: it has sold over 26 million albums worldwide, landed number one in billboard charts, received 160 gold and platinum sales awards in over 33 countries and staged four groundbreaking world tours. The concert ticket prices alone (highest is P30, 000 and lowest priced ticket is P8, 000) convinced one the singers (three classically trained and a pop singer) have a loyal following and a solid one at that.
For one who has covered straight operas and interviewed prize-winning opera singers for more than thirty years, the prospect of hearing Il Divo – the pop operatic quartet — came as pure curiosity, more than excitement.
The Manila leg of this recent tour is special because it featured our very own Lea Salonga with the ABS CBN Philharmonic under the baton of Simon Chalk.
In the opening number, one noticed the small-sized orchestra had an unusual set-up with the musicians facing stage left with the conductor beating music as though following a canned orchestral sound. For indeed, the orchestra looked small but the sound felt as though it came from 150-member orchestra with thrilling effect on the capacity audience spread on the 1500-seater Newport Performing Arts Theater.
The concert started with an elaborate overture consisting of medley from the evening repertoire one of which was “Some Enchanted Evening” originally sang by Metropolitan Opera bass Giorgio Tozzi who dubbed the singing for actor Rossano Brazzi who played Emile de Becque in the film version of “South Pacific.”
All looking tall and fresh, the Il Divo quartet made an instant impact for an audience (mostly 40 up in one quick look) who reacted positively to make the singers realize they know the song and they had better be good at it.
“Some Enchanted Evening” has been cleverly arranged to showcase the individual voices of the quartet and at the same time showcase how they blended as a group. Hence it was quite revealing how they made something fresh and inordinately appealing of Broadway favorites like “Bring Him Home” (Les Miserables), “Tonight” and “Somewhere” (West Side Story), among others.
Indeed, they were run-away winners with “Con te partirò” and the bilangual version of “My Way” (A mi manera) including “All I Ask Of You” (Phantom Of The Opera), and “Memory” (Cats).
The night ended with exquisite versions of “Impossible Dream” (“Man from La mancha”) and “You’ll Never Walk Alone” (Carousel”) and with the audience screaming for more encores.
Even as the quartet got all the deafening applause, it was also the special night of Lea Salonga.
After singing with the quartet where she proved she could blend perfectly with a group programmed to make something euphoric of bottomless supply of high notes, Lea Salonga dazzled with her solo numbers from “Defying Gravity” (from Wicked” and Eponine’s and Fantine’s signature songs (“I Dreamed A Dream” and “On My Own” from “Les Miserables” where she became the first Filipina to sing the roles.
With maturity, Lea has a lot more to offer other than her voice. She sings the notes and acts the lyrics with delicate care and goes intense in the most heart-wrenching message of the songs. She looks small on stage but her acting and singing are amplified in the concert monitors on both sides of the theater. Still, she is consistently focused and utterly giving to her audience. Indeed, marriage and motherhood had given her a new path on which to illumine her art and life.
With humility, Lea admitted she has learned a lot from singing with Il Divo being the first Filipino to guest with the celebrated group.
One must say Il Divo can very well learn a lot from her too.
