Umeda Theater of Arts Main Hall, Osaka, Japan . 6:30 pm, June 29th, 2013. Row 16, Seat 48 (mine) and Seat 49 (Yoshimi's). These were the details on our tickets for this concert.
When Yoshimi and I arrived at the theater at half-past five that afternoon there was already a long line of people waiting for the gates to open. Since we already had reserved seats , we decided not to join the line but instead went first to the Family Mart convenience store across the street from the theater to get some corned dogs and French fries (for the Japanese, they're called 'potato fries' ) for our light snack before we go in. We sat on the marble benches around young trees in front of the theater , the sparrows who still hadn't roosted because the sun was still on its way out , gaily chirped on branches above us, and we ate our food while waiting... silently hoping that no bird poo fall on us or worse on our food. After the food was downed with our store-bought drinks, people-watching became our fun "dessert" and great time-killer .
When we got in, I was surprised and a bit disappointed at the simplicity of the stage. Quite a contrast to the plush lobby and carpeted halls of the theater. No heavy curtains. No elaborate backdrops. The narrow stage was cramped with black-painted ladders and platforms for the musicians, who at that time were already busy tuning their instruments.
But I was also glad that we were just 16 rows away from the stage. That close...but that distance cost us, in case you might want to know, some Y11,500 (about 115 USD). Oh, did we have to give up food money for two weeks?
We didn't have much choice actually because when we went online to buy our tickets late last month, the cheaper seats were already all sold-out. So splurge we did. For the love of Lea and Broadway!
Seated one row behind us were two Pinays and one Pinoy gleefully chatting in Tagalog. How nice it felt to hear people talking in a language that I can perfectly understand ! I listened in to parts of their conversation (a little gossip about Lea Salonga who they said in private-life is a bit 'supladita' , as if they were that close to her, huh...and mostly gossip about some people they know) and translated bits of it to Yoshimi. The rest of the waiting time , Yoshimi and I did more catching up...and more people-watching. Do you know that people here in Japan are so well-dressed? One lady even came in a formal kimono. To a concert? For real.
One thing good and impressive about watching concerts here in Japan is that they ALWAYS start on time. So twenty minutes before the stated concert start-time, a buzzer went off and the timer on the front right wall started glowing in red and showing the countdown. Ushers started going up and down the aisles reminding people to lean back deep in the seats during the show so people behind can see well and also the reminder to set our keitai (cellphones) on manner mode. No photos allowed, too. they said. Another good thing about Japan..people here ALWAYS follow rules. Lean back and sit up straight, yes, we did. So did the children among us. Again, for real.
5 seconds ...(the lights started dimming)...4 secs...(musicians now were all posed and still)...3...(neon lights on)...2...(people were very quiet and still, excitedly waiting , my heart was actually on hyper mode)...1 sec ...(floodlights on)...MUSIC!! APPLAUSE!!
Someone came out from Stage Left (see, I still remember my Stage Performance class vocabulary, ha..)... full spotlight on....Lea Salonga!!! Yay...
The Pinoys in the crowd went wild (I mean, those in the galleries...we Pinoys , who were seated in the lower arena were too shy , or classy (???) to let out a cheer. But you should have seen us clap and do that Pinoy wave in the dark! Ha ! so much for poise and class...the Pinoy pride for our very own, Lea, pushed all modesty aside and at that exact moment we pushed it all-the-way back and let the Pinoy- fan feeling set in. Clap and wave to the max...mga kababayan ko! )
She opened the show with a song which sadly now I can't remember the title . Maybe because I was too mesmerized at THE Lea Salonga and how really great her voice is and how near she was and ...how white and perfectly-set her teeth were, how glowing and good her skin looked but .. oh...oh.(.sorry to say this, Lea) for a brief moment I got distracted and thought,... still me thinks really that... she needs to do some gym trips soon, for she looked a bit flabby-packed even in her black, glittery gown. But despite that distraction, as I expected, Lea rocked!!
Then out came the rest of stars Yu Shirota, Sierra Boggess and Ramin Karimloo...a solo here, ...a duet there....then all-four in perfect harmony and blends , of course. The neon sign above them showing the titles of the musicals from where each song was taken. Imagine a smaller replica of a real Broadway neon sign.
The concert was in two parts with a 20-minute intermission. They sang songs from
Carousel, Chicago, King and I, West Side Story, Aladdin, Mulan, Little Mermaid, La Boheme, Flower Drum Song, Phantom of the Opera, Miss Saigon, Les Miserables, Elisabeth, Sweney Todd, Godspell and a new musical craze,
The Last Five Years, among others.
Folks, go on YouTube if you must for this song,
Still Hurting, by Lea. Mega goose bumps and emotion royale for me just for this one. No, not for being able to relate with the song (it's about a wifey saying sayonara once and for all , acknowledging her pain and yet standing up finally to her hubby, a loser named Jamie). I don't remember breathing at all, during this Lea and Ramin duet. Neither did the people around me, I guess. Okay, that's exaggerated. That's how captivating their performance was.
Yes, that's how blessed we were that day. A smorgasbord of Broadway hits. We didn't have to go fly all the way to New York and London West End just for the best hits from those musicals. Umeda Theater that night was the place to beat.
I had thrills when I heard the songs like,
That's All I Ask of You (from Phantom of the Opera),
I Dreamed a Dream (Les Miserables),
Reflection (Mulan),
A Whole New World (Aladdin),
Part of Your World (Little Mermaid) etc. etc. Imagine the best songs from those musicals sung by the lead artists themselves just a few feet from you! Performed live in front of you, that you can see their faces and feel deeply with them the varied emotions that go with each song.
Most songs were in English. Some songs had verses in Japanese (ok, we're in Japan, remember?) , and one song (Yu's ) was sung in Spanish- he's half-European, half-Japanese. Sierra sang one in Italian (was it??) and used her cultured soprano voice for that number, which I can tell you, for a second made me think of an Italian Sandi Patti or a Sylvia dela Torre singing the classics (if the name sounds epic, it's because you're not a Pinoy Boomer, so go Google it FYI please) . Yes, that voice with those trills singing notes sooo incredibly high that she had to lower her held- microphone for some seconds ( so the glass on some panes won't break and our eardrums won't bleed, I guess) was amazing. And she's that skinny and petite, people. And gorgeously beautiful. Where do all that voice and diaphragm power come from, I wondered.
My favorite part was what they called "4 Songs in 5 Languages": Ramin, singing a bluegrass song in English while strumming his acoustic guitar; Yu singing a love song in Spanish and Japanese; Sierra singing that Italian classical piece, and Lea singing the famous Filipino love song often rendered in weddings, "Ikaw." (no, not the Lettermen song but the one by Regine Velasquez, yes, that movie theme song).
The applause was deafening at the end of the concert. Non-stop clapping. The crowd wouldn't let them go...the applause and the standing ovation was that looooooong...I could feel my hands starting to go numb from clapping. I, who rarely stand for ovations, partly due to laziness, largely for shyness, really..., was among the first ones to stand this time.
I told Yoshimi, "Tindog ta bi.." (let's stand !) in my native dialect. She didn't hear it, and if she did, couldn't understand it, of course. Haha! So she remained seated for a while, but later joined us.
The fabulous, incredible four stars were obviously very beat but still obliged us all with two encores. It was only after Yu said rather cutely, "
We love you, Japan!" to the delight of the crowd.. (yes, he IS young, cute and handsome, check him out girls...) while doing their many low bows, that the crowd finally understood we had to let them go. Or else, all we would be getting after that will be bows and curtsies from them for the rest of the night, had we continued with the applause.
So then , as if we all suddenly got united in the thought that we had to leave , that is, if we didn't want to miss the last train and walk all the long way home, we snapped ourselves from the hypnotic euphoria and stopped clapping. Just like that. Lights came on. People got their bags and things, filed out of the hall , joyful yet disciplined and proper. No rushing out. No more cheering. Definitely, no heard loud 'kilig-giggling'. Yes, just like that. Okay, now you remember, we're in Japan.
I can say, it was THE best concert I've ever been to in my life (which if you care to know, is a half-a-century-plus, thank You, God)..meaning, I've been to a good number of forgettable ones and MANY memorable ones. All throughout the more than two hours of Broadway musical ride , it was like riding a huge wave where you just stay on its crest and never ever came down. As I write this exactly a day after, "wa pa ko nitugpa" (I'm still feeling high)!!! It feels like happiness to the nth power, that I can say.
"Sugoikatta!" (It was wonderful), my friend kept on saying all the way home. I couldn't agree more. Really. And I mean that, REALLY.
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| the poster at the entrance |
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| the people at the theater lobby on their way up |
