New York in June by Lea Salonga

New York has always been a place that never runs out of interesting things and happenings. One of the highlights that the city had in store last June was a cabaret show by no other than the renowned mezzo-soprano singer, Ms. Lea Salonga herself at the equally renowned Cafe Carlyle. Mezzo-soprano...say what? Well, to put in in layman's term it just simply means "medium" or "middle" soprano in Italian according to Wikipedia. Honestly, it wouldn't personally matter to me what her voice range is as long as she's proud to be a Filipino then I'm all for that.

Lea's accompaniment only consisted of a piano, a bass and a guitar which made the setting more of an intimate one because it was just her raw but beautiful voice being emitted by the speakers in the room. The venue was at the elegant Cafe Carlyle in the upper east side. The cafe, if I'm not mistaken, has a capacity of 70 people for dinner and 90 for performances. Lea's voice was crystal clear the entire performance.

Lea sang songs both in English and in Filipino. She even sang the song Waray-waray...if that's even the title. She's a total performer and a funny one at that too because she was telling jokes about pinoys. Well, sarcastically funny seem to be a better choice of words but the bottom line is she is not boring on stage. My favorite part of the show was her jaw dropping rendition of Ikaw. We were all speechless and even teary-eyed after the song because it was such a moving and beautiful love song.

The perks of having a small, intimate crowd is the stress-free photo-op. LOL Everyone in the audience that night had the chance to have a small talk with her and even have pictures taken with her. Funny how at first I thought she wouldn't address us in Tagalog but to my surprise she replied in straight, sans-accent Tagalog. Impressive. Then she started singing...double, triple impressive! Kudos Ms. Lea Salonga!