..the charmer

Lea charms NY Times

By: Bayani San Diego Jr.
Philippine Daily Inquirer

“Oh my God,” singer-actress and Inquirer columnist Lea Salonga quipped on Facebook, following the New York Times’ rave review (published June 15) of her cabaret show at the Café Carlyle in the Big Apple.

Surely, it’s not the first applause in print for the Tony winner, but the Times’ reviewer Stephen Holden was particularly appreciative, describing Salonga’s voice as “bright, metallically edged… a shiny all-purpose instrument that confidently establishes dominion over whatever musical setting surrounds it.”

Holden hailed Salonga’s show, titled “New York in June,” as a “much smarter, more carefully conceived program than her debut,” at the Carlyle last year.

Holden gave the show plus points for “[addressing] head-on the stereotypes and assumptions [that Salonga], being Asian, has had to contend with.”

Last year, Holden also reviewed Salonga’s show “The Journey So Far,” calling her “the vocal personification of what might be called the Broadway and Hollywood international style.”

This year, Holden praised her renditions of Off-Broadway and Broadway tunes, “Just Not Now” as “poignant” and “Everybody Says Don’t” as “a burst of pure defiance.”

Holden said of Salonga: “This is a performer determined to leap over every hurdle.”

In fact, the piece was titled: “Starting with perkiness, then leaping beyond it.”

Naks.

Salonga’s Facebook page was deluged with congratulatory messages. From Iza Calzado: “I’m heading to NY… would love to catch it.” From Ogie Alcasid (“Galing! Bravo!”)

Salonga performs at the Carlyle until June 25.