Concert Review: Gerphil Flores Tales of Love A Valentine Concert

Image courtesy of Instagram: gerphil_geraldineflores

Gerphil Flores Tales of Love A Valentine Concert 

The Theater at Solaire 

February 11 and 12, 2016

A Promise to the Ear to be Broken to the Hope

by Atty. Ferdinand Topacio

A PROMISE TO THE EAR TO BE BROKEN TO THE HOPE

Gerphil Flores is undeniably one of the more unique gifted discoveries to emerge from a talent competition. Not of the usual mold of Mariah Carey/Taylor Swift wannabes, Flores is a classically-trained singer (UP College of Music, where she will be graduating with honors this year) who has successfully crossed-over her formal voice training to the local pop scene with some degree of success. Deftly combining elements of classical and Broadway to pop, she has introduced the style of voice culture to a larger audience. Her being easy on the eyes – being half-Teutonic – has helped a lot in this respect.

It was thus with much expectation that I sat on the third row of Solaire’s The Theater, waiting with eager anticipation for the Divine Ms. Flores’ latest melodic offerings. Backed up by no less than the country’s premier orchestra, the highly-regarded Manila Philharmonic Orchestra (under the able baton of Maestro Rodel Colmenar), the promise was great.

Ms. Flores as a chanteuse, delivered as usual; the production, however, was a letdown.

Gerphil breezed through the first set of songs without breaking a sweat, her voice hitting the notes dead center with impressive regularity, her diction Edith Piaf-ish clear. In particular, she gave a fresh take on the old David Gates chestnut “If,” exploring the melodic sinuosities of the song which are very often lost when sung in cantabile as it is often performed. The segue to a medley of songs from the play Les Miserables, where Flores is joined by three young tenors, showcased her ability to belt out Broadway hits. The medley later on evolved into a delightful fugue, marred only by the fact that two of the tenors were not a match for Flores’ refined vocal skills.

Flores performed the rest of her repertoire with poise and precision: her reading of the theme from The Godfather was sympathetic; she resists the temptation to grandstand with “Somewhere In Time”, instead delivering a wonderfully subdued version; and gives the audience a refreshingly heartfelt rendition of “Starting Over Again.” She then goes on to surprise with a rebooted reading of the Dolly Parton/Whitney Houston standard “I Will Always Love You,” breathing new life into an overused concert piece by interspersing Italian lyrics with the original lines.

The concert finishes strongly with a medley of Aegis songs arranged in classical orchestral style (a real crowd pleaser), and ends with the threadbare staple “Time To Say Goodbye”, sung with no surprises. An encore of a reworked classic set to chill-out beat, together with a dance troupe, ended the night on a groovy note.

As I said, Gerphil did not disappoint. What was disappointing was the direction, which was uninspired and middling. While Director Floy Quintos may have wanted to focus the spotlight (literally and figuratively) on Flores’ abundant vocal talents, monotony tends to set in after a while. An attempt to break the pattern by inserting Jose Mari Chan utterly failed. Chan to me is one of the country’s top three greatest composers (his little-known works “Love Like The Wind” and “One Way Road To Fame”, IMHO, are one of the best Filipino musical creations ever), but as an entertainer, he is merely adequate. His sentimental version of “Fly Me To The Moon” was pleasant at best; his medley of “Deep In My Heart/Refrain” well-applauded but stale. Chan’s laid-back attitude may have even rubbed off on Flores, as their duet of the overused “Please Be Careful With My Heart” evoked little feelings from both, as well as the spectators. An attempt to perk up the proceedings, as it were, with a group dance number during intermission was mildly successful, owing to the said group’s high skill level, but the incongruity with the night’s theme was not lost on the audience.

Due to the copious stories behind each song that Flores sang onstage, Quintos could have done a better job of weaving a “tale” before and after each rendition, thus making the concert a great deal more engaging. Yet, he squandered the opportunity by playing it safe and presenting each number in isolation, thus creating a show utterly unworthy of the talents of Flores, the Philharmonic, and the tastes of the viewers. To paraphrase Shakespeare, we know thee now, Boring, and thy name is Floy.

On the whole, Tales of Love is an enjoyable sampling of the vocal faculties of Flores, the musical proficiency of our homegrown Philharmonic, made less than enchanting by the ho-hum staging of its director, thus a promise not wholly fulfilled. Pity, because under a more capable production, the tales could have been that of Scheherazade.

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