Page 54 - PR's - People & Culture

February 10, 2019. I am in concert for
the rst time in 35 years. But here I am as I was all those years ago. Going over my line up, lyrics that still remain in the recess of my memory. Feeling the anticipation and hoping for acceptance. e audience for the most part are people I know through my community participation. So you tell yourself they will be polite and smile. But from the minute I entered the room they were stand- ing with enthusiasm. e “Parade Passes by” from Funny Girl. e Broadway musical starring a rising star that would last for de- cades, Barbara 1965. It would be years later that I too would sing this song . And so it was February 10,2019 at Bropards the new night- club in Chinatown Las Vegas, that I revisited my performance of this song. Never had the words be more poignant and full of what I was feeling at this moment.”Before the Parade passes by, I’m gonna go taste Saturdays night- life. Before the Parade Passes by, I’m gonna get some life back into my life “.
You can always nd the right song to t the occasion. is song met the moment.
! e audience was club size 130 in head count which was even more reminiscent of New York night clubs of less than a 100. e songs I chose was the beginning of my story,
1955 I am studying tap dance. My mother’s dream of me becoming a tap dancer ended that day. When my teacher informed her that I could sing. My mother stood in disbelief until my teacher called me over and I sang “Somewhere over the rainbow”. She asked me how did I learn to sing? I smiled and knew my secret was out. Daddy had always sang
to me on his knee.”Dahil Say Yo” I knew it in Tagalog. In fact I spoke Tagalog and Castilian Spanish by the time I was 5, never realizing that speaking di erent language could be a de cit. I could not get into school because in the 50’s you had to speak English. But my dad knew so many American songs. So I learned English with a Filipino accent. Attending act- ing school corrected my speech.
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