How Lea made David cry

MANILA, Philippines - David Pomeranz is not ashamed to admit he cried the first time he heard Lea Salonga sing. It didn’t happen on the concert stage, but in a most unlikely place: An airplane.

The American singer-composer was looking for a singer he could tap for the album he was producing for the musical The Little Tramp.

“In came Lea. And I sat there on my seat and started to cry. I don’t know why. And it doesn’t matter,” he recalls.

Right then and there, David fell for Lea’s rendition of a song from Miss Saigon, hook, line and sinker.

And now that they’re performing together for the first time at the Newport Performing Arts Theater of Resorts Manila on Tuesday, March 29, 8 p.m., David knows this concert will differ from others he has done.

“We’ll put together things that move us personally and hopefully we will communicate that to the audience. It will be an emotional evening, with Lea and me singing duets ,” he promises.

“It will be shared show, with equitable division of labor,” adds Lea.

The composer of Born for You also wants to learn more about Lea by “getting to know her musically in a deeper way.”

Even before she met him, Lea knew that David’s music sent people swooning and lovers dreaming.

“I grew up listening to his songs, King and Queen of Hearts and Got to Believe in Magic,” she relates.

They would meet years later – in 1993, when David asked Lea to record two songs for the soundtrack of Little Tramp, the musical on the life of Charlie Chaplin.

David’s music would play a big role in her shows now and then.

“One of the most-requested songs in my concert last year was the music from Little Tramp,” she reveals. “It was played with the whole orchestra. David’s music is appreciated even if you don’t see the movie (for which it was made).”

Music is not the only thing that binds Lea and David.

David shares Lea’s passion for making the world a better place to live in. Lea the United Nations goodwill ambassador is in Tarlac with her mom and some friends today to help in the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization’s campaign to fight hunger.

The minute he learned about it, David can’t help but share his own advocacies.

“I also got involved in the hunger issue,” he says. “You see hybrid cars and green businesses because enough people spoke up long enough and it had an impact on business. It’s the same thing with hunger. We have enough food but its’ not getting to the people. If people understand and cry out about it, politicians and businessmen will do something.”

The joy of easing other people’s burdens also draws David closer to the Philippines, where he’s been “countless times, at least once a year.”

Filipinos, he observes are very close to one another, especially to their families. David can relate to this since he’s been raised in a closely-knit family himself.

“In America, there’s a tendency for family, friends to splinter off and go away and send postcards once in a while,” he observes.

David was happy to find out this doesn’t apply in the Philippines.

“Here, there’s more of a sense of community togetherness. I feel most comfortable in that environment. And that’s why I enjoy being here so much.”

To show that he’s not just paying lip service to the country and its people, David says he can sing Pasko Na, Sinta Ko. He may know only very few Tagalog words, but he appreciates music like any dyed-in-the-wool artist. And like most Filipinos are.

“We have a mutual love for the same kind of music,” David points out.