Stephanie Reese stuns/Heritage Festival events

Fil-American actress-singer Stephanie Reese, who is widely-known in the US West Coast, has performed in Canada, France, Russia, Germany, Malaysia, Indonesia, Thailand and China. She has appeared in several musicals including “Miss Saigon”. In Beverly Hills, she sang with Patti La Belle and Natalie Cole, was named “Performer of the Year” in Las Vegas, received an Award of Excellence for Entertainment and Performing Arts”, also in the US, and earned the title “Standing Ovation Queen” from American fans.

Oddly enough, the above notwithstanding, Stephanie is virtually unknown in this country although she is half Filipino. At her first solo concert in Teatrino last Monday, she sang Broadway hits, operatic arias and kundimans sniffing from one to the other with ease and charm.

Candidly, the slim, svelte, attractive singer, who looked onstage much taller than her actual height of five feet and one inch, seems to defy classification that is. Vocally, with an astonishingly powerful voice, she rendered the Habanera from Carmen, and the tenor aria Nessun Dorma from Turandot – a unique and audacious act her voice soaring and firmly sustaining the high notes in both arias.

On the other hand, Stephanie belted out pop songs with the flair and breeziness they demanded, distinguishing them from the arias. In the kundimans, she dropped her American accent, enunciating the words like a true Filipina. Her renditions of Bayan Ko and Ako Ay Filipino were so stirring, so deeply moving, every single Filipino in the audience must have felt proud to be a Filipino.

Welcome interludes were provided by tenor George Yang who consistently sounds better at each performance. He sang the Spanish Amapola, his diction surprisingly flawless, and rendered “The Prayer” with Stephanie, singing part of it in Italian, and again, convincingly sounding Italian. Yang’s voice — firm, forceful and expressive — was a marvelous complement to that of Stephanie; the blending was indeed impressively fluid.

In Stephanie’s musical journey, she traveled from peak to peak, ending each song on the highest voltage — her zest, spirit, gusto expressed through her powerful voice in an almost shattering climax. The consistent journey from peak to peak occasionally left this listener wanting gentler, softer, more muted endings for contrast and variety.

With a dancer’s sensuous grace, Stephanie captivated the audience, compelling attention further by dramatizing the entire program with a storyline delivered before each song. At one point, she went down the stage, mischievously “flirting” with some men in the audience (How they loved it!)

In sum, Stephanie proved a highly versatile, fascinating singer-actress who startled and stunned.

The band lent her tremendous support and enhanced auditory pleasure a hundredfold. Profusely thanking its members and the audience, Stephanie singled out Sara Soliven de Guzman for her devoted, unwavering friendship.

“A 19th Century Evening in Intramuros,” under the auspices of DOT, Intramuros Administration, Barbara’s Restaurant and the Filipino Heritage Festival, will be held May 12, 6:30 p.m. at Casa Blanca, Intramuros.

The Festival, the NCCA and DOT will hold an auction of hand-painted shells on May 11, 5 p.m. at the Goldenberg Mansion. The artists are Manuel Baldemor, Toti Cerda, Edgar Doctor, Egai Fernandez, Romulo Galicano, Noli Manalang, Juvenal Sanso, Sym, Bets Westendorp and Phyllis Zaballero.

The Filipino Heritage Festival, the Mexican Embassy and the Ayala Museum, in partnership with the NCCA and DOT, will present “Rediscovering Romeo Tabuena, The Later Work” on May 22, 6 p.m. at the Ayala Museum. The exhibit will run through July 19. Tabuena, who lived in Mexico for decades, made a name for himself in that country.