We’re knocking three times on the ceiling

Until Tony Orlando and this exceptional band find their way back here, we’ll be knocking three times on the ceiling every now and then.

The charismatic performer stepped onstage at Resorts World Manila’s Newport Theater Wednesday night and quelled mounting impatience with a single sentence: “Good evening, my name is Tony Orlando.”

He drew a connection with his audience straightaway: “I took so long to come here, but I know that you have adopted one of my songs and made it part of your history.”

No use wasting any more time, was what he obviously meant, in two ways:  1) The show had started late, with opener Faith Cuneta doing another number minutes after a showcase medley of Aunt Sharon’s hits. Fortunately, she was quite the vocal stunner; and 2) Orlando, 70, was in the country for the first time (via Ovation Productions).

He engaged his listeners with light banter—“I live in New York City. Now I know another place where traffic is just as bad—oh, your motorcycles weaving through the cars!”—and suddenly the band was ready.

One after another, Orlando performed the top three Filipino favorites among his best-known songs—“Tie a Yellow Ribbon,” “Knock Three Times,” “Candida”—after which, the euphoria quickly melted into concern: Where does the show go from here?

It went…everywhere and, in under two hours, took several forms—pop concert, musical theater, worship service, jam session, karaoke party, whirlwind courtship.

It was standard Tony Orlando routine. But, hey, it rocked Newport and got lazybones off comfy seats, dancing, singing and screaming.

Turned out, Orlando had more in common with Pinoys than a Latino disposition (his mother was Puerto Rican) and Greek (father’s side) verve. Several numbers into the show, he paid tribute to a Filipino musician who used to tour with him, jazz keyboard player Toti Fuentes, who passed on in 2008. “I’m happy to let him know, wherever he is,” Orlando said, “that I made it to his country.”

Orlando’s set list of hits (among them “Spanish Harlem,” “Stand By Me,” “Will You Love Me Tomorrow,” “Fire and Rain,” “Purple Rain”) showed a sensitivity to musical preferences around the world. Not to forget, the man was a successful record producer in his prime.

He spoke in spurts of early successes, his career as a talent “scout” and producer. He took the audience on a virtual tour of the legendary Brill Building on 49th St. and Broadway in New York City, where generations of music writers met publishers to sell their works.

He painted a tantalizing scene, a workplace inhabited in his time—separately or together—by such venerable names in pop music as Carole King, Paul Simon, Neil Diamond, Neil Sedaka, Frankie Valli. And, search engines invariably point out, Tony Orlando.

“I did good, huh?” he goaded the audience as he recounted signing Blood, Sweat & Tears, James Taylor and Barry Manilow to CBS Records.

Then he trained the spotlight on his musicians, a stellar bunch. Keyboardist Toni Wine sang touching vocals on “Groovy Kind of Love,” which she had written with Carole Bayer Sager, and got bouncy help for the upbeat “Sugar, Sugar,” which she also cowrote, this one with Ron Dante, for their group, The Archies. She wrote “Candida” as well. She has collaborated with Orlando for 53 years.

With drummer Jimmy Keegan, Orlando winged through a playful “Stomp”-ish sequence. Kerry Cole (guitar, keyboard, vocals) up till this point a quiet presence, broke out in his own surprise subset, a volatile mix of James Taylor, Willie Nelson, Johnny Cash and…Led Zeppelin! The audience had to be reminded, “This is my show, ‘The Tony Orlando Show.’”

In a masterful stroke to restore sobriety, Orlando called harpist Mariano Gonzalez to center stage to perform an enticing suite: “Dahil sa Iyo,” “Malagueña” and “A Whiter Shade of Pale.” Gonzalez, a Paraguayan resident of Las Vegas, has played Carnegie Hall in New York and Suntory Hall in Tokyo.

When Gonzalez returned to his place on the left stage, “Something” ushered in a Beatles suite that concluded in a rousing “Obladi, Oblada” sing-along.

Hoarse and stoked from all that dancing, the audience still wanted more. For the encore, guitarist Tracy Cole took the spotlight with “Wonderful Tonight,” backtracking twice on, “It’s time to go home now” (and turning all red from chuckling).

The concert ended the same way it started, with “Tie a Yellow Ribbon,” with the audience taking lead vocals. Not surprisingly, Orlando exited laughing while the whole d***** hall was cheering.