Back in the saddle

THE AUTHOR, a Tony-winning actress, reunites with George Takei in “Allegiance” on Broadway.

MIAMI, Florida—Oh it’s good to be back. I’ve got a short and sweet little touring schedule going now. After “Kaleidoscope” at Town Hall (thanks to everyone who came to see it!), I’m here for a few concert dates, then to Winnipeg for a night with the Winnipeg Symphony, and then off to Washington, D.C. for a few “Do You Hear the People Sing” shows, and then, finally, off to San Francisco for Easter weekend at Feinstein’s at the Nikko.

After “The Voice of the Philippines,” it’s nice to focus on exclusively performing again, and New York City is certainly one of the best places on earth to get back in the saddle and going again.

Brain challenge

For Kaleidoscope, there was quite a bit of new material I needed to learn. My director Victor Lirio put together a great night of stories and music, all the while challenging my brain to see how much new stuff I could shoehorn in there. Well, good news: I got it all in.

The show was just a fun experience from beginning to end. I felt a great flow in the mixing of new material plus old standbys from previous concerts I had performed.

Of course, there was plenty of Broadway (“On the Street Where You Live” from “My Fair Lady,” “Wondering” from “The Bridges of Madison County,” and “Loving You” from “Passion,” among others), a couple of new songs (“Maybe” by Fabian Obispo and Chay Yew, and “Advice to a Young Firefly” by Sam Carner and Derek Gregor), and pop (“I Can’t Make You Love Me,” “A Sky Full of Stars,” “People Help the People,” just to name a few). For good measure, there was one Filipino song, the Elizabeth Barcelona-penned “Sino ang Baliw.”

We had one guest artist, violinist Sho Omagari, who played solos on a few of my songs. I also had a few friends sing back up for me: Loresa Lanceta, Liz Casasola, Chris-Ian Sanchez and Enrico Rodriguez (yes, they’re all Filipino). Larry Yurman was my musical director, with Jack Cavari on guitar, John Miller on bass and Tony Tedesco on drums.

Amidst rehearsal, the announcement that I shall be returning to Broadway arrived, which made for a very exciting afternoon.

Finally, “Allegiance” will be heading to Broadway! It was news that everyone involved in the show, and the show’s fans, had been waiting for.

The Old Globe production was in 2012… and we presumed a Broadway run wouldn’t be that far behind. Turns out, the wait would be a little longer than we thought. But in the interim, our creative team (Jay Kuo, our composer, lyricist, and bookwriter; Lorenzo Thione, lead producer and bookwriter; Marc Acito, bookwriter; Stafford Arima, director; and Lynne Shankel, orchestrator) was able to hammer out more of the story and music. Turns out, the time off was a blessing in disguise.

I have absolutely no idea what this new show will hold until we start rehearsals. All I know is that, this musical will finally make its Broadway debut this fall. Please keep your fingers crossed for us. Exciting!

Condolences

We convey our deepest and sincerest condolences to the family of Liezl Martinez. Prayers and hugs go out to her husband Albert and their children Alyanna, Alfonso and Alissa.