Heavenly Heather

TO   say that Heather Headley's concert at the National Academy for the Performing Arts (NAPA) on Saturday was amazing would be a gross understatement.
To also say that you had to be there to experience it yourself would be too cliched.
 
In order to properly describe Headley's superb talent, and ability to connect with her audience, one would have to pull out all the superlatives you can find...and that is not an exaggeration.  It was an emotional roller coaster filled with nostalgia for both the Tony and Grammy award winner and her audience.
 
The concert, aptly titled "Home", was produced by BG Trinidad & Tobago to raise funds for the Foundation for the Enhancement and Enrichment of Life (FEEL) and United Way of Trinidad and Tobago (UWTT).   
 
This was Headley's first full-length performance in Trinidad since migrating with her family from their Barataria home to the United States in 1989.   She made a brief appearance in 2007 at the Tobago Jazz Festival.
In spite of the price of the tickets, which ranged from $1000 to $1500, the Lord Kitchener Auditorium was almost filled to capacity and included her mother, grandmother, husband and other relatives.
 
Headley's repertoire included a bit of every genre of music which has influenced her as a performer.  She also took the time to share anecdotes of her time growing up in Trinidad and migrating to the United States.
 
Following a performance by National Panorama champions Neal and Massy Trinidad All Stars, Headley's opening song "Home" from the musical "The Wizz" was worth every cent and the concert could have ended right there when she hit that emotional crescendo at the very end.  Well not really.  The audience would not have allowed her to leave.
 
She emerged on stage dressed in a white, bedazzled mini dress and matching high heels to the strains of the music played by her band from Chicago and Trinidad and Tobago's own Alternative Quartet.



Headley's powerful delivery gave no indication that she was battling with acid reflux in her throat the day before.
 
Basking in the loud applause of those who came to see and hear her, Headley stood alone.  She had no overpowering back-up singers, no glitzy dancers and no fancy strobe lighting.  These seem to be the standard trappings for many in the entertainment industry today.  It was just her, her music and love.
 
Headley had the audience in stitches when she spoke of her embarrassment of going to the drive thru of a popular US fast food outlet and her mother, using her strong Trini accent, asking for a Big Mac, a portion of "chips" and a bottle of water with strong emphasis on the "T".  The customer service representative, however, did not understand that Trinidadians refer to "fries" as "chips" and told Headley's mother they did not sell chips.
 
She then did the popular Elton John hit "Your Song" which she was asked by John to perform when he was selected as an honouree at the 2004 Kennedy Center Honors.
Her own songs "I Wish", "In My Mind" and "What I Wish For You" - a song written for her son John David - was well received.
 
Undoubtedly the highlight of the evening was her performance of "The Prayer" with noted Lydians tenor Edward Cumberbatch who she described as the best in the Caribbean.  Its a song which Headley has performed many times the world over with the renowned Andrea Bocelli.  This performance earned them both a standing ovation on Saturday night.

Another highlight of the show was Headley's R&B/Jazz cover of David Rudder's "Hammer" for which she received thunderous applause.  Dressed this time in a white and black Peter Elias design with a red choker, Heather showed that she was still true to her Trini roots.
 
Other songs included "At Last" by Etta James, "You're Just Too Good To Be True", Tina Turner's "River Deep, Mountain High" - which she said is her husband Brian Musso's favourite song and "Seasons of Love" from the hit Broadway musical Rent, 

Just when you thought it could not get better, Headley teamed up with the combined 100 voice choir from The Bishop Anstey High School and Sixth Form Government Polytechnic School to sing "Do You Hear What I Hear" and "Joy to the World".

She left the stage after being presented with flowers but the audience, still not satisfied, kept clapping and begging Headley to return.  She obliged and gave a tearful rendition of "If It Wasn't For Your Love".
 

photos courtesy The Trinidad Express and Stefan Simmons

Comments

Unknown said…
Keino, this was an excellent review of a performance that I expected to be amazing. Significantly for me was your comment about the team up with Eddie Cumberbatch. I would have loved to be there to witness the moment when Heather and Eddie left no doubt that Trinis have talent. Thank you for the vicarious experience.
Tuesday, December 20, 2011
Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Fork Hilo, St Anns

So I recently visited Hilo in St Ann's while covering the 29th Music Festival and Queens Hall, Port of Spain. While browsing through the prepared foods section trying to decide what I should have for lunch, I came across a lovely looking fruit salad containing water melon, paw paw, apple and pineapple. I thought to myself, "this is wonderful" as I really was not in the mood to have anything heavy. The sandwiches did not look very appetising anyway. I proceeded to pick up a few more items, made my way to the cashier and paid for my purchases. Before I left the cashier though, I asked: "Where can I get a fork for this fruit salad?" Cashier: "We don't supply forks with the fruit salad". Me: "What? So how am I supposed to eat this ?" Cashier: "Well I don't know, we don't supply forks with the fruit salad." Well I stood there baffled for a brief moment then decided to employ the line I usually throw out when met with su...
Read more

Previous blog - Letting Go Of The Past

Image
I DID one of the hardest things I ever did in my life in December (2005). I buried my paternal grandmother. Now it wasn't hard for all the obvious reasons. We had to mend some fences before she died. She became seriously ill sometime in September while I was vacationing in New York. I didn't think much of it. Actually, I did not even want to know about it. I tried to distance myself from it. You see, I hadn't spoken to my grandmother in maybe two years. Sounds horrible right ? Well I felt I was justified in doing so. The story is, an incident occured in which I believed she was facilitating my father (her son) in continuing an extra-marital affair. It hurt me that someone I loved and admired and respected would have done that to my mother. I held on to that for two years until October 2005 when she was admitted to the hospital. I remember going to see her the first time and remarking to myself how thin she had gotten. I was almost afraid and embarrassed to make ...
Read more

Diana The Diva

Image
This blog is surely overdue but listening to some of Diana Ross' music this morning prompted me to still speak about my experience seeing her at the Plymouth "Jazz" Festival in Tobago last year. Now the funny thing is, Diana Ross was not the one I was really anticipating seeing. It was Heather Headley. Our own Trini-born divette (my word for a small diva) whose career I began following since she acted as Nala in The Lion King on Broadway and then Aida, in the musical of the same name, for which she won a Toni award. Heather's performance would have been her first on home soil since leaving Trinidad at the age of 15 in 1989. So, as an aspiring singer and actor myself, I was excited to see her - a fellowman (or woman for the politically correct) who is enjoying some measure of recognition in the International arena. But there is a saying that "cockroach should not get in fowl business". Not that I am calling Heather a cockroach, but in terms of Di...
Read more