Lea in Seoul
i was really never into birit queens (belters) and can totally relate to this article : can’t bear the birit published in inquirer.
what i like is a crystal clear voice that can hit high notes - like Lea’s voice is 
International Filipino star Lea Salonga performed her first concert in Korea
last Monday June 16, 2008at the Concert Hall of Seoul Arts Center which is just a walking distance away from my office. She is also the first filipino who performed in the foremost complex dedicated to arts and culture. Pop stars not allowed, no exemption so Beyonce, Christina Aguillera etc. held their concerts elsewhere.
Ticket sales for Lea’s concert were quite good for an artist who has not released an album in Korea. Ticket price ranged from 30,000 won to 180,000 won (exchange rate: KRW 1040:USD). Yeah, that expensive but the venue is almost fully packed specially on the pricey seats about 2,000 people, mostly Koreans were in audience, only a handful of Filipinos. The concert organizers are Koreans too.
The Korean audience was very appreciative of Leah’s performance, enthusiastically cheering and clapping after every song. She performed 22 Disney and Broadway songs during the two-and-a-half hour concert. So it’s like you’ve been tossed from West End to Broadway, definitely a world-class experience.
Lea came out for THREE encores, the exuberant response from the Korean crowd obviously surprised Lea so much when she came out for the third time, she laughingly said, “We ran out of songs." She gave the audience a repeat performance of her supposed to be last song, “Everybody Says Don’t."
Lea was also surprised to learn her that wedding song, “Two Words" is popular among her Korean fans. The song was not originally part of the program, but was a last-minute addition due to her fans’ special request. The musical piece came fresh from the e-mail on the concert day itself
After the show, around a hundred Korean fans and Filipinos who attended the concert lined up to have Lea’s autograph..including me of course.
