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Below
are some impressions of the concert sent to us by viewers:
What a wonderful experience! My wife and I drove from San Antonio,
almost 200 miles, to overnight in Houston and attend Charlotte's concert
at the magnificent Jones Hall, with the Houston Symphony under the
direction of Maestro Mariusz Smolij.
Of course, it was a sell-out, and I detected persons outside the hall
trying to buy tickets.
Unfortunately, the Houston Symphony program is a generic production and
so it did not list the specific program that Charlotte presented.
However, I do remember the following (in approximate order of
presentation):
Tonight, from West Side Story
Amazing Grace
La Pastorella
Summertime, from Porgy & Bess
Pie Jesu
My Lagan Love
If I Loved You, from Carousel
Bali Hi, from South Pacific (standing ovation)
Danny Boy - first encore (standing ovation)
Pie Jesu - second encore (standing ovation)
My personal impressions? Well, of course, I've never seen Charlotte in
person prior to this occasion - only on television. The last TV
presentation I saw was the Jerusalem concert. Charlotte is no longer
the giggly adolescent of 2-3 years ago. She is a delightful young woman. Her voice is
maturing and her presentation is more polished. I noted, particularly,
the way she sang Danny Boy. I have always thought that her presentation
of this song on "Voice of an Angel" was hurried - she sang it too fast.
At this concert it was much more polished and reflected a true
understanding of the meaning of the lyrics.
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My wife and I were fortunate enough to attend the post concert
reception, where we had the pleasure of meeting Charlotte in person -
for an all too brief minute or so. She graciously autographed my
program, which is a story in itself. You see, my wife and I have two
sons and one grandson - no daughters or granddaughters. It has been a
bit of a family joke that I was so enamoured of Charlotte that she
should be my surrogate granddaughter. And so, on the spur of the
moment, I asked her to sign my program "To Grandpa." She was a bit
perplexed by this request, but she went ahead and did it.
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I guess that I'm just a sentimental old fool, but I'm also a devoted
life-time fan of the delightful Miss Charlotte Church!
- "Grampa" John Root
I've never been to an event like this. The most I've seen were from episodes of Fraiser. Where they go to art shows and fancy French restaurants, and of course the symphony and opera.
Well to some degree I got to be one of those people for one night. So here is my account of the Charlotte Church concert with the Houston Symphony Orchestra
I first saw Charlotte Church in a PBS special where she was doing "Voice of an Angel" a few years ago. I was hooked and been keeping up with her music and looking at online websites. I have this list of things I want to do before I die. I want to skydive, go on a mission trip for a church, and I wanted to meet Charlotte Church. I saw the concert listings on
CharlotteChurch.net, which is a very great site, set up for info on her. I saw that she was playing in Houston so I thought what a great opportunity to go since it was a few hours away from me. I also saw that there was a reception where people could meet with her, so I wanted to take advantage of that opportunity as well.
Well since I can't drive, I took my usual form of travel via the Greyhound bus. I left work in Tyler Texas where I live, the afternoon of the concert. It had already started raining and the weatherman had said to expect more on the way. I had prayed that it would stop before the evening so I wouldn't get my suit wet. Since I had packed my suit in my suitcase.
The woman next to me on the bus was very friendly on the trip down and we discussed the Left Behind book series and what our plans were for the evening. The miles drew on as we passed by the piney woods of East Texas
I've always enjoyed people on these trips. I've been to a lot of places on the Greyhound and always meet someone interesting on a trip. Sometimes I wish I could do this professionally, out on the road seeing the world. This is just the first one I decided to write about.
Coming into the Houston city limits the sides of the road were covered in white a few passengers commented, "Hey its snowing," even though it was 60 degrees outside. It was indeed snow or rather snow's cousin, hail. It was still raining hard till we pulled into the station and as if by a miracle of God the sun popped out and the rain stopped.
One of my concerns about taking this trip was how to get to the places I needed to go, once I got off the bus. I hadn't been to Houston before except to transfer on buses, so I needed to find a city bus or cab when I got there. The bus was also rather late when getting in at 4:45, an hour and half behind schedule, which was another concern of mine. Would I have enough time to navigate to find the Days Inn on Main, get a room, dress, eat and get to Jones Hall where the concert was held.
The moment I stepped off the bus was a black guy offering me a cab, I got in and we were off to the Days Inn on South main, which was where I had gotten the cheapest place I could find on the internet a couple of months ago. I got my room and went to the McDonald's next door for dinner and changed into my nice suit I brought. The front desk called a cab for me at 6:45 and I was off again
I arrived at Jones Hall the bright lights everywhere. Fancy cars lined the street, and the billboard across the front of the building read "Sold Out, Houston Symphony Orchestra, staring Charlotte Church, Sold Out."
I went inside and they took my ticket. The large auditorium had more big bright lights and red carpet. Everyone was dressed up, and I was glad I thought to wear my suit so I could blend in. All the Men and ushers were in tuxes. Even families with young children were there. The user showed me where to go and handed me a magazine to show information about the symphony and other shows coming up and how to get subscriptions with them. One page in the magazine had an article on Charlotte in it (which later people got signed.). I got into the large hall that had many levels. The orchestra was on stage tuning up their instruments. I could hear little segments of songs they were going to play that evening. My orchestra seat was on the first level on the tenth row of the hall, which was almost dead center stage, which put Charlotte directly in front of me.
The people around me consisted of a young couple on my left. In front of me were a dad and his young teen daughter who looked like they attended the symphony together regularly. To my right sat a mom and her young daughter and her grandfather who was explaining why the roof was so high to help in the sound resonance.
Behind me sat some older gentlemen who seemed to be on some music committee. One of them inquired to his friend, "Do you know who is singing tonight?" To which his friend replied "Don't you know Charles? It's that young girl from
Wales." Later on they were commenting about the seats next to them which were empty for this sold out event. Charles said "You know what, lets see if we can sell these seats." His friend replied, "Oh Charles you don't need the money, your rich enough already." Charles said, "well, I hope whoever they are, they are nice if they show up."
The lights flickered on and off in the lobby to tell the people the show was about to start. Then the lights dimmed in the hall, the maestro came out in the spot light, and the crowed applauded.
The first piece was selections from the musical, "Sound of Music." After the piece, the maestro introduced Charlotte out onto the stage. To keep with the theme she sang "Tonight, Tonight," from "West Side Story" Then "Amazing Grace," which she commented as America's second anthem and was glad it had stopped raining. Then she song another song from her first album "La Pastorella" She sang with such beauty and grace and her
angelic voice filled the room.
The orchestra played another melody from another Broadway musical and Charlotte came out again. She was wearing a lavender sequin blouse and sang some of her other favorites, which she commented on about her use of the words favorite and fabulous a lot. She worked the audience with her nervous humor. She sang her signature song, "Pie Jesu", "Summertime from Porgy and Bess," and one of my favorites "My
Leagan Love". From that she commented, "This is for all the Irish people out there since half of Americans seem to be Irish. A quarter Irish, or an eighth Irish." She sang a song that was her grandmothers
favorite. Charlotte said, imitating her grandmother, "Now Charlotte, when you go to America you have to sing my favorite song." Which was "I Loved You" from Carousel
It was intermission, and after that Charlotte came out again in a new outfit with purple sequins on the blouse and sung a non-traditional song according to her, "Bridge over Troubled Water." Since Houston was having a lot of rain, she commented on being in Palm Beach a few days earlier and how nice the sun was there. She was laying out and ended up with a sun burn. She said she didn't want to leave Houston however, because that meant she'd have to go home to do final exams. She sang a few songs from musicals like: "The Jewel Song" from Faust, and her second favorite song, "A bit of Earth" from The Secret Garden and her most favorite song, "Bali H'ai" from South Pacific. When if was over the got a standing ovation, and was encouraged to do an encore, which she sang "Mae Hirath yn y mor."
Again a standing ovation and the people in their tuxes and gowns shouted again, "encore, encore," I don't think she was expecting to do a second encore so she sang "Pie Jesu" again.
Once again the crowd was on their feet and cheering loudly and so she sung "Danny Boy" for absolutely the final song she announced.
In the lobby was where they were selling Charlotte merchandise: pictures, t-shirts and CD's etc. Since I had purchased an orchestra seat a couple of months earlier on the internet, it allowed me to attend the private reception across the street.
I walked over and it was in a glass building where the lights were low, they had a small buffet there with little deserts and h'oderves, and waiters in white tuxedoes walking around offering glasses of champagne and fruit punch. People were taking pictures as Charlotte entered the room. A crowd formed around her. She was signing autographs as fast as she could on people's programs.
I had the opportunity to speak with her briefly telling her what a lovely voce God had given her.
She signed the picture I had, I was not able to get a photograph with her, by that time her father was ready to go and was pulling her aside to leave. People were yelling her name so she would look over to get her picture, and then they covered her up and led her out the door.
All in all it was a great experience for me and it couldn't have been more perfect considering the circumstances of her being a celebrity and all. I had cried tears of joy when I got back to my room, reflecting on it all and winding down from the anxiety I felt. I was glad I had decided to go and it was worth the money I spent on the trip. It was quite an opportunity and can now be crossed off my things to do before I die list. Now, where's the airport?
Afterwards.
I went to bed at midnight with wonderful dreams, I had hoped to get to talk to someone afterwards, but couldn't reach anyone on my cell phone.
Woke up and was ready to head home. I wore my Charlotte Church t-shirt I bought at the concert. I ended up meeting a blind couple at the Houston bus station who I did get to ride home and share my adventures with, along with the joys of owning a DVD player and Coca-Cola products. When they got off in Nacogdoches, which was where I went to school at Stephen F. Austin, it brought back the memories of the times I had there.
I continued to ride home, which is when I'm writing this. I got a Palm a few months ago and a keyboard to go with it, so I could take notes. I decided to go ahead and put this on paper or screen or whatever, so I could remember that I fulfilled a item on my list. And then I am home now, in good old' Tyler Texas
And that is how I spent my Spring Break Vacation, or at least 2 days of it.
- Kyle Pleasant
Tyler, TX
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