LOS ANGELES—At one point in Lea Salonga’s set with David Benoit and the 65-piece Asia America Symphony Orchestra (AASO) in LA’s Little Tokyo last Saturday evening, while she was singing “Someone to Watch Over Me,” I thought, wow, the girl who was a technically excellent singer has become an emotionally moving woman and performer as well.

As if on cue, Lea admitted before the sold-out crowd at the Aratani Japan America Theatre that, during the London run of “Miss Saigon,” she didn’t have much emotional connection with Claude Michel-Schonberg and Alain Boublil’s grand pop opera arias about love, life and tragic sacrifices.

The singer, dressed in a black gown, said that she just knew she had to be “loud” at certain portions in the songs. All that changed when she became a mother. She recounted that, when she sang “I’d Give My Life For You” three months after giving birth to Nicole, she finally understood all the emotions in the show-stopping ballad. “The tears just started coming out of my eyes,” the Tony Award-winning Filipina told the audience.

That was three years ago. Now, Lea definitely has all the sentiments to match her superior technical skills as showcased in the concert with AASO, conducted by, and under the music direction of, David (more popularly known, especially in the Philippines, as a jazz fusion artist). There’s extra fervor in Lea’s version of “I Dreamed a Dream” and exquisite nuance in her interpretation of “Someone to Watch Over Me” with just a solo guitarist accompanying her (the orchestra members sat in silent, smiling admiration).

Fresh perspective

Our two girls had the pleasure of watching Lea live for the first time, and with the bonus of a large orchestra backing her up. Nikki told us afterward that she loved “Hahanapin Ko” because, even if majority of the audience did not understand Jimmy Santiago’s Tagalog lyrics, she felt that they were moved by the way Lea introduced and sang it and got the sense in Jose Mari Chan’s music about missing one’s homeland.

Lea touchingly credited her brother Gerard for his arrangements, a well-deserved tribute, especially for making “Hahanapin Ko” a straight, powerful ballad. It’s a radical departure from the original 1980 version (sung by Anthony Castelo) which gradually took on a dance beat. Stripped of such an inflection and persuasively sung by Lea in her native tongue, “Hahanapin Ko” has become one of Joe Mari’s enduring compositions.

Both Nikki and Ella told us that they instinctively looked at each other in giddy acknowledgement of the fact that, for the first time, they were hearing — live on stage — Lea sing “Reflection,” the song from the movie “Mulan” that they constantly listened to as kids.

Lea’s numbers were essentially similar to her repertoire in her historic debut at the Walt Disney Concert Hall last year. But it was good to hear them again in the Aratani Theatre’s more intimate setting, a cozy space compared to architect Frank Gehry’s LA landmark. The set list included “I’ve Never Been in Love Before,” “Where is Love/As Long As He Needs Me,” “Everybody Says Don’t” and “Something’s Coming.”

At show’s end, the audience, who had cheered each of Lea’s numbers, stood up to give sustained applause to our country’s pride, and to David and the orchestra as well. Stage hands started hauling off orchestra members’ chairs, so we thought there would be no encores.

Tumultuous applause

It turned out that they were simply making space for a piano. To tumultuous applause, Lea and David returned onstage. With only David accompanying her on the piano, Lea sang “Land of the Loving,” his composition with Mark Winkler (who was in the audience) which, incidentally, is one of the gems in “Inspired,” Lea’s hit Sony BMG album. It was such a treat to hear this song live from the duo that the audience still wouldn’t let them go. So Lea, David and the orchestra obliged with “I’ve Got A Crush on You” and “On My Own.”

After those two songs, the crowd finally dispersed, with many proceeding to the after-concert reception. At the tented outdoor space, a long line of fans quickly formed to get Lea’s autograph and have photos with her.

In the first half of the program, David led the AASO in spirited performances of the symphonic dances from Leonard Bernstein’s “West Side Story.” Although on his eighth season with the AASO, David is still active in his other career as a jazz artist. In an article on David in the LA Times a week before the concert, he recounted how surprised and delighted he was to learn during a 1981 trip to the Philippines that he was quite well-known in the country.

E-mail the columnist at rvnepales_5585@yahoo.com and read his blog, “The Nepales Report,” on http://blogs.inquirer.net/nepalesreport.