IT WAS SUPPOSED TO START at 8 p.m., so half past the hour, the exasperated audience at PICC started complaining about the delay of ?Charice in Concert with Ryan Cayabyab.? Louder clapping followed, as more minutes passed and, still, there was no sign that the show was going to start. Others booed in sheer dismay.

Their frustration subsided, however, when they finally heard the overture, and Charice finally came out and held the audience captive with her powerful voice.

The young singing sensation dished out one song after another with gusto. The crowd cheered when she sang Beyonce?s ?Listen? and Celine Dion?s ?Because You Loved Me.? She displayed her famous ?birit? style when she sang ?And I Am Telling You? and ?I Will Always Love You.?

Charice also covered songs from ?my era,? as maestro Ryan Cayabyab put it, and enthralled the not-so-young members of the audience with her version of popular tunes like Olivia Newton-John?s ?Hopelessly Devoted to You.?

Guest George Yang performed ?The Prayer? with Charice, then sang solo. Erik Santos rendered ?Maging Sino Ka Man,? then joined Charice in a duet (?Come What May?).

The Ryan Cayabyab Singers performed a medley of old hits and entertained the crowd with their powerful singing. Charice later sang Aegis? ?Halik? with the female vocalists of the group.

But, it was guest Ogie Alcasid who brought the house down with his witty spiels. The veteran performer ?reacted? when Charice addressed him as ?Tito? and Santos as ?Kuya.? The singer-comedian quipped that the concert should have been dubbed ?Charice in Concert with the Elders?with Tito Ogie, Kuya Erik, Lolo Ryan and Lolo George.?

Compositions

Ogie later sang one of his popular compositions, ?Hanggang Ngayon,? with the teenage belter.

We also enjoyed listening to Charice?s OPM numbers (?Ikaw,? ?Tayong Dalawa,? etc.). Noteworthy was her rendition of Mr. C?s ?Kailan.? The slower arrangement made the song more soothing and felt. Thereafter, she was joined by her guests in paying tribute to composer George Canseco.