Good to know that Quezon City---Cubao, in particular---has a new performing arts theatre in Gateway Cinema 11.

Time and again, we have pointed out the need for more performing arts venues in QC whose residents often have to wrangle with horrendous traffic so they could reach either Makati, Manila, or Taguig, to catch a performance.

A full-house, therefore delighted in the magical singing voices of Lara Maigue and Gian Magdangal, stars of The Greatest Duets: Special Screening concert held August 30 at Gateway C-11. What great, nostalgic fun we had listening to their renditions of Broadway hits and classical pieces juxtaposed against panoramic scenes flashed on a wide cinema screen.

Imagine an evening where you can have a full serving of old, familiar hits culled from Broadway plays, the classics, plus songs from the movies by a couple of vocally capable singers radiating undeniable chemistry between them.

From West Side Story to Phantom of the Opera, from Beauty and the Beast to Aladdin to Miss Saigon, with so many more golds in-between. This is such a beautiful companion to my current preoccupation, fanboying over movies from the 40s and above as shown on You Tube. You must try it, too.

A show this wonderful, so enjoyable, and so singable, ought to be restaged again and again. Turned out the August 30 event, produced by Ogie Alcasid, was the second in a series of Greatest Duets shows starring the real-life singing couple. Gian was to inform me later that a third installment to the series directed by Paolo Bustamante is forthcoming.

With Greatest Duets, Gian has metamorphosed into a truly versatile act, dabbling in musical theatre, TV and movie acting, and lately, operatic singing.

He credits his partner, Lara, for inspiring him in this direction. He also learns much from her, in tandem with her mother, Nanette Moscardon-Maigue, the soprano, who was herself a musical theatre star in the 70s and 80s.

“Let’s just say I like to dabble in these things to challenge myself,” he told us in a phone interview later.

Needless to say, Lara proves through this concert what an unbeatable act she has become, the only young woman in her early 30s standing in her own genre at this point. Her voice soars, mesmerizes, throughout the two-hour show(down), displaying just the right amount of control and let-go, never missing a beat each time.  

In a Facebook post, the singer, who rose to fame when she finished in the top 5 of the Philippine Popular Music Festival (PhilPop) in 2013, said she cried the minute she saw the whole set-up of the concert. She thanked her management team and producer, A-Team, for making the second show of The Greatest Duets series a dream come true.

She continued: “To have the greatest duet in the country as our special guests, Ogie and Regine, is mind-blowing! Still can’t believe it.”

Ogie and Regine joined Lara and Gian in a quartet of classics, which Ogie bravely, confidently confronted, and with flying colors at that. Ogie, ever the comic, quick on the draw with his witticism and self-deprecating humor, provided not a few laughs in the short time allowed for that segment.

Gian, for his part, said it pleased him no end that Martin Nievera sat through the concert, his first time.

“I felt like we were auditioning before him."

Lara said having the Concert King in the house provided a major kilig.