In hush or applause, Bituin Escalante finds her moment
Bituin Escalante isn’t going to lie: It feels good to be onstage and hear a crowd erupt in applause.
Now, some artists might insist that adulation isn’t what they’re truly after. But as a singer and storyteller, there’s probably no measure of connection more outright and immediate than thunderous cheers filling a hall. “It can only mean that whatever message it is you were trying to convey, they have understood,” she tells Lifestyle Inquirer. “Knowing that you have connected with your audience is always gratifying.”
Escalante has certainly enjoyed her fair share of that throughout her life and career. As a young girl, she would put on a precocious performance of the Liza Minelli classic “New York, New York,” delighting the grownups, who clapped to every note. And she will never forget the first time she drew collective gasps and shouts of “Bravo!” for her portrayal of Joanne in the musical “Rent” in 2001.
Symphonic rock
While she revels in the thrill of it all, the singer-actress has also come to realize that silence can be just as loud—and at times, even more profound. In theater, she has had performances that commanded so much respect that the slightest sound or reaction would almost feel like disrespect.
“There’s no place for applause because of the reverence for what just happened. You can hear a pin drop—as if suspended in space and time,” she relates. “That I love. Moments like that are precious to me, because you were able to bring them to the place they were meant to be.”
Of course, different stages call for different energy. But at the Manila Philharmonic Orchestra’s (MPO) upcoming concert—to which Escalante will lend her soulfully powerful voice—she might well have space for both intimacy and bombast.
Titled “MPO Rocks!”—happening on Nov. 29 at the Samsung Performing Arts Theater—the one-night event is a collision of two contrasting musical traditions: raucous rock and intimate symphony. Part of the proceeds, meanwhile, will benefit The Performing Arts and Recreation Center (PARC) Foundation’s PARC Aralan program, which supports underprivileged arts and music scholars.
“This is special to me because I rarely get the opportunity to sing rock music, much less with the MPO,” points out Escalante, who has been performing with the orchestra for the past 25 years. “Every opportunity to collaborate with them still excites me, no matter the genre.”
Treat it like theater
Under the baton of MPO founder Maestro Rodel Colmenar, Escalante joins Filipino-Australian singer-actor Mig Ayesa and the Philippine Madrigal Singers in bringing to life orchestral reimaginations of rock classics and hits by such bands as Queen, Coldplay, My Chemical Romance, Bamboo, and the Eraserheads.
“My favorite rock bands have always had orchestral elements in their music. Led Zeppelin has ‘Kashmir’ and ‘Stairway to Heaven.’ The Beatles used the Wall of Sound [a production technique],” she shares. “An orchestra always adds an element of grandeur to any song.”
Rock may be a bit of a departure from her usual torch ballads, classic jazz standards, and dramatic show tunes, but the preparation isn’t any different. Music is music, she stresses. It’s about expression and communication. And when in doubt, always go back to the text. Treat it like theater—like storytelling.
“That’s the grounding experience for me. I don’t have to sing a certain song the way others sing it, because that’s not me. I will sing the song the way I feel I can tell the story best,” she says. “This is true regardless of the medium. Is this a corporate event? A concert? Okay, let’s make it bigger. But you’re still telling the story.”
Escalante’s approach to storytelling holds true even in situations that might feel awkward and strictly bound by business parameters.
“You may have to sing songs you don’t enjoy, or get asked to perform at—say a corporate awards night—where you could end up looking like a caricature,” she says. “But what will not make it look ridiculous is you understanding the song. The text will always save you.”
Not measured in octaves
Sure, you can mask a lack of connection to and affinity for the material by piling on the vocal pyrotechnics and hitting the highest notes possible. That will likely earn cheers—and it will feel good, too—but it shouldn’t always be about that.
Glenn Close as Norma Desmond in “Sunset Boulevard,” for example, didn’t exactly shock and awe with her vocals. Still, Escalante says, she managed to create moments that can’t just be measured in octaves. “Did we ever speak about her artistry in octaves? Never,” she stresses. “Sometimes, however, people can get so caught up in the notes you can hit or how many octaves your vocal range is.”
But when Close stares into the space and senses something in the void, Escalante continues, you see it with her. Those are the moments she herself strives for and lives for—in her words, “not fame, not winning an award, not reading her name in a good review.”
The applause—or the hushed awe—is just a bonus.
