Grand Adele Performance from Gloria Fiona at Teatro Vallarta
To Adele, a Tribute by Gloria Fiona at Teatro Vallarta was… Grand. From the sequins glittering like stars under the intense lights to the string quartet, it was a concert played at Vallarta’s highest possible level. Gloria’s voice soared over the stage and was touched with emotion that ran high all evening. Her musicians were impeccable, and everything ran like the dream she had dreamt a year ago. Her guest star, the superb Kevin Anthony, shone with equal light.
Twice, Gloria left the stage – still singing – and climbed the treacherous stairs to mingle with her friends, who had come out in droves to witness the most triumphant night of her career. ‘Her’ girls were there, like a troupe of cheerleaders from the Vallarta Girls School that received 20% of the profits from the show. Gloria volunteers to teach them to sing, and they clearly adore her.
She is an admirable role model, having arrived in Vallarta a decade ago from Italy with no English and no Spanish, just her voice. When she was down to 50 Euros, she had a choice – eat or buy a guitar. In days, she was busking on the Pitillal bus route; the rest, as they say, is history.
Gloria’s standing ovation was interrupted by Irene, who came onstage and, in a voice cracking and breaking with emotion, went down on one knee and asked Gloria to marry her. We were all crying anyway from the sheer magnitude of Gloria’s concert, so another river of happy tears didn’t matter. What. A. Night.
Gloria met with well-wishers in the lobby of Teatro Vallarta immediately after the show, smiled, and posed for photographs. The tribute was, and Gloria remains, a tour de force.
The Vallarta Girls School benefited from yet another musical event – the second one donated by CelloVoci as the first concert sold out in a day or so.
Effie Passero (Francesca Bavaro) and Branden and James have pooled their resources and created CelloVoci that debuted at Carnegie Hall a couple of months ago. The three have appeared together sporadically over the last couple of years here in Vallarta and, after touring the American Midwest, generating some funny stories and solidified a musical connection. All three play piano; James, the cello, and the combination of their voices creates a tapestry of harmony that illicits delicious chills and unbidden tears from the sheer enormous beauty of it all. Their end notes hang in the air like tinsel, the audience spellbound, until suddenly applause breaks out with everyone wanting more.
Francie Nguyen, owner of Casita & Garden and co-founder of the Girls School, serenely moved through the sold-out crowd at her restaurant/wine bar, greeting friends and seating patrons. She exudes warmth and grace and constantly gives back to the community with her time, endless energy, and fabulous spaces full of good food and spirits.
Branden and James have a new show starting in early February at Coco Cabaret. Effie Passero as herself, Francesca Bavaro, is in Nashville, Tennessee, cutting her first solo album. She will be back in about six weeks with some stories to tell.
Tonight, Deborah Darr is sold-out at The Palm Cabaret, and later at Nacho Daddy, Mark Hartman accompanies Gouda Gabor and Seth Sikes in Hello Gorgeous with a nod to Barbra Streisand at 7:30. See you there.