“It’s theatrical,” she said, adding that it was Sunico’s love for the theater that truly inspired her to express herself through fashion.
“Mga Ginintuang Alaala ni Conching Sunico at ng Met” was a 90-minute concert paying homage to Sunico’s legacy in the performing arts, fashion and charity work, still very much felt today 19 years after she passed away. (She was the first recipient of the Presidential Medal of Merit when the honor was posthumously bestowed by President Corazon Aquino.) “Without her, the building deteriorated and is now in a sad state of disrepair,” Harper said. Directed by Tony Mabesa and Floy Quintos, the show began with a stirring mix of melodies that defined the Metropolitan and Sunico. Chinggoy Alonso, who starred as King Arthur, as Henry Higgins in “My Fair Lady” and Captain Von Trapp in “The Sound of Music,” sang “Camelot” and “I’ve Grown Accustomed to Her Face.” Karla Patricia Gutierrez sang “I Could Have Danced All Night” and “Climb Every Mountain.”
Raul Sunico performed Allegro de Concierto by E. Granados and “Liebestod” from Richard Wagner’s “Tristan and Isolde.”