Fernando Varela and wife Susan Williams went unplugged Sunday evening at Laurel Manor Recreation Center and wound up searching for towels, dancing on stage and surprising a Villages’ couple with an anniversary serenade.
Fernando even had a chance to show off his “crazy” looking socks while Susan got to do the twist and sing like a “frozen” princess.
There was plenty of fun and a few tears of joy. The best part of the “By Request” concert was all the money raised went to It Takes A Village To Change The World club in The Villages. That organization helps children locally and around the world through ChildFund International. For information call 751-1000.
Fernando usually performs in bigger venues but on this night he and his wife decided to get up close and personal with the fans in the Lincoln Room at Laurel Manor. People in the audience were given song lists and had the opportunity to tell the Varelas what to sing.
You can see a clip from the concert on the Villages-News.com Facebook page:
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The atmosphere was loosey-goosey as well as warm and friendly. Kind of like spending a night with a couple of singing pals in The Villages. All that was missing was some cold beer and warm hot dogs.
“We’re here for you,” Fernando said as he and wife Susan took the stage, along with Kyle Mattingly on keyboards. “You’re pickin’ what we’re singin’.”
The first number, to the somewhat surprised Susan was “The Prayer.”
“As you know, I love to tell little tid-bits about my marriage to this guy,” she said as her hubby sported a bemused expression while standing next to her. “Ninety-nine percent of the time, everything is great but we have our little disagreements.”
Susan said she thought maybe fans were tired of hearing them do, “The Prayer.”
“I thought maybe we could give it a little rest, but he kept saying we should keep doing it,” she said. “So what was the most requested song tonight: ‘The Prayer.’ You won, Honey.”
Fernando flashed a Cheshire grin from ear to ear. “I’m not going to say I told you so,” he said.
The stage lights gave off intense heat and after the song Fernando went backstage to search for a towel. All he found was a child’s Camp Villages T-shirt to wipe his brow. “It’s not like the big theaters,” said Fernando who recently returned from an international tour. “They don’t have towels here. I feel like I did in the old days – hot.”
Both Susan and Fernando were in frisky moods. During breaks between songs, they chattered and danced on stage. Susan did a kind of modified version of the twist, while Fernando was doing what might be termed an unplugged version of the Electric Slide.
That’s when someone in the crowd noticed his multi-colored socks. “These are my crazy socks,” Fernando said. He added he wears them in honor of his grandmother who used to give him socks at Christmas.
“They look crazy but I wear them for her.”
The mood turned serious when Susan sang a heartfelt version of “I Dreamed a Dream” from “Les Miserables.” Fernando followed with one of his personal favorites from that show, “Bring Him Home.”
Then Fernando was rocking out on “Pretty Woman.” Fernando even growled like Roy Orbison at the end of the song to the delight of the crowd. Who says tenors aren’t cool?
Susan talked about how she works at Disney and is a “retired princess.” She added how the movie “Frozen” has become huge with Disney fans and sang a lilting version of a song from the movie, “Let It Go.” Susan was also in fine form on a cover of Roberta Flack’s “Killing Me Softly.”
She combined with Fernando on “Phantom of the Opera” and seemed to have the most fun of all with a rollicking cover of Lesley Gore’s “It’s My Party.”
Fernando took center stage on “Music of the Night” from “Phantom of the Opera.” He earned a standing ovation and rousing cheers after singing, “Nessun Dorma,” which made Laurel Manor seem like the Metropolitan Opera. Another show stopper was Fernando singing “The Impossible Dream.”
There was also a surprise for a couple in the front row: Linda terBurg and her husband, Bruce. She heads the “It Takes A Village” club and the Varelas wanted to do something special to honor the couple for their upcoming anniversary.
So, they asked Linda and Bruce to stand up and dance. “They have done so much for children, we wanted to honor them in a special way,” Fernando said. “This is the first time I have done this song.”
Fernando began singing Frankie Valli’s “Can’t Take My Eyes Off You” as Linda and Bruce terBurg danced near the front of the stage. “This was a complete surprise,” Linda said after the dance ended. “Fernando asked me what songs we like and the next thing I know that son-of-a-gun is up there singing “Can’t Take My Eyes Off You” and asking us to dance. I still can’t believe it. Fernando and Susan have such big hearts.”
Longtime fans Mark and Linda Newhouse echoed those words. They support ChildFund and have adopted a child in Ecuador, where Fernando and Susan have helped about 500 children become adopted.
“Fernando has a magnificent voice but what’s more important is that he and Susan are such generous people,” Mark Newhouse said. “I love watching them sing together. You can feel the love between them.”
Linda Johnston said what makes Fernando special on stage is that, “his voice is so pure. He can sing anything.”
The performance had special, deep meaning for Mary Kay Buckland. Her late husband, Bob, was a big fan of Fernando. “My husband’s favorite song was ‘The Prayer,’” she said. “I requested it for him tonight. When Fernando sang that song, I know he was singing it for both of us.”