'Live Love, Give Love'.

Marcia Rowe, Gleaner Writer
A change from its accustomed venue did not affect the expected humour-filled, high-quality performances at Sunday's 2013 staging of the annual Powerful Women and Men Perform for Charity Show. However, the teething pains that accompany change were felt by both audience and performers at the Karl Hendrickson Auditorium, Jamaica College (JC), Hope Road, St Andrew.
The show's theme was 'Live Love, Give Love'. Previously, the event was staged at the National Indoor Sports Centre.
The Mustard Seed Communities benefit event got off to a later-than-scheduled start. The customary singing of Jamaica's National Anthem was followed by a welcome from the Hon Monsignor Gregory Ramkissoon, founder of Mustard Seed.
In thanking the audience for its support, Monsignor Ramkissoon said that every year the concert contributed $3 million to the organisation. He revealed that it was in the process of opening its 11th home, this one in Mandeville, but has experienced a snag. A station wagon is badly needed to transport children from the home to various destinations.
Immediately after the welcome, it was showtime. A wide cross-section of professional Jamaicans in various fields, dressed in colourful costumes, modelled, sang, and danced to popular music on the well-decorated stage.
Their pieces spoke of love - predominantly the romantic kind.
Among the entertainers were Lloyd B. Smith, Carole Reid, and John McFarlane. McFarlane, along with his son Christopher, gave a fine delivery of the song Lady. Reid deviated from her classical repertoire and showed she could sing any genre with a medley of reggae and folk. Smith, dressed as the The Fluffy Don in a pair of shorts with meshed shirt under a jacket, generated humour with his stand-up comedy act.
Charmaine Lemonius and Michael Powell were even more fabulous with their performance of All I Need is You. And Mark Josephs went to church with his gospel medley. It was a fantastic performance from the International Youth Fellowship Group with its dance impersonating Gangnam Style singer Psy, but the performance which roused the crowd the most came from musical group The Fantastic Four.
The group, comprising DiMario McDowell, Emerson Henry, Michael Powell, and Maurice Henry, decked out in red bowties and white shirts, was excellent in voice and movement as they delivered a medley of love songs, including You Are The One and My Girl. When the quartet ended its performance with Kiss and Say Goodbye, the audience did not want them to go. There were shouts of "Encore!", to which witty MC Cordel Green replied "Later!"
Green, who appeared as a vagrant in part one of the concert, later abandoned his rather colourful attire for a nicely tailored suit. He justified the change of attire by saying, "It is empirical knowledge that the madman you pass today may be your neighbour tomorrow."
The entertainment package of the 13th staging of Powerful Women and Men Perform for Charity Show ended as it started - with a fashion show. However, this was special. It was a parade of national costumes modelled mainly by diplomats and embassy representatives, while backing band In2nation aptly played Now That We Found Love.
But while the programme was successful, the venue did not go down well with everyone. A retired teacher and ardent supporter of the concerts said, "I do not like the venue at all. In comparison to what we had at the National Indoor Sports Centre, I could not see very well." The discomfort was not limited to the audience as Green, who thought the venue otherwise lovely, said compared to the centre, there was not as much space backstage.
Show producer Weston Haughton told The Gleaner that the previous venue was "a little pricey and we like to know that we have money to give to the Mustard Seed Communities, so that it is why we came to this venue"