Long Overdue ‘Welcome Home’

Under the heading of a “TV Review,” Robert Hilburn wrote a review of the HBO television special “Welcome Home Heroes With Whitney Houston,” but Hilburn only reviewed Whitney’s performance (April 2). He ignored the 3,500 servicemen and women who were having the time of their lives celebrating a safe return, a great concert and the fact that their country had done something profoundly right.

Let me tell you about the real-life “field of dreams” that Hilburn overlooked at the Norfolk Naval Air Station. In case you didn’t see it, we “built” a show for the returning servicemen and women, and they came. They came and they pretty much blew the top off of hangar LP-2 in Norfolk.

We had sailors dancing with Army lieutenants, Air Force fliers singing along with the Coast Guard, boy soldiers bashfully handing flowers to Whitney on stage, proud families with their reunited moms and dads, and, of course, Marines hanging off the rafters.

That night, it felt like Babe Ruth pointing to left field, Lindbergh landing in Paris, Martin Luther King’s speech at the Washington Monument. It was a purely magic moment of goodness and light. . . . It’s been two weeks since the show aired. Already it seems so long ago, as if we captured the last moments of euphoria before going back to business as usual.

It reminded me of an earlier time. I remember sitting in the Oakland airport 20 years ago and watching young men my age file off to fight a war I could not support. For myself, and for many people on the production, this welcome home was long overdue for those who fought then as well as now.

Contrary to Hilburn’s comments, Whitney is a mysterious figure. In an age of fiercely ambitious artists trying whatever tricks they can to catch and hold the public’s attention, it can be confusing to see an artist whose stage production is built around her outstanding vocal abilities. She is a unique artist. At her best, the audience, sound and lights, dancers and musicians all disappear as she enters an enchanted state where only she and her voice are together on stage.

This is the most rewarding show I’ve ever done and perhaps the most difficult. We tried to share the joy of a husband’s return rather than milk it, capture the magic of a star-struck soldier singing along with Whitney rather than stage it. The hardest emotion to get across is the goodness and joy of an event. I believe we did it with this production.

One last thing. I’d like to acknowledge some of the other people who made this show happen. They are: Lauren Harris, Doug Forbes, Allen Branton, Rickey Minor, Bruce Ryan, Mo Morrison, Danny Harris, Roz Storey, Cindy Allen, John Field, Don Worsham, Mark Sanford and perhaps the best camera crew ever assembled on American television. Thanks guys.

And Bob, if you’re going to do music reviews on television programs, take into account the context as well as the performance.