Didn't Regine bite the P25-M bait?

Author: Ricardo F. Lo
Column: Funfare

Standing ovation for Leo Valdez

• BREAKING NEWS:

Cheers to Leo Valdez and company for getting a standing ovation Tuesday night during the opening of the Miss Saigon (tour) in Perth, Australia. This is the text message Leo sent to Funfare yesterday:

Opening night here in Perth after a hugely successful Adelaide run and another standing ovation by the very appreciative audience. What a nice way to end this amazing and memorable Miss Saigon Australian Tour. We finish on April 20 here in Perth. After a week of holiday in Sydney, I am going home and will stay there for a while.

(The last time Leo came home was late last year to bury his father. )

* * *

For a while, Regine Velasquez was genuinely tempted to jump ober da bakod from GMA, her home these past several years, to rival station ABS-CBN more than three months after her contract expired in October last year.

Why wouldn't she be when, according to a Funfare DPA Rock 'n' Roll, she was being lured to sign a contract by ABS-CBN with a P25-million-a-year "bait"? That is big money in any denomination, isn't it? (Note: An ABS-CBN guy denied making such an "unrealistic" offer. )

No wonder Regine cried a river in last Sunday's edition of the GMA noontime show S. O. P. where her co-hosts (among them her beloved Ogie Alcasid) sang such "meaningful" songs as That's What Friends Are For and I Don't Want You To Go -- con todo tears!

Televiewers felt that that Sunday was Regine's farewell appearance on S. O. P. amidst rumors that she's making a "career move," fanned by her starring in an episode of Maalaala Mo Kaya (hosted by the durable and unbeatable Charo Santos-Concio) tomorrow night and, before Valentine's Day, guesting on Sharon's eponymous show (also on ABS-CBN).

Regine Velasquez is Regine Velasquez, and GMA wouldn't let her go just like that without putting up a "fight," something the network didn't do when Ara Mina "threatened" to move to ABS-CBN where she began appearing in the station's shows on the pretext that she was hurt when GMA didn't even "defend" her during the controversy linking her to Manny Pacquiao. Instead, GMA very casually dropped Ara from the cast of the top-rated gag show Bubble Gang (which I never miss Friday nights).

Losing no time, still according to the Funfare DPA, GMA execs sat down with Regine and listened to whatever "gripes" she had. True enough, whatever kinks there were have been ironed out and Regine has decided to stay where she is. As agreed upon (part of Regine"s "conditions"), she will be given her own show (longer than the one-season Celebrity Duets which she co-hosted with Ogie Alcasid), a telenovela that will showcase her so far not-fully-tapped acting talent and, perhaps, a movie by the network's sister company GMA Films.

Asked if GMA made Regine stay with the same P25-million-a-year "bait" supposedly being dangled by ABS-CBN, the Funfare DPA simply smiled.

"Hoy, gising!", he said, laughing as if to insinuate that Regine "outwitted" the rival stations.

One thing about Regine, she knows her way around.

KC is now the 'queen' of ABS-CBN

So you think that Angel Locsin is the new "queen" at ABS-CBN? Think again.

The one reigning supreme is none other than KC Concepcion who, without any doubt, is the network's newest hot property.

KC is the sum total of her parents' (Sharon Cuneta and Gabby Concepcion) best qualities, looks- and talents-wise. She can sing and dance; she's a good host and she connects very beautifully with both the media (thanks to her ready smile and genuine warmth) and the public. Her charity work as National Ambassador Against Hunger for the UN World Food Program enhances the goodness of her heart.

Her debut last week in an episode of Maalaala Mo Kaya proved beyond any reasonable doubt that KC is a good actress, and it was not only because she cried easily in her many dramatic scenes. She turned in a credible performance as a rich girl forced to be the family's breadwinner when her father (played by Ricky Davao) died in an accident. KC was a natural actress who fleshed out her role straight from the heart.

KC is Sharon's heir apparent in more ways than one.

Isabel shooting an international movie

It's Isabel Granada's turn to dream Hollywood, especially now that she's starring in a Bollywood movie intended for the international market.

This piece of good news was relayed to Funfare by Isabel herself in an e-mail from Oman, Jordan, where the movie titled Pirate's Blood is being shot.

Isabel sent Funfare the following clipping from Oman Trbune:

An English film featuring international actors including Omani Salim Bahwan and Mamoona Al Balushi, and Karen Leone from the US is being shot in the scenic Sur (Ras Al Hadd).

The film is being produced in partnership with Hollywood producer-director Mark Ratering and Jayashree Cine International, an Indian film production company represented by Gulab Prem-kumar, according to Mohsin Al Busaidi, chairman of Siba Art Production and Distribution.

The 90-minute film also features actress Isabel Granada from the Philippines and a guest appearance by Myanna Buring who appeared in Lord of the Rings and Grindhouse, which was directed by Quentin Tarantino. 'The half-a-million-dollar film is being shot with a professional Indian crew under K Ramachandra Babu.

The film depicts the story of a group of Asian-Americans whose vacation is filled with thrills when they get involved in a mystery surrounding the legend of pirate's treasure.

(E-mail reactions at rickylo@philstar. net. ph).

Source: The Philippine Star