Lea accepting song requests

Author: Mario E. Bautista
Column: Dream Factory

Lea Salonga is celebrating this year the 20th anniversary of her debut as an international theater star when she played Kim in "Miss Saigon" at London's West End. "It was in 1989 and I was only 17 then," she says. "Imagine, it's 20 years ago. I played a young mother then who sacrificed my life for my son. Now, I'm really a mom with a three-year old daughter. There's a huge difference that 20 years can make in the interpretation of that role. The journey has so far been incredibly interesting and a lot of fun. I had some high moments like winning the Olivier and Tony Awards, but I also had some frustrating experiences that I now realize have helped me grow and become stronger. I'm glad to have a show that will always and forever be identified with me. 'Miss Saigon' is really a career-defining turn, like 'Wizard of Oz' is for Judy Garland and 'Funny Girl' is for Barbra Streisand."

Lea is holding a very special concert on December 11 and 12 at the PICC Plenary Hall, "Lea Salonga, Your Songs," and she'll be singing songs requested by her fans and sent to her website LEAyoursongs.com. "I thought of this kasi after each past concert, people would tell me na 'Sana you sang this or that song,' so ngayon, I am giving them the chance to pick the songs themselves. So far, the response is overwhelming. We already got 1,300 requests and the variety is great, quite incredible, from songs of Lady Gaga and Amy Winehouse to those of the Dawn and Eraserheads. And we're getting more requests as days go by, so the selection committee will have a hard time choosing the 20 or 25 final songs that will be included in the show. Personally, though, I'd like to sing stuff that I've never done before. Definitely, 'Bayan Ko' will be there as it's the number one request after I sang it at the funeral of the late PresidentCory Aquino. I never thought the response to that would be that great as I just did it to show how grateful I was for all that President Cory has done for our country."

Her guests are Ai Ai de las Alas, Richard Poon, Philippine All Stars and FILharmoniKA Orchestra. "I'm excited to work with Ai Ai as she's so talented and funny. I have no idea how I'll deal with her irrepressible humor. As for Richard Poon, I admired him when I guested in 'ASAP' and he sang in perfect harmony as a sessionista for all those who sang solo, which mean he's a great team player. All in all, we promise it will be great pre-Christmas show."

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Marian Rivera's birthday presentation, "Tarot," had a successful premiere night at SM Megamall last Monday night. She was congratulated by everyone as she delivered a solid performance in the role of the beleaguered heroine whose gift to foretell the future proves to be a big liability that wreaks havoc on her private life. Giving her great support are Dennis Trillo as her fiancee who gets lost in the forest and becomes the reason why Marian had to make use of the mysterious tarot cards she previously promised not to touch again, Roxanne Guinoo as her best friend who turns out to have cheated on her, Celia Rodriguez as the old woman with an eyepatch who knows the secret behind the tarot cards, Susan Africa as Marian's mom who becomes a victim of the evil forces unleashed by the tarot cards, and Anna Capri as Dennis' pregnant sister who dreams of losing her baby to the sinister veiled woman who haunts Marian.

Director Jun Lana succeeds in eliciting a lot of screams from the audience as "Tarot" has the same jolting boo moments reminiscent of his equally successful "Kulam" last year. The difference is that "Kulam" is faster paced while "Tarot" is bogged down by an elaborate back story that offers a lot of explanations. The efforts to over-explain what happened in the past are too detailed that they only raise more questions than answers. At one point, thetarot cards actually appear to be irrelevant to the story as the macabre happenings continue to go on even if they've already gotten rid of it. Still and all, this is a much more effective horror flick than the last local scare film we saw, Star Cinema's "Villa Estrella," that dismally failed to frighten viewers.

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Kristel Moreno is Alma Moreno's niece who's determined to follow in her footsteps as a sexy dancer and actress. After her hilarious portrayal of a secretary with body odor in "Betty La Fea," Kristel is now in "Dahil May Isang Ikaw" as they lawyer friend of Kristine Hermosa. "It's a good role kasi pinakita kaming students ni Kristine until we graduated as lawyers," she says.

Now, she's staging her first big dance concert, "La Danza," on September 4, Friday, 10 p.m. at the Library in Malate, and is about to shoot her launching movie, tentatively titled "The Break," with Christopher de Leon and Sid Lucero, to be directed by Joey Romero. The producer of both the concert and the movie is Legalas Entertainment, owned by Romeo "Don" Lerit, Jr., whose family owns Legalas Forwarding with branches in various countries, and various restaurants in Manila like Kangaroo Jack in SM Edsa and Grilla in Robinsons Pioneer St. Don is very much single. Is Kristel his girlfriend? "No, tumutulong lang po kami ng dad ko (Romeo Sr.) kasi we believe in her talent," he says. "We're also producing the launching movie of Lovi Poe, 'Sagrada Familia,' with Snooky Serna, Emilio Garcia and Gloria Diaz, directed by Joel Lamangan."

"I'm really thankful to Don and his family for helping my career," says Kristel. "Siempre kinakabahan din ako, sana hindi sila mabigo sa pagtitiwala nila sa talent ko. Kaya naman I promise to give my all in both the concert and the movie. The concert is really something new kasi, usually, what we have is just singing. This one is dancing. I'll be doing several number showing different kinds and levels of dancing. All in all, I'll have seven costume changes, directed by Mamu Andrew de Real. Guests ko sina Wendy Valdez and Vhong Navarro na naging friends ko in 'Betty La Fea' several ABS talents na kasamahan ko sa Star Magic."

How far is she willing to go in the movie?

"Ready ako magpa-sexy, like my Auntie Ness, huwag lang full frontal. I'm inspired kasi the story is really nice. It starts with me as a dancer who marries Sid Lucero, a painter. Kasi naaksidente siya and he loses his hand, hindi na maka-paint kaya sobrang depressed. We have so many problems until I meet Christopher de Leon, a producer who offers to give me a break sa showbiz, kaya nga 'The Break' ang tentative title nito. Para itong 'Indecent Proposal' with Robert Redford offering kay Demi Moore something she can't refuse. So hindi lang ito pa-sexy kundi acting din."

Kristel has a sweet face, smooth fair skin and a sexy bod so she has a good chance of making it in showbiz.

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TV5 SVP for management Jasper Evangelista says their slogan "Shake Mo TV Mo" is really quite effective.

"When our reorganization started last year, our aim was really to shake the viewing habits of people by thinking out of the box and this is why we dubbed 'SpongeBob SquarePants' in Tagalog to make it easier to understand to Pinoy kids. We also made an outreach project to various barangays showing free Pinoy films through '5Max Movies,' giving them the chance to watch the auditions of Ryan Agoncillo's number one show, 'Talentadong Pinoy,' in the process. It's now our banner show, attracting about 3 million viewers every Saturday night. We now have our month-long first anniversary celebration that includes visiting campuses where kids and teeners get to know more about our shows as part of our massive information campaign that we offer good alternative programming."

Saturday is really their strongest night as it also includes Vic Sotto's toprating "Who Wants to be a Millionaire" where his pal Joey de Leon of "Wow Mali" was the special guest last Saturday night. This is followed by Vic son Oyo Sotto's horror-comedy show, "Midnight DJ," which Jasper says is "consistently going up the ratings and beating out other shows." This is the reason why they're coming up with another horror-comedy show,"Moomoo and Me," topbilled by John Prats as the friendly Moomoo and BJ Forbes as the little boy who's the only one who can see him. This will be shown Thursdays at 8 p.m.

"As we go into our second year, we aim to give our viewers shows that not only please and entertain them but also impart good and positive family values," he adds. "You will see this slant even more clearly in 'Moomoo and Me' that centers on a happy family headed by real life couple William Martinez and Yayo Aguila."

Source: Malaya