Direk Joey: There’s fire in Anne

On July 29, the Rodgers and Hammerstein’s musical, "Cinde-rella," opens with Lea in the title role. This will run until August 24 at the CCP Main Theatre, produced by Broadway Asia Entertainment (BAE), the biggest producer of Broadway musicals in Asia, directed by the acclaimed Bobby Garcia and later to tour Hong Kong, China, Singapore, Tawian, Malaysia, Thailand and Korea.

What are the highlights of Lea’s 30-year-career? "Definitely playing ‘Annie’ is first because it started my career, then doing ‘Miss Saigon’ in London and later traveling to the US. It gave me the Olivier and Tony Awards but more than winning them, I consider meeting the people I admire in other musicals and concerts as the bigger highlights. Then doing ‘Les Miz,’ first as Eponine and later, as Fantine."

Her daughter Nicole, almost 2 years old, was with Lea as we interviewed her. How is it being a mom? "It’s so much fun. Look at my daughter, she brings so much joy into my life."

When does she intend to have a baby boy? "That has to wait in a long while as I’m under contract in ‘Cinderella’ until April of 2009."

Is married life with husband Rob a blissful one? "Thank God the answer is yes. I was looking for someone who’s sweet, smart, loving, God-fearing, devoted to his family, understands me well, and good-looking. Not much, huh? But I got all in one person, Rob, and even more, too. We have a lot of things in common, like our love for video games and new technology. I really consider myself so blessed as I not only have a good family life but also because I’m doing for a living something that I really love to do. There isn’t anything else that I’d rather be doing. I can never do office work, but I do have the dedication to learn an intricate melody or memorize a long monologue to the point of obsession."

How does she intend to play Cinderella? "I first played it in high school when I was 16. This new production is special because it’s by Rodgers and Hammerstein, whose ‘Flower Drum Song’ I also did on Broadway. Their music is really great. The challenge for me now is how to make Cinderella a real human being, not just a fairy tale character."

This version of "Cinderella" was originally created as a TV special starring Julie Andrews (who was then doing "My Fair Lady" on Broadway) in the title role and Jon Cypher as the Prince. Its best known songs are "In My Own Little Corner," "Ten Minutes Ago," "Impossible," and "Do I Love You Because You’re Beautiful." Rodgers and Hammerstein (also the creators of "South Pacific," "The King and I," and "The Sound of Music" were faithful to the original Charles Perrault tale and worked on their adaptation for eight months and this premiered on CBS TV on March 31, 1957. It was a big hit.

Tickets ranging from P500 to P7,000 for the CCP presentation starring Lea are now available at National Bookstore, Ticketworld (891-9999). Groups or companies which want to get block tickets can email Atlantis Productions at cince-rella.phil-@gmail.com or call them at 660-0764, to be sold at 20 percent discount and available for a full, half or quarter house. An early bird discount of 25 percent for a full house during the first two week of its run is also available for the first 30 days only, so call now.

***

Singer Richard Poon gained yuppie fans as a regular in the "Serenading" portion of "ASAP." Now, "ASAP Live" produces his first solo concert at Music Museum on May 1 and 2, "Richard Poon: I’ll Take Care of You." Richard has a Taiwanese mom (a singer there) and a dad who’s a chef from Hong Kong. He was born and raised here along with his elder sister who he says sings even better than him. His dad owns the Mr. Poon chain of restaurants and after his business management course in La Salle, he joined his dad’s kitchen and worked there for six years. But his heart is really into singing and he gained fame as a member of the acoustic group called U-Turn who sang regularly at Tapika Katipunan. It was there that Viva Records discovered them and gave them two albums. They disbanded in 2006 and he wanted to put up a new band but his manager told him to go solo. In a fund-raising affair last year, he was told to sing three old standards.

"I was against it as I’m used to singing pop songs," he says. "It was very hard for me. But the audience in the fund-raising affair liked my singing so much and Eastwood got me to sing with them every Tuesday night. It took sometime before I could sing old songs from the heart as I hated it when dad then would sing ‘Born Free’. But I realized that pop songs became stale after about six months, but old songs, the more you listen to them, the more you love them."

He was then given his own album. ABS got him in January to sing in "ASAP" and he quickly gained his own following. "I never thought I could go solo. I’m just thankful to all my co-singers in ‘ASAP’ who all welcomed me and are all so helpful. Some of them will be guesting in my concert."

No other Chinese singer has really gained wide public acceptance since Jose Mari Chan, who has given Richard (he also composes songs like Jomari) encouraging words. "I’m overwhelmed with all the support I’m getting and I promise to give my best in my Music Museum concert to please the audience."

For tickets, call Kathy Solis at 415-2272 loc. 4607.

***

Director Joey Reyes is known for romances that not only make money but also win awards, like the "Kasal" and "Sakal" movies of Juday and Ryan. He now megs the first team up of Aga Muhlach and Anne Curtis, "When Love Begins," a Star-Viva co-production. What’s the challenge of making another romantic film like this for him?

"It’s always a joy to work with Aga with whom I’m done many films before like ‘Bakit Labis Kitang Mahal,’ ‘May Minamahal,’ ‘Narinig Mo na Ba ang L8est,’ and ‘Kung Ako na Lang Sana,’" he says. "The challenge here is creating a vehicle for him and Anne, who is so unique from all the other young stars we have today in that there’s this fire in her. Siya lang ang may libog and that’s a great challenge for me. She’s definitely not pa-sweet here. Add to this the fact that we shot many scenes for nine days in Boracay. I love Boracay so much. It’s my personal sanctuary and I often go there by myself, so this is very personal for me. Actually, dusa kami kasi sobrang init when we were shooting there but, still, it’s so much fun and we all bonded well."

Is the age gap between Aga and Anne also a challenge for him? "Hindi naman sila mukhang magtiyuhin, ano? Aga’s advantage is he’s so good looking and boyish and Anne naman is playing a mature role and is also very mature in her thinking, so age was never an issue in this movie, even in the two love scenes that they do here."

He has written a beautiful love story for them with a touch of environmental significance. "Aga is Benedict, a lawyer who has become an environmentalist and wants to protect Boracay from the onslaught of business and progress, like the damage being done to its coral reefs. Anne is a rich girl who dances from one flitting relationship to another. She’s also the daughter of Christopher de Leon, a real estate magnate who is creating ecological imbalance in the island. So, doon pa lang, may conflict na sila. But they meet in Boracay, they fall in love there and also break up there, then they meet again in Manila."

"When Love Begins" opens in theaters on April 30.

***

As the first eviction night nears in "PBB Teens Edition Plus," the five nominees all get more and more nervous. These are Jieriel of Davao (who cried when she found out that it’s her being too candid that made her housemates vote for her to be evicted), Priscilla and Valerie (who also shed copious tears after they got automatically nominated for talking about the nominations and their open dislike for Jieriel) and Linda and Josef who put up a brave front. But Josef (the only guy nominated) was later seen pondering on what happened to him alone.

How will friendships inside the house be affected by the nominations? To save your favorite nominated teen housemate, key in PBB space name of housemate on your cell phones and send to 231 for Smart and Talk & Text subscribers and 2331 for Globe, TM, Sun, and Bayan subscribers. You can also vote online thru www.pinoybigbrother.com.

Linda had a touching episode last Wednesday night. First, Kuya gave her the chance to talk to her Swedish dad, who’s separated from her mom, via webcam. Later, since it was her dad’s birthday, he was allowed to surprise Linda and personally visit her inside Kuya’s house. They even had dinner together. Some housemates got pissed with Kevin as he’s very bossy. When Beauty was crying and wanted to go out of Kuya’s house, he acted like he’s the boss who told the other girls who wanted to console Beauty to go out.
The teen housemates were given a big responsibility to help raise P200,000 for a surgical mission in Laoag. Called the "Teen-Dyed" challenge, the housemates have to make 1,000 tie-dyed shirts to raise funds for "Libreng Operasyon sa Laoag" or L.O.L, a surgical mission to give free surgery to needy patients. The remaining 11 guardians are also given the same task to help the teens with this noble cause.

Meantime, a subscriber of "PBB Teens 24/7" live coverage on Sky Cable, Camilla Garbo, emailed us.

"I’m writing to you since you’re a fan of PBB Teens who writes about it often. The supposed streaming live coverage of PBB Teens is not really live. It’s often delayed and also cut off the air so you see only the PBB logo. Lokohan yata ito. We pay P1,500 for the subscription plus the P1,500 shift to digital from analog), but we feel we’re being shortchanged by ABS-CBN with what they’re doing. Obviously, they’re doing this so we viewers would be forced to watch the show’s primetime edition. Kaya natatalo ang ABS sa rating kasi pati loyal subscribers n’yo niloloko n’yo. I hope someone from PBB or ABS will reply and explain this to us before we cancel our subscription and totally lose our trust on ABS. Thanks."

***

Due to public demand, ABS-CBN is bringing back tonight that special episode where comedian Pooh won the jackpot prize of P2 million in the popular game show, "1 Vs. 100."