Numerical age matters not to Carmen Soriano.

After all, her voice remains ageless; her charms, intact. Apart from a few lines, her face is youthful and smooth. Her figure, curvy in her youth, is svelte. Her skin is unblemished.

"I was speechless when I saw her again after a long time," confesses Anthony Castelo, one of the two balladeers performing with her in the show "Romancing." "’Talagang si Carmen Soriano ba ‘yan?’ I wondered.

"I saw the same lady whom I admired at Bulakena on Roxas Boulevard in the ‘70s. She’s just a little more mature but is twice more beautiful and has the same sex appeal."

Indeed, Carmen is back to doing what she does best – live entertainment – via "Romancing" at the Captain’s Bar of Mandarin Oriental Hotel in Makati. She stages special shows with the dashing Jun Polistico (February 20) and Anthony Castelo (March 7).

In these times where everything and everyone is changing, she is adamant about remaining the same.

"I don’t want to reinvent myself," declares Rosales, dubbed as "Demure Diva," "I want to maintain my elegance pero may limitations. Singers kasi nuon were behaved. Ayaw ko ‘yung makapagpatawa ka lang, kailangan kang magmura.

"I want to remain the Carmen I was before, plus all the lines and whatever wear and tear there are now," she explains with a laugh.

With her admirers, including Castelo and Polistico, it is the right move. Her audience also agrees, as evidenced in her previous shows with "Golden Divas" Pilita Corrales and Carmen Patena.

"I am better admired now than before," reveals the songstress. "Ngayon, ‘pag pasok mo pa lang sa stage, hawak mo na ang audience. I can not explain it."