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Brace yourself for the ‘Idol’ experience at Aliw Theater

BUZZSTATION

Edgar Cruz

11/29/2008

Three-time Aliw Awards’ Entertainer of the Year and Hall of Famer Ogie Alcasid joins forces with American Idol season 7’s Filipino-American finalist Ramiele Malubay, alongside the first Pinoy Idol singing stars, and indie rock outfit Menaya in a groundbreaking concert titled The Idol Experience: Ogie Sings with the Idols, which will be staged at the Aliw Theater in Pasay City on Dec. 20 and 21. This is the first time that a concert will feature one of the country’s pop icons together with the different singing champions. The concert will also serve as Ramiele’s homecoming and a reunion for Pinoy Idol Gretchen Espina and the 11 finalists.

Ogie Sings with the Idols is being produced by a new production company called TheUnderGround Studio Inc. (TUGS) under the supervision of Brian Sombero, vocalist/guitarist of Menaya. The idea of bringing together the Pinoy and American Idols came about when Brian noticed that a lot of Filipino-Americans around the world are hurdling through tough auditions and making it to the top slots. “You can only imagine the rigorous process until you undergo it yourself, which I actually did when the first edition dubbed as Philippine Idol was launched by the defunct ABC 5,” Brian shares. “Since there was no audition in Manila anymore, I went all the way from Quezon City, where I live, to Cebu City to try out for the first audition and then came back to Manila for the next level of auditions.”

The concert’s concept only materialized when GMA 7 got the franchise for Pinoy Idol. As the show was simultaneously running with American Idol, another Filipino-American, Ramiele Malubay, managed to reach top nine in its seventh season. “Ramiele’s father is a close friend of my dad,” Brian explains, “I asked him to accompany me to Miami, Florida to discuss and formalize the plan with Ramiele’s dad. And since Ogie is a certified idol himself and a good friend of ours, I thought of putting all of them together in one show dubbed as The Idol Experience.”

Menaya is doing the front act. The concert’s repertoire will revolve around a uniting theme. With Marc Lopez as the musical director and Rowell Santiago as the overall director, the show will be highly entertaining with innovative musical arrangements. Tickets are priced at P10,000 (already sold out), P3000, P2400, P1400 and P650. For more information, call Ticketworld at 891-9999 or Ticketnet at 911-5555 or TheUnderGround Studio at 376-2732.

To see Gina Pareño

now is to believe

If you could see Gina Pareño now, you would not believe she is the plain, haggard old woman, the bet collector in Kubrador. I remember telling her that she should look as glamorous as a Hollywood star when Kubrador premiered at the Museum of Modern Arts in New York. Before I knew it, she had enrolled in Dr. Manny and Pie Calayan’s weight reduction and beauty enhancement program and early this year she walked the MoMA hallways with producer Joji Alonso, director Jeffrey Jeturian and screenwriter Armando “Bing” Lao like the glamorous Elizabeth Taylor after her major weight loss.

Gina was among the image models presented by the Calayan couple when Calayan Surgicentre launched its “To C is to Believe” campaign, a series of star-studded billboards. C, of course, stands for Calayan. The stars are all “studded” by the C emblem, symbolizing the Calayan sparkle. Besides Gina, they are beauty queens Miriam Quiambao, Precious Lara Quigaman, The Coverboys, Luis Manzano, Bianca Gonzales, Mariel Rodriguez, Boy Abunda and Pia Guanio and veteran actresses Dexter Doria and Celia Rodriguez. These sparkling pieces of evidence show the effectiveness of the Calayan beauty system — no doubt to “C is to Believe.”

Gov. Vi will do to John Lloyd and Luis what she did to Piolo

Batangas governor Vilma Santos signed up with Star Cinema last Wednesday to do the full-length feature with the working title A Mother’s Story with John Lloyd and Luis Manzano playing as gay lovers. This is her first movie after seven years. Her last film was Dekada ’70, also with Star Cinema, which was released in 2002. It will do for the acting careers of John Lloyd and Luis what then Mayor Vi did to the acting career of Piolo Pascual, that is, raise it to serious actor on incomparable talent. Piolo plays her activist son in Dekada ‘70, which allowed him to show his acting range. John Lloyd has always wanted to get out of the feel-good movie roles he has been doing. A Mother’s Story is the perfect vehicle for him. That appearing in this movie will cause his career to slide is hogwash! Working with Gov. Vi and director Olive Lamasan will bring out the real actor in him and there’s no doubt this will be the best movie project he will do to date. The same goes for Luis. He’ll be able to get out of the comedian mold.

For John James Uy, sex is a matter of choice

John James Uy is Krista Ranillo’s current boyfriend. This Star Magic talent considers his role Frank in Pieta as a very good break. He is very challenged to do Frank, the rich suitor of Martha as played by Krista. Pieta is film director and writer Carlo J. Caparas’s timeless masterpiece. This show displays the kind of artistry Star Magic artists are willing to put into their work. The series is ably supported by Star Magic artists, namely, Jason Abalos, John James Uy, Janus del Prado, Jairus Aquino, Enrique Gil and Nina Dolino.

John James’s character believes that money can buy everything. Actually cowardly, Frank will still do anything and everything just to get Martha. In real life, John James is the type of guy who always respects the girl and waits until she gives the go signal. He says, “I do respect Krista, and I think she deserves any boy’s respect.” Even if he is a Victory Christian member, sex is a matter of choice for him. A product of the reality show of Be Bench, John James is also a VJ for Myx North America. As a VJ, he gets to travel around the Philippines. This is such a welcome treat for this balikbayan who grew up in Sacramento. The 21-year-old is also one of the Coverboys.

Gretchen’s new show an extremely slow starter

The pilot episode of Gretchen Barretto’s new game show, You and Me Against the World, had a poor 3 plus percent rating when in premiered at TV 5 last Sunday. There’s a percent difference with John Estrada’s new sitcom Everybody Hapi and still way below TV5’s highest rater, the movie Kung Fu Hustle, at eight percent. Spongebob still rated higher. Advertising load-wise, it also did poorly. It did not even exceed two minutes. Two of Gretchen’s beauty brand endorsements did not sponsor or place a single spot. A comebacking cooking aid came in as sponsor, but not much. It seems the money TV5 decided to pay to pitch the show is not paying off. What was Gretchen’s reaction? She must just be laughing if off. It’s all a game for her. There goes Tony Boy Cojuangco and his Malaysian partner’s last ditch effort to make TV 5 work!

Shorties

The buzz is that MMDA Chairman Bayani Fernando plans to cancel this year’s MMFFP Parade of Stars due to lack of funds... Mel Pulmano, Jennylyn Mercado’s former assistant, counter-charged non-payment of separation pay to Becky Aguila. She is ill-advised. She was fired for cause. In such a case, there’s no obligation to extend separation benefits. Representing lawyer Joji Alonso, who is recuperating from an operation, are Attys. Lani Barcenas and Peachy Selda... Lorna Tolentino signed with Star Cinema Wednesday night. Her initial project is a teleserye with Christopher de Leon and Gabby Concepcion... The Michael Learns to Rock concert at the Big Dome last Saturday was only good enough to fill the coliseum to about 60 percent capacity... Francis Magalona is preparing for his second bone marrow transplant. He just finished his third chemotheraphy... Willie Revillame was a no-show in yesterday’s Wowowee due to sickness... Alessandra de Rossi is the common choice of Joross Gamboa, Paulo Contis and Ricky Davao among the five actresses they could have for a One Night Only... Jason Abalos clarified in press interview of Star Magic artists in the Pieta cast that he is staying put with Star Magic and not moving to GMA as written in a tab.