After the much publicized and controversy-ridden channel switching, Regine Velasquez-Alcasid focuses on more serious concerns about her career. And as she always underscored that first and foremost she is a singer, the first thing she’s jumping into since she flew out of the coop where she remained for more than two decades is get back to the concert scene, one of the few things she still enjoys (even at this point in her career and stature in life).
Tomorrow, she headlines Regine at the Movies, a concert concept she has been into in the past years, at the New Frontier Theater (that was known for a couple of years since it was redone as Kia Theater).
The show debuts tomorrow and runs for two more days next week, Saturday and Sunday, Nov. 24 and 25, still in the same performance hall.
We had a brief chat with what the local music industry labeled as the Songbird last week, and Regine talked about, not much about what she plans to do now that she is a Kapamilya because there are already projects lined up for her, including a musical-comedy show with husband Ogie Alcasid and actor Ian Veneracion and her weekly appearance in the network’s Sunday noontime show, ASAP, and her being a part of the judging panel of the reality TV search-for-a-singer Idol Philippines, but more about the concert that will happen tomorrow.
First she said she has three special guests. Piolo Pascual will join her tomorrow; the megastar Sharon Cuneta on Nov. 24; and Daniel Padilla on Nov. 25.
She added that she was most touched by Sharon’s gesture to fly to Hong Kong the day after her appearance on her show because “Ate Shawie said it would be a great honor for her to sing with me.” Sharon was supposed to leave for Hong Kong on Nov. 24 for her show in the former British colony on the 25th.
“This isn’t a big show, but she agreed to be a guest, She has a show in Hong Kong and should be leaving on that day. She said, ‘because I love you I will leave on the day of my show. That’s why I am very touched, it’s just a preview of a bigger thing that she and I are planning in the near future),” she shared.
On Daniel Padilla, Regine said, “I was impressed by how he sang live. No, I haven’t really seen him singing live, so I asked my sister if we could ask him to guest in the series, and I texted Karla Estrada and she said fine.”
Regine explained the concept of the show, “I’ll be singing songs from the movies. I’ll be singing songs na theme songs na naging movies ko, ‘yung mga pelikula ng Star Cinema, iconic movies. Titanic, James Bond (themes),’ ‘Rocky,’ ‘A Star Is Born.’ At siyempre kakantahin ko rin ang theme song sa ‘Breakfast at Tiffany’s.’
Actually, each night of Regine’s show will have a different repertoire. There will be songs that will remain as the foundation of the show, but she and the staff, especially, the musical director are making sure the audience, if they wanted to watch the three shows altogether, would experience three different shows as well.
All in all, she has been learning some 50 songs for the three-night concert, together with Raul Mitra, her musical director and stage director Paolo Valenciano.
The tickets are fast disappearing from Ticketnet outlets. For inquiries, you can still call 911-5555 or you can check online at www.ticketnet.com
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Abby Binay wants to make a mark in Makati
Call it a house divided, but if that could make Mayor Abby Binay fulfill her dreams for the city her family has governed in the last decades, she wouldn’t mind.
After all, her father the former mayor and vice president Jejomar Binay seems fixed in making her youngest child finish her three-terms as mayor of the city. His son Junjun has filled his COC as well to stage a faceoff with her sister.
That, despite Mayor Abby’s appeal for his brother to drop his mayoralty bid in 2019, affirming the public’s perception that the Binay houseis really divided.
I was talking to a Makati resident who said that the incumbent did a good job in her term as mayor, cleaning up the city government of the problems that has made it the most talked about local government unit in Metro Manila in the previous years.
He said, she had rid the city hall of the ghost employees that had some councilor raising up in arms against her, the reason most of them are aligning with her brother.
“This will divide our family even after the elections. You know my brother…through all the joy and the sorrow I have been with him. In all the crises that he has been through, personally and politically, I was with him,” said Binay.
“I was with him at the Senate, I was with him in city hall. I was standing up for him. Ate (older sister) ako e, di ‘ba. Sana bigyan niya ako ng chance,” Binay added.
Binay said her brother “will have his turn…and he had his turn.”
“Hindi ko maintindihan bakit niya ako binabangga,” she added.
“My father has been trying to convince him not to run. My father has been also consistent in his position, even when it came to everyone else in the family, that Junjun should not run,” she said.
Binay said their family had a meeting, but she did not go. She said she spoke separately with her father instead.
“It doesn’t make sense why he wants to run for mayor when he knows for a fact that there’s an opening for Congress that he doesn’t want,” she said.
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