Christopher de Leon’s daughter, Mariel de Leon, who was Ogie Alcasid’s guest in his Valentine concert at Resorts World Manila last night, said she wants to pursue a career in classical music performance.
At the show called Master of Love with National Artist for Music Ryan Cayabyab, she showed her potential to be on opera singer by singing the love theme “All I Ask of You” in the Andrew Lloyd Webber-Charles Hart long-running musical The Phantom of the Opera (it will open at The Theatre at Solaire on Feb. 20) when she sang the part of Christine and Ogie doing Raoul’s part.
At the presscon for the show in a small Korean bakery on T. Morato, Mariel said that she’s flying to New York soon to join her brother (who works there) and look at the possibility of matriculating at a school for classical music and performance.
Well, that’s really very admirable for this young woman who in 2017 was Binibining Pilipinas-International. She also tried acting, playing Coco Martin’s leading lady in Ang Panday right after she joined the Miss International pageant in Tokyo, Japan.
We wish Mariel all the best in her new journey to enrich her experience and boost her chances in facing the challenges in a world where everyone is jostling for a space in entertainment.
Meanwhile, Ogie Alcasid is indeed the Master Of Love not only on Valentine’s Day but every day with all the love songs he wrote dominating the airwaves, whether publicly or privately.
In his concert, he featured the greatest love songs through which he is able to tell many stories of love, the many heartaches and triumphs, including his own.
At the same presscon, Ogie said that Filipinos are by nature very sentimental and “they love listening to romantic ballads, whether old or new.”
He was very happy that Ryan Cayabyab agreed to be the show’s musical director. And apart from being a popular musical director for shows of countless artists Cayabyab has written some of the most iconic Filipino love songs of all time. With Ryan in the show were the Ryan Cayabyab Singers.
Highlights of this show included hits from other masters of love, like Basil Valdez, Hajji Alejandro and the late Rico J. Puno. A medley of Barry Manilow’s songs evokes the bittersweet feeling of lost love. A “kilig” suite of mellow love songs from the ‘80s brings back feelings of love from a more innocent time.
Apart from Mariel de Leon, the other guests included Lara Maigue and Tanya Manalang. And they joined Ogie with their own stories and songs of love.
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Hathaway,Connaughey in second outing together
Matthew McConaughey (Academy Award Best Actor for Dallas Buyers Club) plays Baker Dill, a fishing boat captain leading a quiet life in Plymouth Island until his ex-wife Karen (Anne Hathaway) shows up with what Matthew has described in an interview as ”a very indecent proposal” in the Viva Films and MVP released film Serenity.
The film is directed by Steven Knight. It opened in cinemas on Feb. 13.
Anne Hathaway (Academy Award Best Supporting Actress for Les Miserables) as Karen is now married to a multi-millionaire named Frank, played by Jason Clarke (Zero Dark Thirty, Terminator Genisys).
Talking about her character, Hathaway says that she’s “in a desperate situation” because she is “trapped in a toxic and abusive marriage”. She wants Baker to get rid of Frank by taking him out on a fishing tour and dropping him in the ocean for the sharks.
Hathaway reveals that she and Baker “got together when Karen was quite young”. They had a child, but he went to war and it tore their family apart. “And so she has to figure out what she’s gonna do, being a single mom. She finds this guy (Frank) who kinda reminds her of Dill. He likes to fish. She starts to think like maybe she can build a life with him, and then he turns out to be her worst nightmare come true.”
Baker, who is now romancing Constance, a moneyed beauty of Plymouth Island, played by Diane Lane (Academy Award nominee for Unfaithful), is still trying to move on from his troubled past. But can he truly turn his back on his ex-wife? What will it take for him to forget about his conscience and help her out?
Serenity is McConaughey and Hathaway’s second movie together. The first was Interstellar in 2014.
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