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] Date Posted:11:39:10 02/15/07 Thu Author Host/IP: NoHost/124.106.228.22
‘Mega’ continues to spring surprises
By Leah C. Salterio
The Philippine Star 02/16/2007
Twenty-nine years in showbiz haven’t made Sharon Cuneta’s bright star shine any less. Despite the seemingly endless entry of aspiring talents in the local entertainment scene, Sharon has remained eminently entrenched in the showbiz firmament — ever popular, ever visible, ever in-demand — veritably making her an icon.
It is no wonder that her TV programs, movies and concerts are also widely followed by her millions of fans who have supported her all these years. It comes as no surprise, too, why she remains the most sought-after product endorser among local artists.
Yet, it continues to amaze and overwhelm Sharon whenever she would generate a high TV rating for her program, a box-office hit for her movies and a sell-out crowd for her concerts.
At My Mega Valentine 2 concert Saturday night at Araneta Coliseum, Sharonians came in droves to signify their support, for the nth time, to the one and only Megastar. The concert may have the same title as the one Sharon had at exactly the same time last year, also at the same venue. But this one was a totally different show with a different line-up of songs.
In fact, Sharon even did an Ennio Morricone suite, a tribute to the great Italian composer who will receive this year’s honorary Oscar at the Academy Awards late this month. It was certainly a very uncommon inclusion in a Sharon Cuneta concert repertoire, but the Megastar explained she simply wanted to do numbers by Morricone.
Josh Groban’s You’re Still You made it to the suite, that’s why the audience became readily familiar with the music — and the name. The songs were given beautiful arrangement by the show’s musical director, Louie Ocampo, whom Sharon described as "better than any Morricone."
The concert started more than an hour late, but when Sharon emerged on stage in her elegant, all-black Paul Cabral gown, the audience looked like they instantly forgot their whining earlier that night. She opened the show with the familiar, upbeat tune, I Believe in Love, but followed it up with a Jim Brickman composition, Valentine, in keeping up with the occasion.
The first medley of the night consisted of acoustic cuts from Sharon’s triple-platinum album, Isn’t It Romantic, under Sony BMG Records, Simply Jessie, Terminal, Laughter in the Rain and the title track. Sharon announced she will start recording soon the second volume of Isn’t It Romantic, which will include more cover versions of love tunes from the ’70s and ’80s.
For the first time, Sharon shared the stage with Pops Fernandez, her special guest that night whom she selflessly introduced as "the one and only concert queen." Pops instantly revved up the crowd with her dance medley that included ditties like Break Out, Locomotion, That’s the Way It Is, Dancing Queen and Walking on Sunshine. She worked the stage that is definitely all too familiar to her, having staged successful solo concerts, too, at the Big Dome.
When they were finally together on stage, Sharon surprised Pops with a personal letter that interestingly detailed how they were born on the same year, grew up together, attended the same parties and went to the same school, but never went beyond friends. As Sharon was reading her note to Pops, photos of their childhood and teenage years were flashed on the giant screen at the upper right side of the coliseum. It was truly a surprise that made Pops cry.
More amusingly, they traded anecdotes on stage so comfortably like they were just in a talk show. For a moment, one thought the two stars were probably oblivious of the huge crowd before them and simply kept on ranting about their lives, including their respective failed marriages.
Sharon said she is honored to perform on the same stage with Pops, whom she treated as "concert royalty." Together, they carried out saccharine ballads — Something New in My Life, How Do You Keep the Music Playing, Almost Over You, I Honestly Love You and The Promise. Later on in the show, Sharon and Pops dished out a vocally challenging duet, Whitney Houston’s On My Own.
The Apo Hiking Society trio of Jim Paredes, Danny Javier and Buboy Garovillo carried out their timeless hits with Sharon — Doobidoo, Ewan, Magkayakap sa Dilim, Pumapatak na Naman ang Ulan, Mahirap Magmahal ng Syota ng Iba, When I Met You, Batang-Bata Ka Pa, Nakapagtataka, Kabilugan ng Buwan and Awit ng Barkada.
When The Apo was left for their spot number, they brought the house down with their Salawikain, rendered Il Divo style, as well as the medley of novelty and kundiman songs, given a Top 40 and MTV twist.
They may not be as active on stage as they used to, but The Apo hasn’t lost their distinct and brilliant performance style that makes them a hit with their audience. It was good to hear that we can see more of the trio again on the live performance stage in the coming months, as The Apo has scheduled gigs in Manila and in the provinces.
With her guests, Sharon sang a medley of Ryan Cayabyab originals — Paraiso and Better World — especially penned for the now-defunct Smokey Mountain quartet.
After singing Louie Ocampo compositions — Ikaw and Ikaw Lang ang Mamahalin — Sharon would have ended with one of her earlier hits, To Love Again, but naturally, the audience demanded for an encore. Sharon lost no time in returning on stage to render Kathy Trocolli’s If I’m Not in Love With You (also a cut in her Isn’t It Romantic CD) and Friends, which she hadn’t sung in a live concert stage for more than 20 years.
As she was generous to her audience with her performance, the crowd, in turn, rewarded her with a steady stream of applause. Up to this day, there were still fans in the audience screaming "I love you, Sharon" — proof of the Megastar’s enduring popularity.
Sharon’s fellow celebrities likewise showed their support to her Valentine concert. Vilma Santos, who was with her hubby Sen. Ralph Recto, sat in the front row with Sharon’s husband, Sen. Kiko Pangilinan, and mother Elaine Cuneta. Sharon, who’s a self-confessed Vilmanian, was endlessly thrilled to see her idol watching her perform.
Others in attendance were couples Gary and Angeli Valenciano, Phillip Salvador and Emma Ledesma, Tirso Cruz III and Lyn Ynchausti, noted dermatologist Dr. Vicki Belo and Joey Santos, Andeng Bautista and hubby Jun-Jun Ynares, Julius and Tintin Babao, Erik Santos and Rufa Mae Quinto.
Also spotted were Helen Gamboa with daughters Ciara and Apples Sotto, Ai-Ai de las Alas, director Malu Sevilla, Beth Tamayo, Rep. Teddy Boy Locsin Jr., GMA 7 newscaster Rhea Santos, Gino Padilla (who’s reviving his singing career with an upcoming solo album that Sharon produced, Hands in Time) and Sony BMG Records executives Rudy Tee, Narciso Chan and Vic Valenciano.
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[> Subject: Watching Mega from the best seat in the house
Date Posted:02:00:43 02/25/07 Sun Author Host/IP: 58.69.126.120.pldt.net/58.69.126.120
Watching Mega from the best seat in the house
By Bibsy M. Carballo
The Philippine Star 02/25/2007
Should there be those among you arguing about the best way to watch a concert, we can easily end all the debate. The best way to watch a concert is to enter on an all access production pass as we did during the Megastar Sharon Cuneta’s My Mega Valentine 2 at the Araneta Coliseum last Feb. 10. Coming in early at 5 p.m., we caught Mega on stage rehearsing for the show with the APO and Pops Fernandez, her guests.
As they ran through the entire concert with musicians, backup singers, musical director Louie Ocampo, director Johnny "Mr. M" Manahan, the Chavez Production Power Triumvirate of Sandra, Helen, and Belay, Mega’s perennial hairdresser and makeup artist Fanny "TF" Serrano, and favorite couturier Paul Cabral on hand, it was, to us, better even than the concert proper later that night. After all, we got a ringside view of last-minute glitches, stresses, changes and improvements. We got to see the artists sans makeup, with warts and all; to witness what ordinary mortals who only watched artists under the spotlight would never see. We got a peek into individual habits and behavior. We got to converse in a relaxed atmosphere that an ambush interview couldn’t ever compete with. We even got to eavesdrop on private conversations impossible under ordinary circumstances with a normal ticket.
One thing we found out was how much of a talker Sharon was. All throughout the three hours of rehearsals, she was chatting away non-stop with her guests, Louie, the musicians, Mr. M. about anything and everything under the sun. She seemed to forget that singers were not supposed to talk and strain their vocal cords, especially before a concert. "She has always been like this," Pops tells us, "Hyper! ever since we were kids." Their childhood years were indeed recalled vividly later in the concert in a video flashback of personal and school photos. It was brilliant (Congrats, Sandra! You are still and always will be the best) and definitely intended to bring tears to one’s aging heart. It came after Pops’ entry into the show with the eight-some minutes show-stopping jumpy female medley that had the audience applauding wildly in Dancing Queen, and finally standing up and dancing in Walking on Sunshine.
How could anyone compete with this! It was a perfect opener for one’s solo concert. But this was not Pops’ show! What followed was the childhood video during which Sharon read a heart-tugging letter she has written to Pops recalling their days as children, how they both lived on the same street, how they would stand in front of Vilma Santos’ home for a peek of her (Ate Vi was in the show that night) which left Pops weeping on stage. It was Sharon’s show once again, and would be until the end of the concert. What a stroke of genius that was!
During rehearsals Mega was chatting away with the APO on stage talking about her 30th anniversary in showbiz which would be in 2008. Out of the blue, she announced that she would most likely hold it at the same venue and offered them to guest. Who else could she guest whom she has not yet guested, we ask Helen. Regine Velasquez, Basil Valdez, Lea Salonga were the quick answers. Sharon could actually have her pick of guests in any of her shows. It was such a prerogative given only very few in the industry. We are told, too, that Sharon never guested in anyone’s show, perhaps because she didn’t want to displease anyone, Fanny confides. He has been with her in every single show here and abroad (except one in San Diego where he had to rush home for a wedding). "She is even bringing me to London to her shooting. I’m not really needed there. Her role is a caregiver and she doesn’t need glamour makeup. She just wants me around," he sighs, while obviously flattered by the privilege. He says she also never fails to acknowledge his presence.
Throughout the rehearsals, Sharon was in total command. She was producer and director, showing her fangs when needed but always with a smile that no one really minded, and always acknowledging the rightful party while giving her suggestions. For a good portion of rehearsals, the teleprompter went on the blink which displeased Mega, and stressed Sandra exceedingly ("I’m getting too old for this," she whispers). In the portion early in the show where she sang ’70s and ’80s cover versions from her Sony BMG album Isn’t It Romantic?, she thought it would be a nice touch to have her triple platinum album awards brought on stage and asked her deputies to have them picked up at her home in Laguna. When rehearsing one of our favorite portions of the show, which included some Josh Groban classics To Where You Are, You’re Still You, she made much of the fact that she imported an accordionist to give it an Italian flavor and would, if she could, bring on stage a gondola. Apart from the songs from her album, the concert repertoire comprised new songs since the concert was being taped for a TV special. "Bawal mag ulit ng kanta," Helen told us.
Mega is also obviously one of the very few who can bring together the warring networks as both ABS-CBN and GMA 7 people could be found in the audience. When we asked Pops why it was that she had never before guested in Sharon’s shows, she answered simply, "It is only Sharon who can make it happen." Finally after rehearsing the complete concert which Sharon says she had to do since she had lost time when she fell sick, she was cloistered in her dressing room. Her mom was there and always her loyal yaya Loring who told us proudly that she has been with Shawee for the past 35 years, has done two commercials, and is now "sitting pretty" with little much to do.
At the dinner break for the production people within the Araneta premises before the show, we sat in with BMG’s Ciso and met Jun-Jun Cua who asked me how my friend Manolet Garcia was doing; listened to Mr. M. complain about Ricky Lo’s greeting him on his 60th birthday (indeed ABS-CBN had released testimonials for the occasion to all dailies, but it was only The STAR that gave away his age); found out from Jim Paredes of his busy schedule between Sydney, Manila and touring with the APO; caught a portion of Danny Javier’s tirade against our kind of politics; shook hands with Louie Ocampo; listened in on some Kapamilya gossip; bumped into Viva’s Baby Gil who was waxing ecstatically over the latest Basil Valdez invitational concert with the San Miguel Philharmonic Orchestra (perhaps one of their last) at the spanking new Esplanade near SM Mall of Asia.
On a production pass, we could sit on any vacant seat, could stand by the stage, could go up the balcony and mingle with the fans. Now how can anyone tell me that a P5,000 orchestra ticket could provide all these?
‘Mega’ continues to spring surprises
Watching Mega from the best seat in the house