Ex-Viva Hot Babe a stage musical addict + Raymart plays football in Futbolilits

Former Viva Hot Babe Sheree Bautista is taking her career as a stage actress seriously. The former sexy star is part of the cast of "Sweet Charity," the new musical produced by 9 Works Theatri-cal to be staged at the Carlos P. Romulo Theater (RCBC Plaza Makati City) beginning August 6. It is directed by Robbie Guevara.

Sheree says she’s now an addict when it comes to doing stage musicals. "I want to be recognized as a true-blue theater actress," Sheree told Star Circuit at the presscon of Sweet Charity held at the Dusit Hotel in Makati last Tuesday noon. "I am really taking my craft as a theater actress to heart."

In Sweet Charity, Sheree plays Carmen, one of Charity’s co-dancer (Incidentally, Sweet Charity is played by Nikki Gil). Her first venture into the musical theatre scene was playing the role of Mimi in the recently concluded rock musical "Rent", where she has proven that indeed, her musical artistry was well-received by the press and audiences alike.

She’s not only enjoying herself during theatre musicals but Sheree also relishes the training she gets in doing them. "You don’t get this kind of training in showbiz. This entails a lot of prepation, months of rehearsals, and the response from the audience is spontaneous. Besides, my co-stars are very good performers that I need to keep up with them.

"Siyempre pag ganun, mapipilitan kang mag-level up sa kanila so mas natsa-challenge ka so yun ang isang dahilan kung bakit na-addict ako sa theatre at saka siyempre matututo rin ako to speak English fluently kasi lahat ng mga kasama ko nag-i-English so nosebleed talaga," joked Sheree. "I am very thankful sa break na ibinigay ng theatre to someone like me who started out doing sexy films. Siyempre nakilala ako bilang sexy star so hindi natin maiiwasan na may discrimination kung minsan sa theater world so I am very thankful na I was given a chance to be a part of the theater world," she said.

Does she feel there is discrimination? "Sometimes I feel there is but I just laugh it off. I can’t help it since some, if not majority of people in theatre are sosyal. So whenever I feel that I am being discriminated upon, I just laugh it off. Dedma na lang. I am here and I am here to stay," she added.

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Raymart Santiago used to play football so his skills came handy when GMA 7 offered him the role of football superstar in Futbolilits, the newest show on GMA that is set to premiere on Monday, July 4. He only needed to polish his moves in the football field. The series marks Raymart’s return to the early primetime slot of the Kapuso network.

He became a regular on this time slot when he played the father of Barbie Corteza in Pilyang Kerubin and then played the lead role in Bantatay. Some media members jokingly told Raymart that he has staked a claim on the time slot.

Raymart says he’s partial to this time slot because most of the shows being aired on this slot are geared for children. Besides, he also wants his children Sabina and Santino be able to watch his shows. He also likes to do family shows like Futbolilits which is directed by Mike Tuviera.

He says there is indeed some pressure on him in doing this new show because Bantatay did very well at the ratings. But he added that if a show is really good, the viewers would certainly watch it. Futbolilits may be for kids but Raymart believes it would also appeal to the adults.

When asked about his wife Claudine Barretto and the supposed problem with their relationship, Raymart just laughed it off and declined to say anything further. He says there’s no problem between him and Claudine and says he’d rather not dwell on the issue since there’s none.

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John Lapus is very happy that he had finished all that he needed to do for the movie Temptation Island, which will have its premiere on Sunday, July 3 at SM Megamall.

"It was one of the hardest movies I’ve done," said Sweet in our interview at the taping of the GMA show Comedy Bar the other night. "It was hard to shoot in the desert. We started shooting the movie during summer so it was really very hot there. Pag lumakas ang hangin, ang kalaban mo naman sandstorm.The sand would enter your eyes, nose, ears. It was very hard talaga."

Since the character he plays in this remake of the Joey Gosiengfiao classic speaks English fluently, Sweet had to hire a coach to teach him how to speak English well. "The character I play was born rich and speaks English fluently so I want to do it perfectly that’s why I decided to have a coach so I could do it the right way. It’s a challenging role for me and I hope they would like my performance para sulit naman ang lahat ng hirap," said the comedian and host of Showbiz Central.

"When I dubbed my lines, I saw how good our movie is and I am proud that I am part of this movie. I am also proud for my friend, direk Chris Martinez who wrote the script and directed it as well. Even the whole cast, ang galing-galing nila. It’s worth all the hardships."