Aiza and her Midas touch

What Aiza Seguerra sings almost always turns gold. Her albums spawned monster hits like Pagdating Ng Panahon and Akala Mo. Observers call her the pop music phenomenon of the year.

Now, Aiza Seguerra stars in the most-anticipated musical production of the year as the prolific singer-songwriter proves she is also a powerhouse performer in Richard O’ Brien’s The Rocky Horror Show which runs at the Carlos P. Romulo Auditorium, RCBC Towers from Nov. 15 to Dec. 8. The Rocky Horror Show is directed by Bobby Garcia.

Aiza, the big winner in the recent Awit Awards and who is still enjoying tremendous commercial and critical acclaim for her last two solo albums, plays the dual role of Eddie and Dr. Scott in the musical. At certain performances, Chari Arespacochaga plays the roles.

Other members of the eclectic and exciting cast of The Rocky Horror Show are theater and recording artist Calvin Millado as the "sweet transvestite" Frank N’ Furter (popularized in film by Tim Curry), pop artist Anna Fegi as the chambermaid Magenta, fast-rising diva Bituin Escalante as the groupie from hell Columbia, rock icon Jett Pangan as the butler Riff Raff, award-winning Michael de Mesa as the Narrator, singer/actor Jay Espano as the newly-born creature Rocky and theater veterans Joel Trinidad and Cathy Azanza as newly-engaged couple Brad and Janet. Also featured in the cast are Jeremy Aguado, Mylene Dizon, MaiMai Hernandez, Raul Montessa, Pheona Paras, Gloria Sicam and Nino Volante.

Aiza also stars in Regal Entertainment’s 40th anniversary offering, Singsing Ni Lola. In the movie, she plays a police reporter deadset on solving the mystery of an enchanted ring, a black talking and stalking cat and many more!

Singsing Ni Lola is a spin-off from last year’s sleeper hit Bahay ni Lola. The latter emerged the box-office winner at the Metro Manila Film Festival.

Singsing Ni Lola was made with a whopping P40 million budget. Regal Entertainment hooked up with Optima digital, the industry’s top notch cybertech visual effects company that makes the movie more deliciously horrific.

Besides Aiza, Singsing Ni Lola also stars Gloria Romero, Gina Alajar, Allan K, Joel Torre and Maxene Magalona. But an unlikely "star" is set to shine. Her name is Kristal, a computer generated image (CGI) of a black cat that holds the secret to a magical ring that wreaks havoc on people. "Nagbabago ng forms si Kristal and at times, she takes the forms of humans," says Uro de la Cruz, the movie’s director. Uro also reveals that Kristal is comparable with the other CGI generated characters of Hollywood as it employs inferno technology.

Singsing Ni Lola, released by Regal Entertainment opens Oct. 30.

Aga, Claudine as lovers

Seeing Aga Muhlach and Claudine Barretto together in movies and TV shows isn’t something new. But seeing them together in a movie as lovers is something else, something to look forward to.

Aga and Claudine starred in May Minamahal as siblings while in Oki Doki Dok The Movie, they played neighbors.

But in Star Cinema’s forthcoming release, Kailangan Kita, Aga and Claudine play two adults brought together by fate. The movie is described as a mix of "love and passion sprinkled with the joy of cooking. A provocative drama and romance where the most unexpected people feed you with new emotions."

Aga plays Carl Diesta, a celebrity chef who comes home from New York. He has asked his girlfriend’s hand in marriage. His girlfriend is also Filipino. He has to go to her hometown in Bicol to formally meet her family.

But it turns out his girlfriend had to take another trip and Aga ends up going to Bicol alone to meet her family. In the process, he meets the family and slowly falls for his girlfriend’s sister played by Claudine.

"This movie is memorable to me because of its beautiful love story and romantic scenes with Aga (the two have a love scene)," says Claudine. "If my leading man were not Aga, I wouldn’t have agreed to do the scene. I knew that Aga would take care of me and I felt comfortable."

But if Rico were alive, would you think he would have agreed to Claudine doing a delicate love scene? "No, I don’t think so. I think he would have felt jealous and would not have allowed me," Claudine replies.

Kailangan Kita is directed by Rory Quintos. It opens in theaters nationwide on Nov. 6. Other stars of the movie are Liza Lorena, Cris Villanueva, Gardo Verzosa, Cholo Escano, Dante Rivero and Johnny Delgado. The script is by Shaira Salvador and Raymond Lee who penned the colossal Tanging Yaman.