Curtain-raisers:
• Here’s an “official statement” (in the vernacular) from ABS-CBN, sent to Funfare by Bong Osorio, head of the network’s Corporate Communications: Ang mga lumalabas na bali-balita tungkol kay Willie Revillame (photo) at sa Wowowee ay mga espekulasyon, Nag-usap na ang ABS-CBN management at si Willie kung ano ang options o mga posibleng gagawin pagkatapos ng kanyang break. Wala pang napagkakasunduan ang ABS-CBN at si Willie. Kung mayroon mang pagbabagong magaganap, ito’y opisyal na ipapahayag ng ABS-CBN sa takdang panahon. (Note: In television as in any competitive field, there’s a game called “one-upmanship” usually played with cards held close to the chest and where players don’t telegraph their punches. Funfare might have a little “surprise” for Mr. Osorio but, to quote his statement, “ipapahayag lang ‘yon sa takdang panahon.”)
• Here’s one more “official statement,” this time from Wyngard Tracy, one of the few A-list talent managers around: I had a mild heart attack last Monday, July 12, and I will undergo an angiogram today, July 17. The doctors will decide whether I will have an angioplasty or a bypass, depending upon the findings. Please keep me in your prayers. Thank you very much.
• The Law of the Heart is Love, the radio program hosted by election lawyer Romy Macalintal, is celebrating its first anniversary tonight (8 to 9 o’clock on DWBR 104.3FM, with a replay 9 to 10 p.m. Sundays). Special guest tonight is Vice Pres. Jojo Binay who will read two love poems by James J. Metcalfe and a Tagalog love poem of an unknown author. Vice Jojo requested three love songs to be played, namely Send in the Clowns by Frank Sinatra, May Bukas Pa by Rico J. Puno and Love by Nat “King” Cole. On the program, Romy plays love songs of yesteryear with celebrity guest poem-readers. The entire proceeds generated from the sponsors of the program go directly to the scholarship program of Mission Guided by Mary Foundation for poor and deserving elementary and high school students from various Catholic parishes.
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A Funfare reader wrote to inquire if Lani Misalucha’s show Voices at the Hilton in Las Vegas has been cancelled.
“We went to Las Vegas over the July 4th weekend to see the much raved-about Voices,” wrote the reader who didn’t give his/her name. “We were surprised to hear that the show was cancelled for one week and we ended up seeing Barry Manilow who did an equally excellent show. What really happened?”
To verify, I alerted Funfare’s Big Apple correspondent Edmund Silvestre (of The Filipino Reporter).
“Lani’s highly-acclaimed Voices act at Las Vegas Hilton ended its run in June after she decided not to renew her year-long contract with the show’s producer, Giordano World Entertainment, which directly negotiates with the Hilton,” wrote Edmund after he talked to Noli Bayot, Lani’s husband who acts as her manager. “She’s now setting her sight on one of three major casino hotels in the Las Vegas Strip that are offering their more sizeable theaters to her.”
According to Noli, he and Lani opted not to sign up with Giordano after it fell short of meeting the terms they laid out.
“Lani didn’t like the terms being offered to her in the new contract,” Noli said flatly. “Aside from the issue of wages, Lani’s request to revamp the show and give it a new packaging was turned down. It had been running for one year kaya dapat lang na ma-improve or maiba naman. Lani’s contract was supposed to end in April but she continued performing until June while the negotiation was going on. When we realized it was getting no where, we decided to just give it up. But actually, naka-hang pa rin ang negotiation kung tutuusin. But Giordano and Hilton have given us the clearance to move to other venues.”
Noli would not identify the casinos that are trying to lure Lani other than saying they’re all much bigger than the Hilton.
“Baka ma-preempt kaya huwag na muna sabihin,” Edmund quoted Noli as saying.
But if and when she moves to another casino hotel, it will be a whole new show Noli describes as “high tech.” He declined to give details, saying the concept of Lani’s next Vegas act will remain a secret “until everything is finalized.”
“If an agreement is reached, the new show will take months to create because of its high-tech concept,” he explained. “Lani started with Bally’s, then Flamingo, then Hilton. The next casino will be her fourth, kaya sanay na rin kami to move from one venue to another and this is not something unusual in this kind of business.”
While negotiating for her next regular Vegas gig — where Lani is known as the Siren of the Strip, who constantly draws rave reviews and praises from both the critics and casino guests and tourists — Lani will have her hands full with an upcoming concert tour in several key cities in the US and Canada, as well as the Philippines.
The seven-month tour is set to begin end of July in Arizona, followed by California and Hawaii first week of August, and so on. The act will be brought to select cities in the Philippines by January and February 2011 in a “Crossover” tour, according to Noli.
In the middle of the US-Canada tour, around October, Lani will be joined by Vice Ganda, one of today’s hottest comedians and performers in the Philippines.
Said Edmund who is up-to-date on showbiz goings-on in the Philippines, “Like Lani, Vice is also a certified crowd drawer having been able to fill the Araneta Coliseum recently in a sold-out show.”
Meanwhile, added Edmund, Lani has just signed up to host later this year a weekly talk show for V Asian TV, a television portal for global Asians which showcases pop culture and music. [V in V Asian TV stands for Vegas.]
The show will be aired worldwide on IPTV and will be carried by a local network and a cable channel. Noli said that Lani is committed to do 13 weeks of initial episodes that will feature notable Vegas personalities, from stage performers to famous chefs and magicians.
Shooting for the said talk show will begin later this year in between Lani’s US-Canada tour.
“This will definitely be a busy year for Lani, as negotiations for her next Vegas gig continue,” assured Noli.
And that, ladies and gentlemen, is the real score about Lani Misalucha.
(Note: At presstime, Funfare learned that Lani and Noli flew in a few days ago to perform at the birthday celebration of PLDT/TV5 big boss Manny V. Pangilinan. In tomorrow’s (July 18) awards night for the 2010 Cinemalaya Independent Film Festival, starting at 7 p.m., at the CCP Main Theater, Lani is among the performers, together with Ogie Alcasid, Dingdong Avanzado and Christian Bautista with the Ballet Philippines and Tanghalang Pilipino. The theme of the event, directed by GB Sampedro and hosted by Cogie Domingo and Iza Calzado, is The World is Looking at Us.)
(E-mail reactions at rickylo@philstar.net.ph or at entphilstar@yahoo.com)