Send-off party, anniversary show for Rachelle Ann

MANILA, Philippines - London-bound singer-actress Rachelle Ann Go will be out of the country for more than a year. Well, to make every Filipino proud by playing the role of Gigi Van Tranh in the 2014 West End revival of well-known musical Miss Saigon. 

Coincidentally, she is now celebrating the 10th anniversary of her first big showbiz break wherein she was named the grand champion in Search For A Star. 

With that in mind, she will be spending her send-off party in style — via a concert to celebrate the milestone and more importantly, the realization of her career’s biggest break. 

“Ang dami ko din pong dinaanan and I want to show my appreciation to those who supported me the past 10 years. This is a new season in my life,” shared Rachelle Ann during a recent press conference at the Discovery Suites in Ortigas. 

Produced by Cornerstone Concerts and Pink Management & Productions, Inc., the concert simply titled Miss Rachelle: The Send-Off Concert will be held tonight at the Meralco Theater. Her guests include Regine Velasquez and three of her contemporaries, namely, Erik Santos, Christian Bautista and Mark Bautista. 

Miss Saigon opens in May at the Prince Edward Theater in London, England. The musical’s producer Cameron Macintosh counted Rachelle Anne’s role as important because “it has the first big moment of the show.” He even described the belter as “a leading star talent in the Philippines” and a “major, major recording artist.” 

Rachelle said of her latest fortune, “Wala sa panaginip ko na mangyayari ito. I’m thankful talaga kasi nung nagsisimula ako, I only wanted to have a concert and an album. Pero higit pa dun ang natanggap kong blessings.” 

She further expressed, “First time ko sa ibang bansa na mag-isa at bawal ang magkasakit dun. But I want to explore more and grow more as an artist. I’m just so ecstatic right now.” 

As a singer, the multi-awarded artist won silver medal prize as interpreter at Astana and Shanghai song festivals, both held in 2005. She excelled performing in musicals even prior to auditioning for Miss Saigon, for one having received Best Actress trophy from Broadway World Philippine Awards for playing The Little Mermaid’s Ariel in 2011.  

Two years ago, Rachelle Ann staged and self-produced her first major solo concert, Rise Against Gravity at the Music Museum. 

Meanwhile, Cornerstone, as a talent management agency, has proven its strength in developing artists with the recent signing of singer-songwriter Krissy Villonco with MCA Music. The solo contract proved to be a step up from her career as one-half of the sister act Krissy & Ericka, a Cornerstone-managed duo who scored millions of hits of their YouTube videos and released two albums off the same label, both certified Gold. 

After showcasing her competence as songwriter with the hit 12:51, Krissy is off to a new journey with an upcoming solo album that will seriously display her strong identity as an “emerging young woman of today.” Her composition, Hope For Humanity, originally heard on Krissy & Ericka’s eponymous album, is being rerecorded by an all-star cast of local voices. 

“It’s exciting that I get to be my own person and do my own thing,” she said on the day she was re-signed by her home label. 

While taking more classes to continuously enhance her skill at playing guitar and piano, Krissy ensures listeners her record will contain more mature ballads and acoustic pieces and probably a piano version of 12:51. 

If there’s a little pressure she’s dealing with, that would be her need to practice doing the spiels more. She noted, “Normally, it’s my sister who does the talking to the crowd and ako ang kumakanta.” 

As to why she decided to artistically part ways with her sister, that’s another story she’d rather reveal soon and will sure put more spice to their kind of “sibling rivalry.”