Gabby eyed for

As I've been saying, Gabby Concepcion being a good actor still has a space in local movies which is in dire need of versatile actors like him who can play bida and/or kontrabida with ease. I suppose that local movie fans have put the bitter past (the 1994 Filmfest Scam, his break-up with wife Jenny Syquia, etc.) behind and are rearing to move on.

Gabby has been on self-imposed "exile" in California where he enjoys a private life as a student (taking up a business course), every now and then accepting offers to sing (yes, sing!) in concerts topbilled by talents imported from home, like the recent one in Los Angeles which starred Rosanna Roces and others.

The matinee-idol look is almost gone (what do you expect after all these years and especially now that he's into his mid-30s?), all right, but Gabby still looks good enough for the movies. There have been reports that he's asking millions of pesos (as in P5M?) as talent fee, but no producer would bite it, of course, not now when everybody is trimming down production budgets and well, scrimping.

But I have good news for Gabby fans: ReynaFilms is eyeing him to play Tony Javier in Larawan, another filmization of Nick Joaquin's classic play Portrait of the Artist as Filipino which has been done and redone in theater. The ReynaFilms project, to be released by Millennium Cinema, will be directed by Carlitos Siguion-Reyna, with Maricel Soriano and Lorna Tolentino initially being cast for the roles of Paula and Candida.

Larawan is definitely a good comeback vehicle for Gabby. He should grab it.

McKnight fascinated by Pinay singer

Brian McKnight, who had performed with Lani Misalucha at the Westin Philippine Plaza Hotel early this month, has reportedly left his heart in Manila.

A Funfare DPA said that McKnight, whose One Last Cry was a monster hit in Manila not too long ago, has been ringing up a Filipina singer (not Misalucha) who had a chance to jam with the record producer while he was in Manila. McKnight, who was on a road tour of key cities of Asia to promote his own brand of cool romantic music, flew back to Los Angeles, California (USA) after a string of shows in Kuala Lumpur, Singapore, Korea and Tokyo.

"He promised to return to Manila in about two months' time," said Dyna Music artist Rowena Michael, a gorgeous Filipina with a mixed Black and Latina features who was the sensuous voice behind Paano Ba? and Dasal, and including the dance tune Mr. Right.

As soon as he got to LA, McKnight, according to Michael, was burning the phone lines with her discussing both professional matters and sweet nothings.

Michael said she dedicated her own renditions of Inseparable, Get Here and Sunlight while at the Westin to the admiring McKnight who complemented her, "You (Michael) can sing!"

Not a few production and service staff at the Westin, however had noticed how Michael and McKnight played beautiful music together one evening. McKnight jammed with Michael for over two hours past midnight. "They were crooning mostly love songs (like Moody's Mood, Slow Jam and Route 66), the Westin man recalled.

Brian McKnight is contemplating a return engagement in Manila late this year.

Final curtain for Miss Saigon

Meanwhile, here's a report from Ferdinand Lapuz, Funfare's "international correspondent" based in Toronto:

NEW YORK (Variety) -- Miss Saigon, the sixth-longest running show in Broadway history, will drop its final curtain on Dec. 31, just 14 weeks shy of its 10th anniversary.

Producer Cameron Mackintosh announced the closing of the Boublil & Schonberg musical production, which has grossed $264 million and been seen by more than 5.9 million people. Miss Saigon, directed by Nicholas Hytner, opened on April 11, 1991, at the Broadway Theater.

From the beginning, the success of Miss Saigon startled Broadway. Two weeks after it opened, Daily Variety reported, "The numbers surrounding Saigon continue to be stupendous, from the $10.9 million capitalization to the current $39 million advance to the $100 top (ticket price) to the weekly gross of over $710,000." All four figures set records in 1991.

Broadway then was much less flush than today. Last week's total gross hit a near-historic high of $16,933,545; the week beginning April 8, 1991, saw box office of $5.1 million.

Of that 1991 figure, 40 percent was attributable to just four shows -- Cats, Les Miserables, The Phantom of the Opera and Miss Saigon -- all Mackintosh productions, with the latter's grosses topping the chart.

As with the announced closing of Cats, the final-performance call for Miss Saigon had been expected. The two musicals' box-office records were very similar during the first six weeks of 2000, before Andrew Lloyd Webber announced the last performance of Cats would be June 25.

Some legit observers had wondered if Mackintosh would keep his Broadway Saigon running until April 2001 in order to celebrate its 10th anniversary, as he had done in London. The show had its world premiere in London in September 1989 and closed in October, 1999.

In a written statement, the producer said, "Much as I will miss Saigon at the Broadway Theater, I am utterly thrilled at how long this serious musical has run both on Broadway and in London. It has also been very heartening for everyone involved to have been able to deliver on our promise of putting on a production that has been the greatest platform for Asian talent in theatrical history."

Miss Saigon received 11 Tony nominations and won three: Jonathan Pryce, actor in a musical; Lea Salonga, actress in a musical; and Hinton Battle, featured actor in a musical.

(Note: Miss Saigon will be staged in Manila in October, to the tune of P400M-plus.)