Leo and Jinky: A truly explosive combination - FUNFARE by Ricardo F. Lo

• The two-year-old long-winding ABS-CBN soap Saan Ka Man Naroroon will finally draw to a close second week of March, to be replaced with a light-romance (with a touch of ghost story) tentatively titled Hanggang sa Walang Hanggan, also topbilled by Saan star Claudine Barretto, immediately after.

• With the change in the roster of majority stockholders (with Manny Pangilinan as big boss), could it be true that GMA 7 will soon be recruiting (yes, "pirating") talents and executives from other networks? GMA 7 is said to be baiting the prospects with fat salaries. See what Manny, er, money can buy!

• A popular TV host(ess) was in a classy Makati restaurant teasingly asking a popular eligible businessman traveling abroad to buy her a Louie Vitton bag as pasalubong – yes, by text-messaging him. The text exchange went on for a while until the TV hostess realized that the businessman was in the same restaurant, barely six tables away! Was her face red! Funfare didn’t find out if he brought home her Louie Vitton bag.

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I and my friends (hello, Marshall!) caught the pre-Valentine show of Leo Valdez and Jinky Llamanzares (guest) last Feb. 12 at Century Park Sheraton and what a romantically explosive evening it was!

The casting was perfect, Leo and Jinky being both Miss Saigon stars, with Leo still doing The Engineer (until March) at the CCP presentation where he continues to generate heart-warming applause and standing ovation ("Standing ovulation," Leo jokingly calls it) from the local audience, the same enthusiastic response he got when he did the same role in London and in Australia.

Jinky played Gigi in the Toronto version of Miss Saigon and later tackled the female lead in Tommy, the part once played by the likes of Tina Turner. After her theater stint abroad, nothing much has been heard about Jinky; well, not until my group saw her at the Century Park Sheraton concert.

As expected, it being a pre-Valentine show, the repertoire was packed full with love songs combined with the Broadway songs the audience expected Leo to sing, including his signature piece, The American Dream (minus the pumping atop a Cadillac), which Leo as usual did with gusto. But to me, his most stirring number was his trembling rendition of the Martin Nievera song Kahit Isang Saglit (theme song of the Star Cinema surprise megahit), done with little tears in Leo’s eyes that glistened like little diamonds in the spotlight.

She could have done more (the audience reaction so demanded) but Jinky sang only three songs, dramatizing Sana’y Wala Nang Wakas with a moving vocal power/prowess and feeling (along with the audience) every lyric as if the song summarized the story of her (checkered, sometimes turbulent, or so I heard) life and love experiences.

It was my first time to hear Jinky sing "live" and what a powerful singer she was. At one point, while singing Inseparable (dedicated to her parents who were in the audience), Jinky hit the high notes with such ease, so effortlessly (look, Ma, no veins appeared around her neck!) that semi-retired singer Rene Puno cheered, "I love you, Jinky!" We all loved Jinky, too, and we could only wish she did more songs (maybe next time?).

When Leo and Jinky sang together, I could imagine what a, yes, combustible combination they could have been had they performed together in Miss Saigon. Their voices blended very beautifully.

I guess Leo performed even more specially that night not only because it would be Valentine’s Day two days later but because, besides his friends, his parents were in the audience, flying that same day for the show from Bacolod. Now into their 90’s and still active, Leo’s parents, Aurelio Sr. and Anunciacion, were celebrating their golden wedding anniversary.

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So you think only The Buzz(er) Boy Abunda and fashionable movie writer Aster Amoyo are the Boronganons (from Eastern Samar) in showbiz. Think again.

There’s also ABS-CBN/Star Cinema’s Talent Center’s Janette McBride (who shone in her own way in Laurice Guillen’s Tanging Yaman where she played the rebellious daughter of Dina Bonnevie and Joel Torre) who’s a dead-ringer for Singapore-based Donita Rose.

Don’t look now but Aster and Janette could be perfect as mother and daughter in a movie, maybe playing Waray beauties who make good in the big city. (Asked for comment, Aster said being "an actress" is not part of her dream.)

Anyway, Janette is half-Filipino and half-Australian, her mother being a Waray (from Borongan) and her father, from Brisbane, also the hometown of Michelle van Eimeren (Mrs. Ogie Alcasid). Like Donita (who was born and raised in the US), Janette, 17, speaks with an (Australian) accent, sufficiently conversant in Tagalog and Waray (well, tolerably).

Janette was discovered while watching ASAP at the Studio 3 of ABS-CBN compound and was later on launched as a part of the Star Circle Batch 8. After almost two years in the business, Janette is slowly finding her own niche and becoming a strong presence in the industry.

She familiarized herself to the public with several commercials like those for Juicy Fruit, Knorr Champorado, Safeguard and Secret. Her fresh face and vibrant aura also graced numerous magazine covers like Candy, Be, Star Studio and Vanity. She will also soon be seen on the pages of Preview, Agenda and Woman Today.

Janette has guested in various TV shows including Labs Ko Si Babe, Tabing-Ilog and Star Drama Presents: Rave where she gave the audience a glimpse of what she can offer. A talented performer that she is, Janette revealed her singing prowess in ASAP and dancing ability in Magandang Tanghali Bayan and Keep On Dancing. Her visibility on the boob tube continues with her regular show, Richard Loves Lucy, where she plays daughter to Richard’s boss who becomes the apple-of-the-eye of Patrick Garcia. She also starred in the recent Star Studio Valentine episode, Stupid Cupid, opposite perennial partner Dominic Ochoa.