Go ahead, Lea, live it up... ‘love’ it up!

All work and no play makes any Jack – or, for that matter, any Jill – a dull boy (or girl).

That’s why, as an avid fan and follower of Lea Salonga since she was a toddler, dancing and singing like a cute living doll in Annie and comedy-acting with an equally cute Niño Muhlach in a D’Wonder Films movie, I’m glad that Lea is finally – finally, finally!!! – living it up… yes, "loving" it up!

After all, Lea is turning 31 on Feb. 22 and, very soon, she’ll be out of the calendar, so to speak, and right into the threshold of – horrors!!! – spinsterhood:

When Lea came home to topbill David Auburn’s award-winning (Tony and the Pulitzers) play Proof (running until Jan. 27 at the GSIS Theater, directed by Bobby Garcia; call 892-70-78 for tickets) and to star in The Broadway Concert at the PICC Plenary Hall on Jan. 31 and Feb. 1 (8 p.m.), she brought some good tidings of great joy as far as hopelessly-romantic Filipinos (this one included) are concerned.

Yes, as Lea has been admitting all over national television and in presscons/interviews, the former Miss Saigon star has a new boyfriend whose name is Rob Chien, a Chinese-Japanese who, according to Lea, "looks like a Filipino." Not many people knew that Rob Chien actually flew to Manila to grace the opening of Proof, slipping back to L.A. where he’s based without the usually nosey/alert media knowing it.

This bit of (good, definitely!) news, however, came as a pleasant surprise to some people (again, this one included) who thought that Lea’s boyfriend is Korean-American theater actor Michael Lee whom Lea met here middle of 2000 when they performed together in the musical They’re Playing Our Song at the AFP Theater. Like the Chien guy, Michael is based in L.A.

Only in May last year when Bulletin’s Shirley Pizarro and I went to New York to interview Lea on her being the Bayo endorser, Shirley and I saw how sweet and how loving and how very close Lea and Michael were during a late dinner at Korean restaurant in Manhattan right after our gab and photo sessions. At one point, I even saw the lovebirds spooning pieces of Korean meat into each other’s mouths. They were lovey-dovey, just like they were onstage during the They’re Playing Our Song staging.

Asked if Michael was "it" – you know, the guy she could be middle-aisling it in the near future – Lea’s eyes sparkled, "Well, he could be; I still don’t know."

Which was the same thing she said when asked about Richie Grau, her former Filipino-German boyfriend with whom Lea broke up through – sob and sigh – the internet. In January, 1999, at the cast party after the opening of Miss Saigon on Broadway, I saw Lea and Richie dancing in the middle of a circle formed by other guests whose arms were joined together. It was a fun night and my heart rejoiced at the sight of Lea enjoying herself, away from the klieg lights and the maddening crowd, just being herself. It was the side of Lea not many people are privileged to see (and I thank God for that rare "privilege" on that icy-cold January evening in Manhattan).

Before Richie, there was, of course, Dennis Mendiola whose "romance" with Lea didn’t prosper as well or as far as those of Richie and Michael did. The guy was, I think, much too shy for Lea who, I guess, needs somebody more strong-willed than she is, somebody who may not be as popular and famous but who is as self-assured and self-confident and self-reliant (read: just as successful career-wise and, if possible, just as economically-blessed) as Lea is.

According to her TV interviews, Lea met the Chien guy in L.A. during the staging of Flower Drum Song recently, introduced to her by an acquaintance who’s involved in the production. They’ve been going steady for barely two months so, according to Lea, "I can’t say if it’s for good" this time.

Lea is all aglow, a positive sign of a person in love (which, incidentally, happens to be the title of her BMG album).

Is she making up for lost time (having started comparatively late in the romance department, engrossed as she had been in her career)? Well, so what if she is? There’s nothing wrong in catching up, is there? Better late than never. Is she into the collect-and-select-and-reject process? Well and good.

Some people may call Lea a "playgirl" but I beg to disagree, I protest vehemently. She has as much the right to be happy as any human being and she has the right and freedom to make a choice. You can’t make a choice from a field of just one, can you?

So, go ahead, Lea, continue living it up... "loving" it up... and don’t mind what your negligible number of "detractors" are saying. Live your life and enjoy every moment of it off-stage and always bear in mind these lines from an immortal poem (paraphrased thus): Gather ye rosebud while ye may...Be not coy but use your time... For having lost but once your prime, you will forever tarry.

A sad note, though: I checked my invisible crystal ball and shuffled my non-existent tarot cards and they yeilded this results: Lea will remain single and therefore a spinster. She is irrevocably married to her career from which she can never, never separate. Every guy who comes her way and catches her fancy will remain just that – a passing fancy.

You bet?