Ang Lumang Album: A Casting Coup

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Hadn’t Gloria Romero begged off due to a last-minute shoot for her GMA soap Forever, the showbiz- royalty line-up would have been complete during the Balik-Samahan night last Monday (March 18) at the cozy home of Pempe Rodrigo in New Manila, Quezon City.

Rarely do you find under one roof the likes of Susan Roces, Amalia Fuentes, Helen Gamboa, Boots Anson-Roa, Lilia Dizon, Delia Razon and Pilita Corrales, all of whom are “royal” heavies in their own right.

The salu-salo, held regularly by senior (read: “the young once”) showbiz deni- zens, was also a celebration of balikbayan journalist (Canada-based) Baby K. Jimenez’s birthday which has been marked by similar gatherings almost every week with different groups by dif- ferent groups. That’s how it is in showbiz. When you draw the guest list, you make sure that those who don’t see eye-to-eye aren’t invited to the same party, so you end up holding a few more parties/dinners to accommodate everybody. Okay, all accounted for? For the oc- casion, Pempe prepared a buf- fet of goodies that made ev- erybody going back for more, digesting the food by end-lessly recalling the good old days and keeping up with what every- body (some are home for vacation from abroad) has been up to, like Lilia Dizon and Pacita Arana (from the US).

The group fondly calls itself “Ang Lumang Album” for obvious reasons. That night’s party was a veritable casting coup.

Observed Susan, “Usually, friends see each other only during sad occa- sions like wakes. It’s good naman to see each other during a happy occa- sion.”Come to think of it..

Karylle joins Singapore’s Point of Entry season finale

Last March 16, Karylle flew to Sin- gapore upon the invitation of Media Corp’s TV drama series Point of En- try for its third season finale preview promo, held at the Liddo Theater.

Karylle, who plays Tala, was joined by the show’s main- stays Carl Ng, Jaymee Ong, Bernard Tan, Devarajan, Fadhilah Sam- sudin, Darryl Young, Pamelyn Chee, Jade Seah, Dusita Anuchit- chanchai Jour- dan Lee, Ya Hui and two other Pinoy actors Simon Ibarra and Micah Muñoz.

The cast was greeted by hundreds of fans who flocked to the Liddo Theater for a sneak peek of its upcoming finale episodes that feature two endings.

After the preview, the au- dience decided which end- ing they liked through ballot voting. Prizes were given away followed by a meet-and- greet at the activity area for photo opportunities.

Directed by S. Deakarajen, Chan Bang Y uan, Ian Sey- mour Lee Chew Yen, Joey Cheung and Dennis Chong, Point of Entry airs weekly on Singapore’s Channel 5 every Thursday at 8 to 9 p.m.

(E-mail reactions at ent- philstar@yahoo.com. You mayalso send your questions to askrickylo@gmail.com. For more up- dates, photos and videos visit www. philstar.com/funfare or follow me on www.twitter/therealrickylo.)