Menudo is coming but minus Ricky and Robi

It’s definite: Menudo is coming for a concert at the Smart Araneta Coliseum on Dec. 15.

That’s the good news.

Your Funfarer with Robi Rosa in London where the former Menudo launched his English album several years ago. The sad news is that Robi (who adopted the name Draco Rosa) is reported to be bedridden with colon cancer.

It will be the Puerto Rican quintet’s third time to perform in Manila, featuring the so-called “golden era” members namely Charlie Masso (1982-1987), Robert Avellanet (1988-1991), Ray Reyes (1983-1985), Rene Farrait (1977-1982) and Miguel Cancel (1981-1983).

Of the five, only Masso has performed in the Philippines. That was in 1985 when the Menudo came for its first concert, with Ricky Martin, Robi Rosa, Raymond Acevedo and Sergio Gonzalez. That same year, the group came back for an encore, with Charlie replaced by Ruben Gomez.

Organized by producer Edgardo Diaz in the ’70s, Menudo has had some 37 members until the group disbanded, hounded by a sex scandal that made headlines in US papers. As per the rule, a member was made to “graduate” as soon as he turned 16.

The ‘golden era’ Menudo members coming for a concert at the Big Dome on Dec. 15 (from left, with photos of them as teenagers) Charlie Masso, Robert Avellanet, Ray Reyes, Rene Farrait and Miguel Cancel

Record shows that the group got its name by accident. The first members were four, Diaz’s cousins Ricky Melendez and Carlos Melendez, and the Sallaberry brothers Fernando and Oscar. It is said that during the four boys’ second rehearsal at a garage, Diaz’s sister entered the driveway and wondered, “Cuanto menudo hay aqui!” (What a lot of young folks we have here!) The name stuck. In the Philippines, menudo is the name of a dish consisting of sliced pork mixed with potato and carrots in tomato sauce.

In hindsight, Menudo could be that era’s counterpart of One Direction (which has just lost one member, Zayn Malik, who decided to go solo). The group generated what was called Menudomania reminiscent of (but not of the same magnitude) the ’60s Beatlemania. One of the group’s avid fans was Lea Salonga who, in her teens, was the opening act of the first Menudo concert in which she sang Separate Lives with Robi.

No, Robi won’t be coming for the Dec. 15 concert. (For tickets, call TicketNet at 911-5555.)

And that’s the sad news.

“He’s bedridden, suffering from colon cancer,” according to the Funfare source from LM Music Entertainment Agency which is producing the concert. And neither will Ricky and the four other former members who have been here. Ricky, who was among the Menudos who have embarked on a solo career, has outed himself in a tell-all autobiography, a confession that hardly dented his popularity. I saw him perform at the Britain’s Got Talent (BGT) and, although evidently much more mature and somewhat heavier, he generated the same sexy electricity that he used to.

I feel sad for Robi whom I interviewed a few years ago in London where he launched his first solo English album, using the professional name Draco Rosa. He was full of life and charged with great expectations. Very accommodating, gamely posing for photos with the media guys covering the event. I can’t imagine him in bed, wasting away.

Incidentally, during the Menudo’s Dec. 15 concert, Regine Velasquez (who interviewed Ricky in Singapore a few years ago along with this writer) is the special guest performer. It must be a memorable experience for Menudo fans to be listening again to Explosion, If You’re Not Here, Lady, I’m Coming Back to Manila and other Menudo hits.

According to the producers, they wanted to get Lea for the concert but she’s not available, busy as she is on Broadway with the play Allegiance.

“It would have been a grand reunion for Lea and Charlie Masso,” said the producer, “and the rest of the Menudo.”

Funfare learned that when the current Menudo did a concert in Mexico recently, they sang parts of Di Na Natuto, the APO song popularized by Gary Valenciano.

Brillante Mendoza: Another feather to his already well-decorated cap

Brillante Mendoza gets achievement award in Russia

Brillante Mendoza received the Outstanding Artistic Achievement Award in the 25th International Film Festival “Message to Man” in St. Petersburg, Russia, where he headed the main competition jury.

Mendoza’s masterpieces Lola, Kinatay and Taklub were showcased in the festival. He was also invited to a Master Class at St. Petersburg State Institute of Film and Television.

The international competitive documentary, short and animated film festival was founded by the Council of Ministers of the USSR, Ministry of Cultural Affairs of the USSR, Goskino of the USSR, the USSR Union of Filmmakers, Gosteleradio of the USSR and the Executive Committee of Lensoviet, and supported by the Ministry of Cultural Affairs of Russian Federation, St. Petersburg City Government and Committee for Culture of St. Petersburg. Ninety films from 45 countries participated in this year’s nine-day festival, from Sept. 25 to Oct. 3.

Meanwhile, Taklub will grace four international film festivals this month, namely: 20th Busan International Film Festival, Window on Asian Cinema Section, Oct. 1 to 10 in Korea; 15th Beirut International Film Festival, Panorama Section, Oct. 7 to 15 in Lebanon; 59th London Film Festival by the British Film Institute, Debate Section, Oct. 7 to 18 in United Kingdom; and 28th Tokyo International Film Festival, Crosscut Section, Oct. 22 to 31 in Japan.

— Celso de Guzman Caparas

(E-mail reactions at [email protected]. You may also send your questions to [email protected]. For more updates, photos and videos visit www.philstar.com/funfare or follow me on www.twitter/therealrickylo.)