The local show business is going to be more exciting as another second-generation (or is it third?) royalty enters its milieu.
Ralph Fernandez, the 21-year-old son of action star Rudy Fernandez and actress-TV host Lorna Tolentino, has finally consented to be in the same business as his parents.
He said yes to an offer by TAPE, Inc. of Tony Tuviera and Malou Choa-Fagar, to star in a new soap opera which they are producing and will air on GMA 7 soon.
This early, Ralph has already been preparing himself by attending an acting workshop under Gina Alajar. The doting mom, according to people close to the family, became an instant stage mother driving her son to and from the workshop venue each time Ralph has a schedule there.
Ralph was quoted as saying, "it surprised me also. Because my mom never drove for me going to school in Ateneo before. But this time, she’s all over me. It’s nice."
Ralph is in his third year college taking up Inter-Disciplinary Studies at Ateneo de Manila University, where his younger brother, 18-year-old Renz is also studying.
The still very young-looking mother, LT says she won’t be surprised if Renz will follow suit as she can see the show biz inclination in Renz, too. Renz, according to LT, wants to try out as a video jockey and has plans to audition in the coming MTV VJ Hunt soon.
She admits though that she didn’t expect Ralph to be in show biz. "Between the two, he was the more serious, and reserved. He’s more of the business-minded. I was surprised when Ralph suddenly blurted out to me one morning that he is ready to enter show biz," she said.
Needless to say, Ralph’s mother and father, have both vowed to extend their all-out support for their son in his new endeavor.
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BMG artist and one of the country’s ace singers, Anna Fegi has switched management.
After her contract with Bibsy Carballo (her manager for five years) expired this year, we were told that Anna has opted to be represented now by our friend and colleague Ricky Gallardo.
Anna joins Ricky’s roster of talents in his Talent Factory which includes: intense young actor Sid Lucero, artist-painter Ian Veneracion, another budding young actor AJ Eigenmann, singer Franco Laurel, belter Tex Ordonez, and serious actor Simon Ibarra.
Ricky told us that under his stewardship, Anna will be pursuing the kind of music that she does best — classic R&B pop, which is closer to soul than anything. "Something like how she gives justice to songs like ‘Natural Woman.’ We’ll be seeing more of her in that genre. She’ll be in a band, too," Ricky said.
Anna is also a recording artist of BMG Records, which is now Sony-BMG Philippines. We just don’t know whether Anna’s contract is not part of the newly-merged company. Her album is called "Straight Ahead" and the most memorable song in that album was the carrier single "Saan Ka Na Kaya Ngayon."
Ricky, however assures us, that Anna and Bibsy parted ways cordially. "We’re all mature people here. Anna felt the need to move on and try out different avenues in her career. I appreciate the fact that she picked me believing that I could help her in the new direction that she wants to take," our dear friend ended.
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We heard that director Bobby Garcia (the one responsible for Atlantis Productions and the musicals "Rent," "Angels in America," "Proof" "Baby," etc.) will be leaving for Singapore soon. For good.
Reason is, he has clinched a wonderful break as far as his directorial career is concerned. We heard that he has been accepted as one of the resident directors for Disney Channel Asia and as such, he is being required to stay in Singapore, where the Asia-Pacific regional office of the company is based.
A friend told us that Bobby sought out the executives of Disney while he was on a trip to Singapore before and applied for the position. The Disney executives were impressed with Bobby’s credentials according to our mole, the list included stints he did with our international singer-actress Lea Salonga, when he showed it to them during a presentation.
Now, we just don’t know whether some of the projects that Bobby has lined up under his Atlantis Productions for this year, will still push through, the local staging of "Beauty and The Beast," among others, included.
And speaking of "Beauty and The Beast," we’ve come across some press releases already announcing the opening of the auditions for parts in the said musical. We know that initially, Lea Salonga was being tapped to play Belle in this exciting musical which we fortunately first saw on Broadway the first time we went to New York about 10 years ago.
Anyway, we just don’t know whether Lea would still be the one to headline the local production of "Beauty and The Beast."
We have yet to receive an update about this. Rest assured we’ll keep you posted.
