Shine on, Bituin!

Bituin Escalante shares this story of how she got her name. When she was being baptized, the priest asked her parents, "What name are they giving the baby?" Bituin’s grandmother answered, Bituin. It was an inspired moment for Bituin’s grandmother because 28 years later, Bituin’s star is shining.

Bituin is a star. Some say she is an exceptional diva. But she is not only a star and a diva but a world-class theater actress, too.

Audiences both local and foreign are always in awe whenever she performs. A deafening silence precedes each performance which then crescendos to a roaring applause the moment she sings the first line of a song.

For Bituin, singing is a passion. Everyone in her family is musically inclined. Music was played in their house almost 24 hours a day. Though there was no formal musical training, she listened to the music of her parents. Her mother, Gigi Escalante, was a former soloist of the defunct Ambivalent Crowd. And her father loved the music of Ella Fitzgerald and other black singers.

Her mother, according to Bituin, calls herself a "straight singer," while she is more into pop. But according to Bituin, the best jazz singers are the straight singers. And as for herself, she claims to be a devotee of Ella Fitzgerald because her father played her songs. She is also a fan of the music of Billie Holiday, Nina Simone and Bessie Smith, among others.

Bituin made a giant leap into the elite circle of mainstream pop music when she was adjudged Best Interpreter in the 2002 Himig Handog Love Songs Competition where her song also won the grand prize. She also turned heads when she appeared in musical theater productions like Once On This Island, Dream Girls, Walang Sugat, The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, Rent, Jesus Christ Superstar, Tick Tick Boom, Rocky Horror Picture Show. Bituin admits she gets a different high doing theater. "You can play different characters when you are in theater. And if there is anything in singing that I like it is telling a story. I don’t just sing, I tell stories."

Bituin was discovered by Celeste Legaspi and Nestor Torre, when she auditioned for Sino Ka Ba José Rizal. But long before her "discovery," she was already involved in school productions. "I started theater when I was studying in UP Los Baños," she says.

Bituin is one performer who cannot be labeled just as a theater actress or a singer because she can be both. She has done collaborative performances with some artists, among them, the APO, Aiza Seguerra, Nina, Mulatto, Anna Fegi, Vernie Varga, Ai-Ai de las Alas, Freestyle, Ariel Rivera, Carol Banawa, Richard Merk, Piolo Pascual, Acoustic Jive and Ogie Alcasid.

But in spite of the very good reviews of her concerts, Bituin has never had her own major concert. That’s why Thirdline Inc. is producing her first major concert with the show entitled In Bituin... for the First Time at OnStage Greenbelt 1, Makati on May 12 and 13. Her special guest is Mon David, grand prize winner in the recently-concluded London International Jazz Competition. Concert beneficiary is Sagip Buhay Medical Foundation, Inc.

Tickets, priced at P200 (orchestra), P1,000 (upper orchestra center), P800 (upper orchestra side) and P500 (balcony), are available at selected National Bookstore branches, Robinsons Department Store (Malate, Galleria, Cavite and Pampanga), Tower Records (Makati and Alabang), Music Museum (Virra Mall, Greenhills), Ayala Center Inc. Greenbelt 1 Ticket Booth Cinema Lobby, Glorietta 1 Ticket Booth Cinema Lobby and on the TicketWorld website found at www.ticketworld.com.ph. For inquiries and reservations, call 891-9999. You may also call 426-0103, 426-5301 and 0918-9379209 or e-mail [email protected].

The 2nd Cinema One Originals

Cinema One has chosen the final seven entries in the second annual Cinema One Originals. These are Huling Balyan ng Buhi by Sherad Antonio Sanchez, Raket ni Inay written by Jim Flores and directed by Lawrence Fajardo, Si Romeo at si Juliet by director Connie Macatuno and written by Cris Violago, Rekados by Paolo Herras, Metlogs by Cris Pablo, Pandango by Ruelo Lozendo and Seroks by Ed Lejano with Iye Candelaria. The entries will get P700,000 production grant each and will compete in a screening festival at all SM Cinemas in October.