What Las Vegas taught Lani

MANILA, Philippines - Performing in Las Vegas has taught Lani Misalucha a couple of things as a singer and as a person.

One is time management. Industry insiders in the US know that a big difference exists between what they call Hawaiian time — or Filipino time — and American time.

“I don’t want to say that it’s not okay, I just want to consider it part of our culture,” Lani is talking about Filipino time. Yes, she admits. She’s guilty of this “late factor” in her system. And she’s ashamed of it.

But she has since learned the value of American time.

“They have this running joke in America,” she recalls. “When they ask me what time we’re gonna meet or when the show will start, they ask if it’s American or Hawaiian time.”

It might be the sheer number of Filipinos in Hawaii. But it turns out Hawaiians, like Pinoys, reports Lani, arrive an hour later than the appointed time.

Performing in the US has not spared Lani the usual frustrations she faced in the Philippines. Shows still get cancelled just when you thought everything is in the bag.

Lani points out a case at the Flamingo hotel-casino in Las Vegas. You’d think operations in a place as reputable as that would be hitch-free.

But two months before Lani’s first contract ended and the hotel already told her she’s up for a one-year renewal, a problem cropped up. A new owner took over the hotel. Management apologized and told her she won’t be performing at the Flamingo after her first contract ended.

Lani had no hard feelings. She knows last-minute changes occur, not just in entertainment, but everywhere else.

The job is not bed of roses. But it has its perks. Lani hosted her own show for a year at The Hilton, also in Las Vegas. She opened and closed the show with a song. In-between, Lani interviewed various artists in Las Vegas, talk show style. One of them was the chef of one of the oldest steakhouses in The Strip.

Lani’s jaw dropped when he related anecdotes about Elvis Presley and Marilyn Monroe. She felt like dusting off the pages of a history book when her celebrity guest told her about where Elvis would usually sit in the steakhouse.

This, and other learning experiences she will bring with her wherever her talent takes her. One of them is at Resorts World Manila’s Newport Performing Arts Theater where she will hold a show on Tuesday, Jan. 25 at 8 p.m.

Will US-based Lani bring the kind of shows she’s been doing in Las Vegas for the past six years?

Lani shakes her head.

“I told my director, Freddie Santos that I’d like to veer away from Vegas type shows as much as possible,” she relates. “I’ve been doing those kinds of shows for years. So this time, it will veer more on the dramatic, the theatrical.”

Read: Expect spot-on impersonations of popular divas, pop, rock, jazz, soul, R ’n B, operatic arias.

That voice, which has been compared to Celine Dion and Whitney Houston, is enough to make the 1,500-seater modern theater with the largest LED screen in Southeast Asia, resonate with song and wild applause.

Even Lani’s director is an avid fan.

“She sent the audience shouting and shrieking at the mall where I directed a show featuring her and other OPM artists,” direk Freddie recalls. It was his first time to work with Lani, but he still can’t forget that day years back. He approached her backstage and urged Lani, “Leave the country. Your voice deserves to be heard by the world.”