Saturday at the Shrine

At around 6:30 p.m., I got a call from my sister-in-law, Rose Flores, who told me she got tickets to Dolphy at the Shrine Auditorium as he commemorates 80 years of living, loving and laughing including his book launching. If I remember it right, the last show we watched at the Shrine was more than 15 years ago. For Dolphy, I would not have any second thoughts but to go. Besides this once-in-a-lifetime event be a grand celebration of the many talents of Dolphy, it will also be a fitting tribute to a living legend and a remarkable human being that we have grown to love. The program was listed to start at 7:00 p.m., but we did not get there until after 8:00 p.m. or so. The parking structure at the Shrine was full and believe it or not, my brother-in-law, Ed Flores couldn't find a single empty space until we reached the top floor. We rode the elevator with a couple who flew from Las Vegas, Nevada just to see Dolphy but got lost trying to find the venue. The Santa Ana wind was blowing cold, as we hurried inside the Shrine and Ed found Ruby waiting for us at the Lobby with the complimentary tickets with seats on row 11 - it was a fantastic location, so close and had a good view of the stage from where we are. Act 1 just finished and just as we were seated, Eric Quizon, Dolphy's son came out and made his welcome introduction to show a special video taken during the book launching in Manila prior to their trip here in the U.S. Somehow, there were technical difficulties with the video, the audio did not work, and it took awhile before the pictures showed as everybody seemed impatient, but the sudden appearance of Dolphy who was trying to steal the show from Eric Quizon was good enough for everyone to applaud. For an 80 year old actor, Dolphy resembled a comedic Hitler barely moving but still remembered his lines very well. One act followed another and Dolphy welcome his entourage including his lady love, Ms. Zsa- Zsa Padilla, his children Eric, Jeffrey, Ronnie, Boy2 , Zia, Vandolph and wife Jenny Quizon along with a live band, dancers, and some very special guests. We enjoyed the individual performances of the invited guests that included Mariel Malubay of American Idol Season 7, Carol Banawa whose voice was still golden, but the song that rocked the house was APL of Black Eyed Peas who rapped a song medley that he and Florante prepared for everyone's delight. Although the jokes were old, the delivery was nostalgic and everybody laughed hard at the end of each punchline. I would say, young and old, wheelchairs and strollers stayed to the last joke and sang with the finale to culminate the end of Dolphy first stop of his US Tour. It was almost midnight when we got out of the Shrine and went for late dinner at Mayflower Restaurant at Chinatown. Mariel Malubay and her family was at the table next to us including another American Idol contestant, AJ Tabaldo who was voted off Season 6. The night culminated with delicious food esp. with my favorite "Kangkong" and shrimp with cashew nuts and not forgetting the Fried Fish ( Flounder ) with shrimp fried rice. By the way, I'd like to thank Ed & Rose Flores for inviting me to go with them to this show. I had a terrific evening at the Shrine.