Miss Saigon, Irene Alano-Rhodes Sings Broadway & Praises

By Yoly Tumangan Tubalinal
Special to FilAm MegaScene

Over a year ago, she captured the hearts of the IPJM* congregation when she first attended their service and sang beautifully at their request. Little did they know that she, too, was touched deeply by their pastor’s message and felt an instant kinship with the church that gave her life a new direction and a whole new meaning.

Broadway & Praises is Irene Alano-Rhodes’ special way of saying thank you to the Lord Almighty. It’s her offering of love and gratitude, where her exceptional talent meets its greatest challenge yet, singing praises to the Greatest One and on a season of His Son’s birth.
Irene Alano brings with her a wealth of experience from London theaters and is sure to captivate her audience’s hearts with her magical rendition of love songs and her moment to moment recap of her life’s journey as an artist and more.

About Irene

Having come from a very musical family, Irene developed her interest in singing when she was five, during which time she had started joining several singing competitions in school. While in college, she realized that her calling was actually on stage.
Irene’s Musical Theatre career then began back in 1995 when she was selected, out of thousands who auditioned, to play the role of Gigi in the West End Production of Miss Saigon at the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane in London. Soon after, she decided to audition for other shows and was blessed to have performed other roles in shows like Jesus Christ Superstar UK tour as Mary Magdalene andThe King & I at the London Palladium & UK tour, playing Lady Thiang and Tuptim.
Last year, after taking a break to concentrate on being a full time mom to her now 10 year old son Louis, she returned to the West End and joined the cast of Avenue Q at the Gielgud and Wyndham Theatres where she had an opportunity to play the role of Christmas Eve on some performances. This is where she learned a little bit about the art of puppetry.
Irene’s films and documentary credits include “Jesus Christ Superstar as Ensemble,” as a native American woman in “Have you ever wondered about food,” a BBC series. She did a workshop, “Zorro the Musical,” where she played the role of Toypurnia at the Leicester Square Theatre. She did commercials, too, such as Nintendo Wii and Honda Civic and recorded “The King and I” with the original London Cast.
Irene performed in concerts, too, namely: The Music of Alain Boublil and Claude Michel Schonberg, Philippines/Expressions – one woman show and West End Cares, all in London.

Broadway & Praises: Concert, Dinner & Dancing

Broadway & Praises packs the whole “enchilada” for its audience who loves Broadway, praise and worship songs and dinner dancing. It’s a treat for everyone, the young, the young-at-heart and even the not-so-very-young. It’s a gift anyone can give to his or her special someone for Christmas, a nourishment for the body as well as for the spirit. It’s a see-good, feel-good indulgence into the finer things in life and a let it loose in rock and roll and ballroom dancing to shake those calories kind of thing.

Also featured in this wonderful Christmas treat are two equally talented artists: Ethan LePhong and Danny Juat. Ethan LePhong is a singer, actor in films and theater, who rose to fame in The King and I and is currently cast in Mama Mia. Danny Juat is a nurse by profession but a singing pastor by avocation. He is to be remembered for his passionately joyful praise and worship songs that feed the soul and invite the Holy Spirit.

A Very Worthy Cause