Regine Velasquez-Alcasid (born April 22, 1970), is a Filipina recording artist and actress, and is widely known for possessing an extensive vocal range. She was hailed by the Philippine Association of the Record Industry (PARI) as the Philippines' Best-Selling Artist of All Time, with more than 7 million albums sold in the Philippines and 1.5 million albums in Asia.
Velasquez won the Grand Prize at the 1989 Asia Pacific Singing Contest in Hong Kong. In 1994, Polygram Records produced her first Asia-released album, Listen Without Prejudice. It is considered as Velasquez' most successful album to date, selling more than 700,000 copies in Asia. The album has sold over 100,000 units in the Philippines, 300,000 units in China and 20,000 in Thailand.
In 2000, Velasquez' music video "In Love With You", a duet with Jacky Cheung, landed the #1 spot in MTV Asia's Top 20 Asian Videos. On the eve of the new millennium, as part of BBC's Millennium Special 2000 Today, Velasquez, together with some 2,000 Filipino youths, sang the Philippine millennium theme, "Written in the Sand". This was broadcast by BBC to 67 countries reaching to almost a billion people.
Sunset Boulevard is a musical with book and lyrics by Don Black and Christopher Hampton and music by Andrew Lloyd Webber. Based on Billy Wilder's Academy Award-winning 1950 film of the same title, the plot revolves around Norma Desmond, a faded star of the silent screen era, living in the past in her decaying mansion on the fabled Los Angeles street. When young screenwriter Joe Gillis accidentally crosses her path, she sees in him an opportunity to make her comeback to the big screen. Romance and tragedy follow.
Opening first in London in 1993, the musical has had several long runs internationally and also enjoyed extensive tours, although the show, which has been the subject of several legal battles, lost money because of its extraordinary running costs.
From approximately 1952 to 1956, Gloria Swanson worked with actor Richard Stapley (aka Richard Wyler) and cabaret singer/pianist Dickson Hughes on a musical adaptation originally entitled Starring Norma Desmond, then Boulevard! It ended on a happier note than the film, with Norma allowing Joe to leave and pursue a happy ending with Betty. Paramount originally had given Swanson verbal permission to proceed with the musical, but there had been no formal legal arrangement. On 20 February 1957, Paramount executive Russell Holman wrote Swanson a letter in which he asked her to cease work on the project because "it would be damaging for the property to be offered to the entertainment public in another form as a stage musical." In 1994, Hughes incorporated material from the production into Swanson on Sunset, based on his and Stapley's experiences in writing Boulevard!. A recording of the entire score, which had been housed in the Gloria Swanson archives at the University of Texas, was released on CD in 2008.
Will there really be a morning
When the night has gone,
Will there be a dawn
To great me urge me to go on,
Is there no harm for me
To even love again
Will there really be a morning
Or is this the end
Will there really be a sunlight
When the darkness dies
Will the strength to last
To be there, to fight the peasants side
The nights are so endless
Endless as it seems
Will there really be a morning
Or is this the dream
III.
Days had come, and days had past
I wish the morning stayed
I prayed that would last
For in those mornings
I could see what it meant to be free
Will there really be light again
When the star had fades
Will I reach out and touch it
For will I'll be afraid
I just hope that still be there
Just I may see
Will there really be a morning
To come for me
For in those mornings
I could see what it meant to be free