Young heartthrob Sam Concepcion was among the first performers at the ABS-CBN Christmas Special at the Big Dome and his ever-increasing fame became evident as thousands of spectators cheered him on when he stepped onto the stage. When ABS-CBN.com later spoke to him about it, the young singer admitted that he was overwhelmed by such a warm reception from the people. “Being back sa Araneta to perform, it’s great. Makikita mo naman na they were very excited with the show. Siguro it just gives back my dream of having a big concert. I had one nung October in Music Museum, which was my first solo concert. Then I had another one last Saturday, a Christmas concert, it’s at the CCP open grounds. It’s great lang to see na you start from the small crowd, a small venue, then someday you know, hopefully, Araneta naman,” he happily recounted to ABS-CBN.com.

Apart from his singing engagements, this 16-year-old cutie is also busy playing the role of Andrew (Betty’s younger brother) in I Love Betty La Fea. It’s been several months since he first started on the project but his excitement towards working with the whole team behind the hit comedy series has never waned. “After Super Inggo, it’s great to be back doing soaps regularly in I Love Betty La Fea. It’s my first time to work with [most of the cast] like si Kuya Vhong (Navarro), Bea (Alonzo), Ms. Ai Ai (delas Alas), and Tito Ronaldo (Valdez). But every time I go to taping masaya palagi kasi kapag kasama mo silang lahat, laugh trip lang talaga,” he shared. He also confided that there’s no pressure on the set because everyone is simply on good terms. “You just feel comfortable because your co-actors make you really comfortable behind the cam and on the scene.”

As it happens, his chemistry with Cheska Ortega (Janice)—whom he is courting in the soap—is very much evident so ABS-CBN.com asked him if there’s something going on between them in real life. But Sam clarified that he knew the pretty mestiza way back when he first joined theatre acting. “She’s my love team in I Love Betty La Fea but we go way back. We both started in the theater. She’s being managed by Stages and Star Magic also. We did theater and all. We did High School Musical the year before that. She’d play Gabby and I was Troy, yun lang,” he explained with a laugh. He also stressed that the fact that they perfectly jive as partners is more because of their similar background. “We just got really close. Alam na namin yung bigayan when it comes to doing scenes or performing songs kasi we both trained in the theater. We started when we were eight or nine years old. So we know our way na,” he added.

In one of the scenes in I Love Betty La Fea, Cheska’s brother in the story (Roman) sabotaged Sam’s performance. Has he ever experienced cutting his song short when encountering a technical problem? “Kapag ganon, nawawala yung tape? Depends eh. Sometimes you just have to carry on especially kung audition. That’s very important kasi panget yun kung bigla kang tumigil, that’s minus [points for a performer] kaya siguro hindi nakuha si Andrew [dun sa episode]. Or even in big performances tapos nawala yung mic or whatever, [you should] carry on and do the performance,” he confidently replied. As it is, Sam no longer has stage fright and all he feels prior to a major concert is that wonderful feeling to be up on the stage again.

Nevertherless, Sam humbly acknowledged that he still has lots of things to learn in the business. “You know I am very new also on television. It’s only been three years since [I joined] Little Big Star. Things have happened that I never expected nor dreamt of. It just keeps getting better and better kasi I am really thankful for all of the blessings given to me. Of course madami pa akong wish. Madami pa akong wishes na gusto kong matupad. I never thought in my whole life that I will have solo concerts one after another. Only God knows what’s next for me,” he optimistically said.

Source: http://www.abs-cbn.com