eople have become so accustomed to seeing Toni Gonzaga hosting PBB and ASAP '08 they have forgotten that she can also sing. They have forgotten that before they knew her for her witty spiels and engaging repartee, Toni, at four, was already joining singing contests.

At 17, she was performing in lounges as if her life depended on it. Toni serenaded Calesa Bar and Hyatt Regency habitués and soothed their nerves after a long, hard day.

Among her favorites and strongest musical influences are sultry Christina Aguilera and Celine Dion, and, on the local front, Regine Velasquez and Jaya. And now that she's poised to mount her much-delayed first major show (Saturday, Feb. 9, 8 p.m. at Aliw Theater), Toni can't wait to show how much she has learned from her idols and those years performing in lounges.

The show, titled Catch Me... Toni Gonzaga, takes off from Catch Me I'm Falling, the hit track off her Falling in Love album. And, since she's earned her spurs — thanks to a platinum record award for Falling in Love, gold record award for Toni: You Complete Me and the hit song We Belong — her director, GB Sampedro has allowed her to choose songs for the show.

The show, in other words, is also her baby of sorts, a playground where she can experiment, explore, take it to the limit. Toni promises to engage the viewer with production numbers she has never done before, with costumes no one has ever seen her in.

The show is as personal to her as close friends Sam Milby and Vhong Navarro, who have agreed to be her guests on stage. The two stand out in Toni's book because they represent firsts in her career, her first solo show and first movie, D'Anothers, Sam was part of the former; Vhong starred in the latter.

The only non-personal element in the show is its director. Paul Soriano, Toni's boyfriend of seven months, is not calling the shots in the show. Not that he's unqualified for the job. Far from it. It's just that the couple has valid reasons for separating the personal from the professional.

“We're not a love team,” Toni protests. “If Paul directs my show, the spotlight will be on him. Which is the last thing he wants. Besides, I don't want people to think we're a package deal,” explains Toni.

But her first boyfriend will surely be somewhere in the audience with his family — the more inconspicuous, the better. Her boyfriend, says Toni, is publicity shy. So he'd rather stay in the sidelines and let Toni shine.

That doesn't mean he leaves her out in the cold when she needs him. Toni says Paul gives her tips about how to prepare for the show — bits and pieces he learned from directing Gary Valenciano and other stars on stage.

More importantly, Paul, adds Toni, lets her be when she has to, badly. He doesn't disturb her when she needs to rest for a show or rehearse a production number. All he does is call Toni to find out if she's okay or if there's anything he can do for her.

When the 26-year-old director went to her PBB dressing room last December to give his Christmas gift to her, Toni felt Valentine's day came two months ahead of schedule.

Paul, says Toni with a twinkle in her eye, is husband material: God-fearing, understanding, responsible, supportive. Toni feels like she's walking on air whenever he calls her “Tin,” (short for Celestina, her real name), because that's how her family calls her at home. It means he, too, wants her to treat him as part of the family.

But it's too soon to say wedding bells will ring for the couple. Not in the next 10 years at least, says Toni (she'll be 34 by then, since she turned 24 last Jan. 20).

“I still want to do many things, like perform at the Big Dome perhaps. And if Hollywood beckons, why not? After all, Charice Pempengco and Iza Calzado have taken the first steps toward an international career. It's time Filipinos shine abroad,” explains Toni. “Dreams are for free, aren't they?”

Besides, Toni adds, marriage is something you don't plan. It just happens. If it comes, it comes.

Meantime, she just wants to buckle down to work and compete, not with anybody else, but with herself. Competing with somebody else is no good, states Toni. It makes you want to do negative things — like upstage somebody, or dislodge him from whatever position he is in.

Toni wants to compete simply to remain at her best in a business where a new talent search winner is born once every three months or so.

This year, she wants to pay more attention to her singing, which she has neglected in favor of hosting.

“Singing is less tiring,” she relates. “Unlike taping for shows, you can rest soon after the show is over.”

Years of staying in the business has also led to another observation: “I've seen actors come and go. One day they're here. The next day, they're no longer around,” notes Toni. No way will she allow herself to belong to the here-today-gone-tomorrow group.

“I want to stay,” Toni says, determination written all over her face.

So work hard and aim high she does. For Toni, and others like her who want to play it fair and square, that's the only way to go.

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