MANILA, Philippines?For fans of the Sharon-Gabby love team, it was historic ? to put it mildly.

Sharon Cuneta marked her 43rd birthday at the Araneta Coliseum on Friday with a show featuring big-name guests as usual, including Arnel Pineda, Zsazsa Padilla, Kuh Ledesma, Gary Valenciano, Ai Ai de las Alas, Vina Morales, Sarah Geronimo, Rachelle Ann Go and Piolo Pascual.

But the show-stopper was a videotaped message from San Francisco, California, from ex-husband Gabby Concepcion.

In her previous birthday shows, screen partners like Richard Gomez and Robin Padilla would invariably greet Sharon; Gabby was always the 300-pound gorilla no one dared mention onstage.

Until last Friday. Gabby?s videotaped greeting (he is vacationing with his family in the US) stunned the approximately 10,000 spectators. But only for a while.

Suddenly, they were ecstatic. The cheers were so deafening, it completely drowned out the greeting. ?I thought the stage would collapse,? Sharon later commented in her dressing room.

Earlier, a TV interviewer asked if that was a tear he saw falling from her eyes after Gabby?s message. Sharon jokingly replied, ?No, that was sweat!?

It could henceforth be known as the birthday greeting, publicly ending years of estrangement between the former reel- and real-life partners whose union produced a string of box-office hits, and 23-year-old daughter KC Concepcion, now a full-fledged singer-actress herself.

Sharon greeted Gabby?s present wife, Genevieve, and their daughter Samantha onstage.

But to set things straight, Sharon pointed out that, for her, the most touching part of the birthday show (?Songs of My Heart,? aired yesterday on ABS-CBN), was the videotaped message of her current husband, Sen. Francis Pangilinan, and their two young daughters Frankie and Miel, who were in the audience.

?I could feel that our fans really wanted to see me happy and my family complete,? she explained. She hoped her family?s presence that night would hopefully end all speculation about her marriage.

KC thrilled

Late last year, the Pangilinans? rumored separation hogged headlines. Sharon admitted that they had a minor tiff at that time, but that it was blown out of proportion. ?OA (over-acting) nga.?

KC once again performed a perilous stunt during the program, a jazz number with the G Force dancers, done while she balanced on a see-saw. Last year, she ?flew? while attached to a harness.
But the thrill of hearing Gabby greet Sharon seemed more exhilarating for KC. ?Peace at last,? KC told the Philippine Daily Inquirer.