Stephanie Reese is back with A Little Big Bang!

Locally, she may not be a household name… yet.

But in the U.S., she has already earned the “standing ovation queen” moniker, and was the first Filipino-American singer to perform at the famed Carnegie Hall in New York City.

Prior to these feats, she made a name in Germany by playing Kim in Miss Saigon; at London’s West End as Princess Tuptim in The King and I, and in Disney as Esmeralda of The Hunchback of Notre Dame.

One goal that remains on the horizon is to penetrate the mainstream market in her Bicolana mom’s country, the Philippines.

In an exclusive interview with PEP.ph (Philippine Entertainment Portal) held earlier today, June 26, she nodded when we said the Pinoy crowd is “very hard to please.”

Stephanie said, “I have to say it was like a great training ground for me over the past three years of coming back and forth because, you know, this is a land that loves music.

“And everybody here sings— from the driver to the titas…

“But I’d say that what I really do love about Filipino audience aside from that is also that they’re a nostalgic audience.”

Another observation: most Pinoys are into pop.

She continued, “I used to complain a lot… ‘Oh, they don’t wanna hear my original music, they always want covers.’

“But, it’s because, I think, we are such an emotional and sentimental culture.

“So, in that sense, when you sing a cover, even if you do it in your own style…I mean literally when you sing it on stage and then you see their faces, and they just melt with the first line of the song… So I thought, ‘Okay, I’m okay not doing original…’”

In the end, this lady who can do both “classical and contemporary” wouldn’t mind giving in to what her listeners want.

Smiling, she remarked, “I like that feeling! You don’t see that anywhere else in the world.