Mark Herras lives up to ‘puckishly humorous’ promise
HERRAS. Topbills drama series and weekly sitcom.
AT FIRST blush, 2016 is turning out to be a banner year for Mark Herras: On GMA 7, he’s been cast in not just one but two new productions this season—the drama series, “Sinungaling Mong Puso,” and the Sunday sitcom, “Conan, My Beautician.”
Upon closer perusal, however, “Sinungaling” is generally par for the predictable teleserye course, and Mark’s role in it isn’t all that attention-calling or challenging.
So, we’ve ended up pinning our hopes more on “Conan,” because Mark’s character in the weekly sitcom is a “first” for him: He plays a straight guy who falls for the truly lovely Megan Young, but can’t get chummily and cuddlingly close to her—unless he pretends to be a gay make-up artist and hair stylist.
Yes, yes, it’s all been done before (cf. “Mrs. Doubtfire,” “Tootsie,” “Bosom Buddies,” “Some Like It Hot,” etc.). But, the bright idea of getting Mark to do the puckishly humorous honors strikes us as fresh and promising. —So, we’ve made it a point to catch the show’s first few telecasts, and these are our initial notes:
Our hunch that Mark would made a delightful gay impersonator has been proven right, since his relatively svelte physical frame and training as a dancer enable him to “go gay” without coming across as a clumsy and lurid “cartoon,” as many other actors have.
‘Flaming’ fairies
Unfortunately, the sitcom’s “outrageously gay” performance style when it comes to the other parloristas and “flaming” fairies in the regular cast has otherwise distorted and distended the sitcom’s proceedings, despite Mark’s best efforts to keep the storytelling on even and believable keel.
Most everybody else is overacting “to death” for maximum shrill and sassy effect around him, so Mark is upstaged—not a good way to treat a TV lead player!
As for Megan, she plays it nice and sweet for the most part, so she ends up being even more thoroughly overshadowed by the show’s supporting players (who apparently don’t know the meaning of the word).
