SAN JOSE. Cast as visually challenged protagonist.
We caught GMA 7’s new evening drama, “Kahit Nasaan Ka Man,” last month, and found that, as is common in these parts, it’s started its storytelling way back when its principal characters were still little children.
The female protagonist was visually challenged, her male counterpart was treated badly and thus turned out to be terribly conflicted—so, very early on, the new series’ “awa factor” was firmly and even lushly established.
Such in-your-face “melodramatics” and “emotional blackmail” are a bit much for us, but we did like the fact that the two child actors cast as the show’s young leads weren’t the usual bland, tisoy and pa-cute types favored by many other local drama series.
They were Pinoy na Pinoy, and the boy was even chinito and not that great a looker—but, he certainly made up for it with his natural and thus believable portrayal.
As for the adult leads, Julie Anne San Jose and Kristoffer Martin, they were shown only sketchily in “preview” shots, but we have been informed that she’s blind and that he was adopted by a woman (Eula Valdez) whose car accidentally hit and injured him.
Since Julie Anne is also a singing star, the drama series has a musical aspect to it, so we hope against hope that Kristoffer is able to match his costar’s proven ability in this regard—!
In terms of acting, we trust that the adult leads do at least as well as the naturally gifted young actors who played their characters as children.
A final “introductory” note: Since Julie Anne used to be the “love team” partner of Elmo Magalona, some viewers are finding her new small-screen team-up with Kristoffer not all that easy to adjust to.
And, since Kristoffer is a relative newbie, he has to work harder to convince viewers that he “deserves” being “bumped up” to lead status by way of this new series.
Some cynical fans doubt that he can be as good as the more experienced Elmo—but, he can prove them wrong!