Alfred Vargas
Recent casting choices in local teleseryes have been warmly received by viewers, while others have sadly failed to catch fire.
Starting on a positive note, “Destined to Be Yours” has been enhanced by the stellar presence of Boots Anson-Roa, Robert Arevalo and Ronnie Henares.
Boots and Robert play male lead Alden Richards’ grandparents, while Ronnie is cast as a manipulative mayor who keeps the crafty complications coming.
Ronnie is only occasionally seen on TV, so his participation in the new series is a welcome fillip.
On “Encantadia,” the welcome add-on is Alfred Vargas. Like Henares, he’s seldom seen on TV, so his comeback is a decided plus for the show, because he’s an exceptional yet underrated player.
It turns out that Alfred is no stranger to the fantasy universe of “Encantadia.” He previously played Aquil, and now portrays Amarro.
On the other hand, some TV series regulars have been having a harder time biting into their assigned roles.
For instance, in “A Love to Last,” Ronnie Alonte is being built up as Julia Barretto’s love teammate, but has stopped short of making a vivid impression.
What seems to be the problem? He’s still raw and unpolished, so his big buildup has happened too fast. Give him more time to really get his act together, please?
Another hopefully temporary limitation is Alonte’s “hooded” eyes, which prevent him from communicating with viewers, and vice versa.
An actor’s eyes are indeed the mirrors of his soul and feelings, so if he keeps his gaze averted, viewers’ empathy is adversely affected.
The third lead in “A Love to Last,” Iza Calzado, is also experiencing some thespic difficulties.
She’s a lovely, proficient and experienced player, but her role as Ian Veneracion’s ex-wife in the series is too erratically conceptualized to register strongly and warmly with viewers.
Iza’s character abandoned her husband and children to spend many months abroad to take care of her ailing father and to “find” herself—but now wants to re-establish some sort of family connection.
Ian quite understandably resists this, and so do viewers who have impatiently been waiting for Iza to acceptably explain and redeem herself, so they can understand her seemingly flighty and irresponsible actions.
As of this writing, this has failed to happen, so the sooner it transpires, the better for everyone concerned—especially Iza and her fuzzy character.
Bits and pieces: Barbie Forteza used to be a turnoff on TV because she wore too much makeup to jazz up her appearance. However, in her current series, “Meant to Be,” she’s finally learned that less is more—and that’s a very good thing.
The culprit now in the makeup department is Ria Atayde in “My Dear Heart,” where her “fully-enhanced” look detracts and distracts from her portrayal.
May she follow Barbie’s now more enlightened lead and opt for a more natural and less dolled-up look, as soon as possible.