‘Reflected glory’ for stars’ lookalikes

ADELE wannabe (top row, extreme left) had the pipes, but the others were content to just sort of look like their idols—including big winner, the Boyet clone (same row, center).

Last June 1, we made sure that we cleared our noontime schedule to be able to catch the “Kalokalike” finals on ABS-CBN’s “Showtime.”

Like “Eat Bulaga’s” unique “Pinoy Henyo” quiz portion, we felt that the “Kalokalike” tilt said a lot about local viewers’ tell-tale predilections—specifically, their fascination with celebrities and their lookalike impersonators, some of whom become popular and acquire a following of their own. Talk about reflected glory, this is it!

Yes, it’s shallow and silly, but when it’s pulled off well, it qualifies as potentially insightful entertainment in its own right.

It was a very bright idea to have master impersonator Willie Nepomuceno on hand last June 1 as juror and guest entertainer (he did a spot-on take on President P-Noy, showing the tilt’s callow finalists how much more they could do, beyond just looking like the star they were “celebrating”).

Alas, Willie’s subtle hints and suggestions were generally lost on the finalists and the studio audience, who went gaga over the most shallow and obvious “portrayals,” like “Coco Martin” saying “yami” and “Julia Montes” pouting for all she was worth!

Still, we were pleased that the lesser-known “Adele” was able to break into the Top Five (of 19 finalists!), which shows that we aren’t all that hopeless, after all.

The other “Top Fivers” were “Julia,” “Joey de Leon,” “Jinkee Pacquiao” and “Christopher de Leon,” who ended up winning the top prize—despite or maybe because of his really hammy capsule rendition of one of the star’s past, over-the-top performances!

Other interesting finalists were “Justin Bieber,” who really looked like (a Tisoy version of) the teen idol, and “Angel Locsin,” who even “flew” in the air as Locsin playing Darna, to make her act more eventful.

As for most of the other finalists, they were just quite happy to just sort of look like the stars they were playing. In this regard, it was instructive to note that the nobodies who played stellar somebodies got extra attention when they chose to impersonate currently popular stars. Sadly, this worked against “Adele,” despite the fact that she really looked like the British singing diva—and even sang sort of like her, too!

But the viewers and voters obviously weren’t all that interested in such niceties and plus factors, because hammy “Christopher” beat her to the top slot.

Well, we trust that “Adele” will enjoy a good career as an impersonator, after having proven that she can more or less do justice to her idol’s songs, unlike “Justin,” “Joey” and the other “singing” impersonators, who barely whispered or squeaked through.

Like Willie, we hope that, after having gotten their start on the “Kalokalike” tilt, some of the finalists will decide to go deeper into the impersonation craft, not content with just looking and sounding the part, but getting to know their idols so well that they can feel like them.

As for the show’s viewers, we similarly trust that their interest in impersonation will in time go beyond stellar popularity and shallow imitation, and prompt them to look for greater heart and soul in the lookalike acts they favor.