Maria Clara at Ibarra’s success a proud career highlight for its stars

After successfully reimagining Rizal’s first novel Noli Me Tangere and hooking viewers in the age of TikTok and shorter attention spans, GMA 7’s Maria Clara at Ibarra (MCAI) now transitions to our National Hero’s second novel El Filibusterismo this week.

The historical portal/time travel-themed primetime series tells the story of a Gen-Z character named Maria Clara “Klay” Infantes, who winds up in the 19th-century world of Noli and El Fili. She then becomes an unlikely key figure in the intertwining lives of the novels’ beloved, hated and iconic characters.

The creative team behind the megahit spoke during last week’s mediacon about the unexpected extent of the drama’s popularity.

“I’ve been writing soap operas for the past 30 years that perhaps I can already sense if a show will rate or not. I remember specifically one week before airing, I was seeing the feedback on social media to the campaign we did to promote the show. I saw the interest of the people because they were sharing and re-sharing (teasers),” said creative consultant Suzette Doctolero, who was joined during the mediacon by fellow creatives such as director Zig Dulay and head writer J-Mee Katanyag.

“What I didn’t expect was how the public reception would turn out to be this huge. As in malaki talaga siya like araw-araw may lumalabas na award-giving bodies and pinapalo yung MCAI so parang nakakagulat naman.”

Besides high ratings and trending data, also one gauge of success is the fandom. Some of its main cast members flew to Cebu City during the Sinulog festival for a fan meet organized by GMA Regional TV. MCAI’s first mall show was jampacked with wild and solid fans of the series.

MCAI’s success has also become a proud career highlight or moment for its stars Andrea Torres (Sisa), Julie Anne San Jose (Maria Clara), David Licauco (Fidel) and Juancho Trivino (Padre Salvi). When The STAR caught up with them in Cebu, all said that this is their time to experience such level of success in a drama.

Juancho said, “It started out na medyo pressure because of the gravity of the story in Philippine history. But I remember before it aired, me and David, we talked about this, na sana maging successful yung Maria Clara at Ibarra.

“Ako 10 years na sa industry, David a couple of years, but we have never experienced this kind of success. Meron kaming parang gauge, na ganito yung show na-e-extend and having this kind of success with (MCAI) is foreign to me. Kung paano kami tanggapin ng mga ng tao, its effect on the masses and even friends and people we know are affected as well. Kakaiba talaga siya. It’s one of a kind project that has united social classes and we’re very proud of it.”

As for David, “I’m just really grateful I accepted this role because I was having second thoughts if I would accept it only because I wanted to focus on my business. Good thing I did because it’s also my first time to experience this magnitude of success with a teleserye. Thank you so much to the supporters!”

Meanwhile, The STAR asked them to name favorite scenes from the show. For Julie Anne, it was her confrontation with Padre Damaso, played by veteran star Tirso Cruz III.

“While we were doing the scene, we were not actually together. We had doubles because hindi po tugma yung mga (shoot) schedules namin dalawa ni Tito Pip… That was really one of the most challenging for me, with all the Tagalog words, all the Spanish, all the rage, all the anger, mixed emotions. It was technical, that’s why it was also memorable for me because I never thought the scene would turn out well,” she recalled.

As for the resident villain Padre Salvi, Juancho named his first scene with Dennis Trillo, who portrays male lead Crisostomo Ibarra, as his favorite.

“My first scene with Kuya Dennis (was) when he confronted me over the death of his father. It was such a long scene. It took two days to shoot and rehearse, FYI, because of a lot of things that happened on set.

“I have social anxiety when it comes to speaking to a lot of people, so medyo kinakabahan ako ‘pag ganun. Especially with Padre Salvi, lagi akong parang nag-sesermon sa tapat ng tao. Most of my scenes before, in past projects, dun ako usually maraming takes because I’d be so nervous that I couldn’t think clearly and remember my lines. But when we pulled off that scene, it was such a huge relief for me.

“And Kuya Dennis was very helpful. That was my first time to ever have a scene with him and it was special because nagtutuluan kami ng pawis hahaha!” he joked.

His other favorites are his scenes with his right-hand man Renato played by Kiel Rodriguez, “which I really find entertaining.”

The trending Dinggin Niyo Kami scene in Episode 70 was also “special in my heart,” said Juancho. In that scene, Ibarra took over the pulpit and delivered a rousing plea to fellow Filipinos to raise a howl against the abuses committed by Spanish authorities in their San Diego town.

“When I was in that scene, I had goosebumps. Of course, I couldn’t cry because the shouts were directed at me. But I became very emotional. Why? Because Filipinos really went through that — that kind of oppression and bullying. The depiction of that scene was beautiful, wherein the youth, women, teachers, rich, poor were standing up for the benefit of the country.”

For Andrea, it was her six-minute monologue that rendered a mother’s distress and descent to madness while searching for her missing sons Basilio and Crispin.

“I remember it was 3:30 a.m. at that time and we would shoot the whole day. I really told direk Zig, ‘di ako makahinga (I couldn’t breathe). Of all the big scenes I’ve done, it was my first time to feel like something was stuck in my throat na kahit anong inom ko, kahit anong hinga ako, something was still there.”

She laughingly recalled urging direk Zig to shoot her scene right away because the longer the wait, the bigger possibility she would “pass out”.

“I was really going to pass out because I was so nervous that I felt I couldn’t do it anymore,” she said.

Now looking back, Andrea was grateful for the trust and freedom that the director gave her to interpret the scene, adding that “people were just quiet and gave me an environment wherein I became open.”

“It aired for six minutes but we were there for 10 minutes. It was really an out-of-body experience. Nung nag-cut nga si direk, that was the only time I realized may mga lupa na pala ako sa bibig ko. It’s a great feeling for any actor to do such scenes,” Andrea said.

David’s most unforgettable scene was Fidel’s love confession for Klay, played by Barbie Forteza. He recalled, “Ang ganda ng shots. We even had 360 degree shots so alam mo yung pinaghirapan talaga ni direk Zig. Hindi siya pumapayag na ‘di maganda ang shots namin. Minsan tumatagal kami but he does that for us. And also it was such a long scene. It was six pages long with deep Tagalog.”

His other favorite was when Fidel courted Klay with a harana because “I really love singing,” he quipped of the scene that also turned out to be comical with his off-key delivery. His real singing voice, however, can be heard in the official theme song for his romantic scenes with Barbie, Kailangan Kita.

Meanwhile, the loveteam of Fidel and Klay — dubbed by fans as FiLay — is one of the show’s biggest “pop-culture” draws, according to the creative team.

“The chemistry (of FiLay), it really boils down to the script, and how it was written and directed, even the camera angles. And also (because of) Barbie, magaling siya na actress,” David said.

“Working alongside a good actress like Barbie, every other day (of taping), is a treat. The chemistry just comes out naturally if you have a great partner. Me, I’m just trying my best to keep up with Barbie and Dennis, with whom I share the most scenes. I’m learning a lot from them.”