Did Richard know he would be Sandrino?

Long before he was trapped for the role of Sandrino, the vampire supremo in the ABS-CBN thriller-series La Luna Sangre, Richard Gutierrez must have an intuition that he would be “it.”

“I think so,” said Tempo’s Ronald Constantino who sent Funfare a photo of Richard taken when he was the unchallenged Primetime King of GMA (Mulawin, Sugo, Zorro, Captain Barbell, Kamandag, Asero, etc.) “Look closely at the photo. Isn’t Richard vampire-like in his pose?”

I think so, too. In the TV series also starring Daniel Padilla and Kathryn Bernardo, Richard proves very effective and very convincing as a vampire. The series marks his TV reunion with Angel Locsin with whom he starred in GMA shows and a few movies (Let The Love Begin, directed by Mac Alejandre).

Ronald mentioned that Richard and Angel will be reuniting on the big screen in a Star Cinema movie (tentatively titled Wife Husband Wife), with Angelica Panganiban as co-star.

Enough already!!!

I also agree with Ronald that there are just too many beauty contests and award-giving bodies. A dime a dozen.

Aside from the major international pageants (Miss World, Miss Universe, Miss International) and the original local searches (Bb. Pilipinas and Mutya ng Pilipinas, among them), so many others have cropped up that beauty-watchers are losing count. There’s a Miss This and Miss That, Miss Whatever and Miss Whoever, so don’t be surprised if our group will come up with, don’t look now, a Miss Port Area pageant. Even searches for male beauty pageants have mushroomed.

Aside from FAMAS, Urian, FAP, PMPC Star Awards (for Movies/TV), more and more award-giving bodies are coming up with every school now having its own annual selection. It has become a free-for-all, leaving people confused which one is credible and which is not. Don’t be surprised if our group will come up with our own awards.

Why do these award-giving bodies thrive? Simple: showbiz denizens are gullible and they jump at every chance to be “recognized,” no matter how questionable the source is.

Now, Ronald, shouldn’t there be a law against the proliferation of beauty contests and award-giving bodies?

Atlantis has new prexy

Atlantis Theatrical Entertainment Group (ATEG), the theater company that presented such acclaimed musicals as Jersey Boys, Bridges of Madison County, Shrek and this year, the successful Fun Home and Kinky Boots, has a new president on board.

Lawyer Dan Albert de Padua (photo) assumed the new position last June, after erstwhile president Bobby Barreiro left the company to join ABS-CBN. The latter now sits as head of ABS-CBN’s Integrated Events and Customer Engagement.

Dan and Bobby go a long way back in the TV industry. They previously worked together at GMA 7, then moved to TV5 where Bobby was the former chief operating officer and executive vice president and Dan was senior vice president and head of programming. Dan also wrote an opinion column for Business Mirror.

With his new job as president of Atlantis, Dan has a busy calendar ahead of him, especially for 2018. This early, he is set to leave for New York to watch and scout for new musicals in Broadway that Atlantis intends to produce next year. Dan will join Atlantis resident director Bobby Garcia in determining what musical they will eventually bid to secure the rights and stage in Manila.

Meanwhile, Atlantis’ forthcoming production is Roald Dahl’s Matilda the Musical, to be staged at Meralco Theater from Nov. 10 to Dec. 10. Alternating in the title role are young performers Telesa “Esang” de Torres, Felicity Kyle Napuli and Uma Martin.

This early, Atlantis has been reportedly receiving numerous inquiries about the exact dates of performances of 10-year-old Esang, who is apparently getting the strongest feedback among the talents of Matilda the Musical. Esang was a finalist in The Voice Kids Season 2 of ABS-CBN. She made her theater debut last year as the young Cosette in Les Miserables, staged in Manila and Singapore.

Felicity and Uma were seen in A Little Princess. Another young talent to watch out for in Matilda the Musical is Nicole Chien, the daughter of Lea Salonga. Nicole will be making her theater debut as Alice, one of the students in the school.

Interestingly, Jamie Wilson will play the cruel headmistress Miss Trunchbull, who bullies and terrorizes the children, especially Matilda.

(E-mail reactions at [email protected]. For more updates, photos and videos, visit www.philstar.com/funfare or follow me on Instagram @therealrickylo.)

Flashback Friday Remember Eva Vivar, the ’70s singer with kinky hair that reached her buttocks? She’s the white-haired lady with Susan Roces in the RiteMED TV commercial (right), sent to Funfare by a reader who requested not to be identified. Another reader sent a photo of Gloria Romero in a print ad for Coca-Cola (‘Nothing is so Refreshing’).