Makapiling Kang Muli

Makapiling Kang Muli
Also known as Together Again
Genre Action
Romance-drama,
Created by GMA Entertainment TV Group
Developed by Des Garbes - Severino
Written by Rona Sales
Jules Katanyag
John Kenneth de Leon
Directed by Ricky Davao
Creative director(s) Jun Lana
Starring Richard Gutierrez
Mark Anthony Fernandez
Carla Abellana
Sarah Lahbati
Theme music composer Ogie Alcasid
Opening theme "Hanggang Ngayon"
sung by Kyla & Mark Bautista
Composer(s) Ogie Alcasid
Country of origin Philippines
Original language(s) Filipino, Tagalog, English, Spanish
No. of episodes 70 episodes
Production
Executive producer(s) Michele R. Borja
Producer(s) Lilybeth G. Rasonable
Location(s) Laguna, Philippines
Batangas, Philippines
Ilocos, Philippines
Cinematography Joe Tutanes
Camera setup Multiple-camera setup
Running time 30-45 minutes
Release
Original network GMA Network
Picture format 480i NTSC
Original release June 4 (2012-06-04) – September 7, 2012 (2012-09-07)
External links
Website

Makapiling Kang Muli or Together Again (international title)[1] is Filipino drama series created and written by Des Garbes Severino, under the direction of Ricky Davao and produced by GMA Network. The series premiered on June 4, 2012 replacing Legacy on GMA Telebabad block and June 6, 2012 worldwide via GMA Pinoy TV.

This series (which original title was Rancho Paradiso and later changed to Makapiling Kang Muli or To Be With You Again in English) features Richard Gutierrez in the lead character, Carla Abellana, Mark Anthony Fernandez and Sarah Lahbati with veteran actors Phillip Salvador and Gloria Romero.[2][3][4][5]

The series is also one of the three new primetime shows of the network for the second quarter of 2012, along with Luna Blanca and One True Love.

The series is set in the fictional ranch called Rancho Paradiso and follows the lives of Martin Caballero (Gutierrez), Leilani Angeles (Abellana), Louie Valencia (Fernandez) and Graciela Montes (Lahbati), the four main characters of the story, which lives tangled by love, greed and deception. The story also unravels the grey areas of power, justice and love.

The series ended on September 7, 2012, it ran for fourteen weeks with a total of seventy episodes. Starting August 27, 2014 GMA Life TV airs its English-dubbed version worldwide.

Synopsis

Mara is the only daughter of the wealthy Soledad Silvestre, owner of one of the biggest ranches in the country, the Rancho Paradiso. Mara's good personality and stunning beauty is a sight to behold in the whole Paradiso, as men fall head over heels in love with her. But regardless of her countless suitors, she gives her heart to Emilio, a humble ranch worker. As expected, Soledad opposes their romance and even plan drastic schemes which eventually bring Emilio to the brink of death.

In order to keep Emilio safe and alive, Mara, with a heavy heart, succumbed to her evil mother's wishes; she abandoned the man she loves and married the arrogant Roman Valencia. Mara and Roman's hell-like marriage, however, bears a son they named Louie.

Years later, Mara and Emilio's paths cross again, and the undeniable love and yearn for each other spark. In spite of having a family of her own, Mara decides to follow her heart's desire and continues her illicit affair with Emilio. After some time, Roman discovers Mara’s infidelity and he directly gets involved in the death of his wife’s other man.

While Mara is left wallowing in grief, her woes are aggravated further when she finds out that she is pregnant with Emilio's child. She secretly manages to give birth to a beautiful baby boy. And to protect her son from the wrath of Roman and Soledad, she sacrifices motherhood and entrusts the poor baby to the care of Florentino, an old ranch worker and is considered as her second father. On the other hand, Florentino promises to raise the baby as his own grandson and gives him the name Martin.

Martin grows up to be a brave and God-fearing child. Due to an unexpected turn of events, Martin ends up working in Rancho Paradiso. There, he comes across with new people that will change the path of his life. He meets Mara, for whom he will feel an unexplainable closeness, unaware that a deeper bond may actually exists between them; Louie Valencia, Roman and Mara's son, the sole heir of Rancho Paradiso, a cruel man that will later prove to be his biggest foe; and then there is Leilani Angeles, the daughter of Atty. Serafin Angeles, the ranch's resident lawyer.

A special friendship blossoms between Martin and Leilani which eventually becomes a secret love for one another. Destiny plays a trick on them when a tragic accident happens at Rancho Paradiso, which causes the death of a number of people including Leilani's father. Leilani puts the blame on Martin's shoulder and she leaves the ranch to forget the miserable experience that happened to her family. Martin, on the other hand, feels the pain of his one true love, leaving.

During his hardest times, he meets Graciela Montes, Louie's girlfriend, and a secret love affair starts to flourish between them. Eventually, Martin realizes that it's not right for him to fall for his boss's girl, so he decides to avoid Graciela. Martin's gesture of avoiding her becomes noticeable. He's doing it because he doesn't want to appear as a relationship-wrecker and he doesn't want other people to have the wrong impression about Graciela. But upon seeing Louie treating Graciela as an object of lust and desire, pushing Martin to pursue her and to run away with her. Louie, out of anger, devised ways to sabotage Martin and Graciela's new found bliss. He gets Martin arrested for a fabricated crime. Martin is eventually convicted and is sentenced to serve a long time in prison. Here he meets Wesley, son of a famous crime lord, Amadeo Perez, who eventually helps them escape from prison. After saving their lives [in two different circumstances] and proving himself a valuable ally, Martin, became part of the syndicate that Amadeo runs. Returning the favor, Amadeo, helps him to exact revenge to those people who made his life miserable.

This sets the tone for a lifetime of vengeance and retribution as the strive for power, justice, money and love bind these characters to each other's lives.

Cast and characters

Main cast

Recurring cast

The series featured fourteen main characters with many other characters recurring throughout its run.

Production

The producer of the show hires the veteran and award-winning actor/director, Ricky Davao to handle the series. This television series is also Davao's second primetime directorial project under GMA Network. Prior to this series, Davao has been megged a string of shows in quick succession: Grazilda [as second unit director] (2010), Sisid (2011), Kung Aagawin Mo Ang Langit (2011) and Kokak (2011).[10] Davao is confident that the series can establish supremacy on primetime television as it boasts quality in terms of story and performance. He further stated:

"We're very proud of our work in this project. This is not a typical soap opera. The twists and turns in the plot and the character presentation will be enough to glue televiewers till the end. Everyone gave his best."
[11]

Casting

The series' producer cast two of the network's primetime royalties, Richard Gutierrez[12] and Carla Abellana[13] as Martin Caballero and Leilani Angeles, respectively, the two main protagonists of the series. The former expresses his gratitude on doing this project. For him, this drama is one of the biggest milestones in his career and a "something new" for him [the actor is associated with his top-rated fantasy-adventure series like Mulawin, Sugo, Captain Barbell, Lupin, Kamandag and Zorro] and for the audience.[14] According to Gutierrez, the entire casts prepared hard for this project and even underwent trainings and workshops before shooting the series.[15] On the other hand, Abellana expresses excitement as she embarks on a major project after renewing her contract with her mother network and working with Gutierrez [for the very first time] and some of the most respected stars in the industry.[16] She also differentiate herself to her character, stated that... her character's personality was a far cry from her own. It made it more difficult for her to flesh out the persona of a woman who fights back and snaps in anger when wronged, because those aren't knee-jerk reactions for her in real life. However, she work hard to portray the role, as she doesn't want to embarrass her co-stars.[17]

Meanwhile, veteran and award-winning actress, Gloria Romero plays the main villainess, Señora Soledad Silvestre.[18] It is her first time to do an "anti-hero" role, and said that the role is very different from her goody-good role in the successful and highly rated drama series Munting Heredera, whom she recently completed. She stated... "When they gave me the role as Senyora Soledad, I immediately liked it! It is far from other roles I did in my past television series. I said, yes [to them] quickly! It is a huge challenge for me. I love these kind of roles", she added.[19]

Comedian John Lapus plays support to Gutierrez, which he doesn't really mind even after recently receiving his second Actor of the Year award from the Guillermo Mendoza Scholarship Foundation [2012]. He further stated:

"I really don't mind playing a supporting role especially if the actor I am supporting is Richard. I feel so blessed to be working with him this time. I'm very excited, too, because aside from the usual comedy that I do in the past series I was in, my character in Makapiling Kang Muli has a major role in the development of the story's plot and the resolution of one of its main conflicts. Richard is a very generous actor and I am truly motivated in every scene that we do together."
[20]

On director Ricky Davao, it is his first time to direct most of the lead stars of the series except for Sarah Lahbati, whom he previously handled in the afternoon drama-fantasy series, Kokak. Here, however, Lahbati is portraying someone totally different from her shy-girl screen persona. She's now playing an assertive seductress who tries to steal Gutierrez's character away from his leading lady [Abellana]. Davao added... "The good thing about Sarah is that she knows what she wants. And she works hard."[21]

On his strategy in handling big stars like Gutierrez and Abellana, the director said that he just talk to them and get to know their likes, dislikes, fears, limitations, strengths and weaknesses as actors. He further stated that he is impressed by Abellana's growth as an actress. He worked with her as co-star in the afternoon soap Kung Aagawin Mo Ang Langit. "She has matured a lot from her first soap, Rosalinda", he added.[22]

Filming

The series is set on the sweeping acres of a rustic ranch fictionally called "Rancho Paradiso", but which in reality is a huge hacienda in Calatagan, Batangas owned by the prominent Zobel clan, as well as, the well-trained polo horses are owned by the Zobels. The main protagonist of the series, Richard Gutierrez explained the production's choice of location, said that... "Our story revolves around supposedly one of the biggest ranches in the Philippines. And I guess this baluarte of the Zobels is one of the biggest haciendas we have, so it's a perfect match".[23] The production started taping on May 7, 2012 with the series' creator, Des Garbes Severino, who also served as the head writer, creative director, Jun Lana, Michele Borja as the executive producer of the show, and Lilybeth Rasonable headed as the over-all in charge of the production.[24]

Music

The song "Hanggang Ngayon" (lit. Until Now) is used as the series' theme song. It was written and composed by award-winning singer/songwriter Ogie Alcasid, re-arranged by Edward Mitra for the show, and interpreted by Mark Bautista and Kyla. The song's lyrics tell of a person confessing his/her unrequited love for his/her past flame and wishing for another chance of love.

The show uses three versions of the song: the duet version, the male solo and the female solo [both done in acoustic style] versions, also performed by Mark and Kyla.

Originally sung by Ogie Alcasid and Regine Velasquez and first used as soundtrack of the 2002 romantic flick Ikaw Lamang, Hanggan Ngayon (lit. Still You, Until Now) which starred Velasquez opposite Richard Gomez. The said film was directed by Yam Laranas and produced and released by VIVA Films.[25]

The song is also part of Alcasid's Greatest Hits album and Velasquez’s silver anniversary album, entitled Regine, Duets Silver Series, released on 2005 and 2006 respectively, by VIVA Records.[26][27] On 2007, GMA Network used the Alcasid-Velasquez version of the song as the theme for Korean series, Love Story in Harvard.

Reception

Although the series gathered a modest 24% rating during its premiere telecast [according to AGB Neilsen Mega Manila Household rating, June 4, 2012] and failed to beat its counterpart program in ABS-CBN,[28] Makapiling Kang Muli started to gain strength in ratings game on its 40th episode [July 27, 2012, AGB Neilsen Household rating] where it gathered 26% ratings, tied with its strict competition, Walang Hanggan.[29] The show's winning streak continues as it became the number 1 most-watched primetime television series, both in Mega Manila and NUTAM [dated August 3, 2012], on its 45th episode, where it gathered 26.5% rating, beating its counterpart show with 25.7% rating.[30]

The show also received positive reviews both from viewers and critics.[31] Blog writer, Nestor Silvestre complimented the series on its high production value and the ensemble's acting. "The scenes in the Jailhouse with Richard were also beyond my expectations, they effortlessly pulled off fight scenes, dangerous motorcycle stunts, bombings and blasting and most especially the camera shots really gave me the feeling that I was like in a movie house watching a legit action movie"...he stated.[32]

See also

External links

References

  1. http://www.worldscreen.com/worldscreenings/screening/703
  2. "Entertainment - Home of Kapuso shows and stars". GMANetwork.com. Retrieved 2012-04-12.
  3. "Entertainment - Home of Kapuso shows and stars". GMANetwork.com. Retrieved 2012-04-12.
  4. "Abante-Tonite Online | Showbiz". Abante-tonite.com. Retrieved 2012-04-12.
  5. "Abante Online | Entertainment". Abante.com.ph. 2012-03-07. Retrieved 2012-04-12.
  6. PEP.ph. "Richard Gutierrez wants to stay away from fantasy themes this 2012; looks forward to doing heavy drama | PEP.ph: The Number One Site for Philippine Showbiz". PEP.ph. Retrieved 2012-04-12.
  7. PEP.ph. "Sarah Lahbati likes to compete with herself; not in a hurry to fall in love | PEP.ph: The Number One Site for Philippine Showbiz". PEP.ph. Retrieved 2012-04-12.
  8. PEP.ph. "Carla Abellana on working again with boyfriend Geoff Eigenmann: "Parang huwag muna. Huwag muna." | PEP.ph: The Number One Site for Philippine Showbiz". PEP.ph. Retrieved 2012-04-12.
  9. PEP.ph. "Movie queen Gloria Romero reunites with "old friends" in Rancho Paradiso; gets to work with grandson of Sampaguita contemporaries in Just One Summer | PEP.ph: The Number One Site for Philippine Showbiz". PEP.ph. Retrieved 2012-04-12.
  10. http://entertainment.inquirer.net/47601/what-makes-direk-ricky-tick
  11. http://www.philstar.com/Article.aspx?articleId=813777&publicationSubCategoryId=
  12. http://www.philstar.com/Article.aspx?articleId=813777&publicationSubCategoryId=
  13. http://www.sunstar.com.ph/manila/entertainment/2012/05/31/carla-abellana-still-gma-7-224383
  14. http://www.tempo.com.ph/2012/chard-is-back-on-primetime/
  15. http://www.tempo.com.ph/2012/richard-returns-to-primetime-drama/
  16. http://www.philstar.com/Article.aspx?publicationSubCategoryId=70&articleId=812861
  17. http://www.philstar.com/Article.aspx?articleId=815481&publicationSubCategoryId=51
  18. http://www.pep.ph/news/33366/movie-queen-gloria-romero-reunites-with-old-friends-in-rancho-paradiso-gets-to-work-with-grandson-of-sampaguita-contemporaries-in-just-one-summer
  19. http://www.pep.ph/news/34341/gloria-romero-plays-a-villainess-in-a-teleserye-for-the-first-time
  20. http://www.philstar.com/Article.aspx?articleId=812839&publicationSubCategoryId=
  21. http://entertainment.inquirer.net/47601/what-makes-direk-ricky-tick
  22. http://entertainment.inquirer.net/47601/what-makes-direk-ricky-tick
  23. http://www.philstar.com/Article.aspx?articleId=815481&publicationSubCategoryId=51
  24. http://www.gmanetwork.com/entertainment/shows/showbizcentral/videos/2012-04-08/19243/Showbiz-Central-Silipin-ang-first-taping-day-ng-Makapiling-Kang-Muli
  25. http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0312797/
  26. https://itunes.apple.com/us/album/hanggang-ngayon/id419961374?i=419961600&ign-mpt=uo%3D4
  27. https://itunes.apple.com/us/album/hanggang-ngayon/id421070948?i=421070975&ign-mpt=uo%3D4
  28. http://www.pep.ph/news/34383/agb-nielsen-mega-manila-household-ratings-june-1-4-eat-bulaga-and-walang-hanggan-still-on-top-of-weekday-ratings
  29. http://www.philstar.com/Article.aspx?articleId=834113&publicationSubCategoryId=96
  30. http://www.pep.ph/guide/tv-ratings/
  31. http://www.journal.com.ph/index.php/entertainment/showbiz-news/31471-ate-vi-admits-having-dollar-accounts
  32. http://lionheartv.net/2012/06/tv-review-makapiling-kang-muli-fresh.html
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