As yet, he hasn’t risen too high to decline an interview at the Barn, a restaurant some distance away from the Ateneo, where he went to school; and it is that winsome smile which he often flashed in campus that we receive when he steps in, a figure in whose presence "tall, dark, and handsome" ceases to be a cliché. (There is an alternative epithet in one of G. B. Shaw’s plays, which Alfred has yet to star in: "my chocolate cream soldier.") Felicitations are exchanged, and soon my friend Trina remarks how convincing he was as a macho dancer. He protests that he could have been better if he had had more time to work out (he was chosen for the part just two weeks before shooting began). He has clearly bulked up since then, and it is more than a pound of flesh stretching the fabric of his shirt.
He must have researched the role, because there is nothing in the Ateneo curriculum that could have prepared him for dancing in a G-string, except perhaps a perverse interpretation of the school’s mission statement: "The goal of an Ateneo education is to train men for others ..."
"I went to a gay bar to observe," he says. "Tapos, nagpaturo ako sa macho dancer." The challenge, he adds, was what attracted him to the role; "it’s a role where you either make it or break it."
Made it he has. His performance won him a Best Supporting Actor nomination at the last film festival. This, despite the fact that acting wasn’t part of the plan (his parents had wanted him to go to study law), nor does it run in the immediate family (two of his siblings are in the corporate world and one other is going to law school). At the Ateneo, he was just Alfie ("It could have been ‘Edong’ or ‘Paquing,’ but ‘Alfie’ was my dad’s favorite song"), one of many students taking up management economics.
There were some hints, however, that he might join the entertainment business. He remembers watching Hihintayin Kita sa Langit in high school and being deeply moved ("Astig ito"). In grade school, he joined a number of elocution contests and was a member of the Ateneo boys’ choir. Then, there were the clan reunions in Bulacan. "I would sing, I would recite a poem, I would dance ..."
"You did balagtasan?"
"Mahirap yata ang balagtasan ..."
Acting itself came later, in a college English class taught by writer Cyan Abad. Alfred got the lead role in a class play (The Valiant) about a character awaiting execution. "When I was delivering the last monologue," Alfred says, "’pag tingin ko, two girls in the audience were crying." It was then that his friend Johan, a member of the Tanghalang Ateneo (T. A.), suggested he join the company.
He did, and now he credits his self-discipline to the holistic training he got there, supervised by director Ricky Abad. "We all helped each other–from sweeping the floor to hammering the set, to acting, to production management. I experienced all of it, from being praised to being shouted at. Minumura ka na for not showing up."
It has also made him appreciate professionalism among his peers, specially director Jeff Jeturian "He’s the first to arrive and the last to leave," he recalls. "Shooting namin lasted till 6, 7 a.m. Parang di mo na kaya, but when you see the director, he’s really the one working the hardest. We had a term nga. ‘Si direk, napoposes na naman.’ That scene where I got out of the shower, we shot that for three or four hours."
"Weren’t you naked?"
"I was."
"Baka he just wanted to look at you..."
He takes the joke well, and we suggest that stripping before the camera was made easier by one of his T. A. experiences. We remember him playing Orsino in a Filipino adaptation of Twelfth Night, his first major role. In the opening scene, he steps out of a tub, half-naked and dripping wet, reciting, "Ang musika bumubusog sa pag-ibig..."
Alfred confesses not knowing the significance of the part. "I knew Shakespeare," he says, "but I didn’t know how great he was back then. The actors told me, ‘You got Orsino. Maganda ang role na ‘yan.’I was, like, ‘Ah, talaga?’When I read the script, nahirapan na ako..."
"Do you want to play King Lear?"
"King Lear? Zeneida Amador can do that, okey na ’yun."
"Do you have a dream role?"
"Romeo sana, but I’m too old."
"Hamlet na lang. He’s 30."
"Puwede," he says. Then he intones, "‘Is this a dagger I see before me?’"
"But that’s Macbeth!"
"Macbeth ba ’yun? Ano’yung kay Hamlet? ‘To be or not....’"
It isn’t his first time to stumble over Shakespeare. In one performance of Twelfth Night, he recalls, the words came out not "trippingly on the tongue" (per Hamlet’s advice) but they merely tripped out of his mouth. The Tagalog is Rolando Tinio’s, and it was therefore elegant, but also a bit of a tongue twister, even for a Bulakeño such as Alfred. "Na niluluklukan sa ngalan ng kanyang panginoon" was the phrase.
"Na nilukluklukluk-an. I got stuck there, parang nag-re-rewind, para akong pirated CD. Luklukluk..."
The transition from stage to screen came in his senior year. He was preparing for a major role in When the Purple Settles by Francis Tanglao Aguas and was also working as a production manager of La vida es sueño, when there came the audition for Star Search. He got accepted to play Dino in Pangako sa Iyo, and made the choice, a tough one, for television.
The work was hectic ("Sa TV they give you the script 2 a.m. Tapos, you tape 8 a.m... . Sometimes ’yung script dumarating na lang sa set. It gives you little time to prepare"), but he says he doesn’t regret the choice. "During that time, they’d run to me and ask for autographs. Soap opera kasi. ... People remember me for that role."
"Now they know you as Joebert."
"Yeah, Joebert Alfred Vargas."
After doing another soap, however, he was in showbiz limbo. He emceed a number of out-of-town shows, which were "big money but little exposure," guest-starred in Maalaala Mo Kaya, and hosted a cultural program. But the major offers stopped coming ("It’s like being a tennis player without a tennis racquet or a tennis ball").
"But you weren’t actively looking for roles," my friend interjects.
"I was actively waiting!"
The chance to star in Bridal Shower came like the timely dénouement of a comedy. "I was in Friday’s on Tomas Morato to meet with my T. A. friends," he recounts. "Robbie Tan (the producer) was in another table. Jeffrey Jeturian and some other people were talking about the movie. I walked over to them–one of them knew me–to say hi. After the meal, Robbie Tan approached me .... It’s classic."
Alfred hopes to be a serious movie actor ("Think Cesar Montano or Albert Martinez"). He has yet to be seriously tested in that arena, and truth to tell, he doesn’t register as powerfully on screen as he does on stage or in person. With any luck, however, given his talent and determination, the Philippine showbiz world will soon want to know all about Alfie.