Iza is now a swan

I still remember the day, April 5, 1994. It was the wedding of Arnel Natividad, director of ABS-CBN programs (Showbiz Lingo and, later, Cristy Perminute) and Mildred Solidum, executive producer of GMA 7 shows. (So who says that ABS-CBN and GMA 7 people can’t get along? Why, some even marry each other!)

After the church rites at the Manila Cathedral, the couple and the entire wedding party sped off to the Coconut Palace for the reception – with a few others driving back to Intramuros a couple of hours later for the wedding, this time of Tessie Tomas to Roger Pulin.

At the Coconut Palace reception of Arnel and Mildred, the outdoor setup was simply breathtaking and perfect up to the last detail – until it started to rain just when the guests were filing in. The rain was so hard that the beautifully decorated tables had to be moved into the inner covered function rooms several steps away. Goodbye, production design.

Although it broke the couples’ hearts to see the beautiful setup torn apart (it would have been perfect with the sunset as backdrop), the guests still enjoyed themselves with the great food and colorful chatter.

At my table sat director Al Quinn, TV producer Tessie Celestino, director Ding Bolanos and Lito Calzado, who came with his 11-year old daughter.

Since very few owned mobile phones and texting didn’t come until half a decade later, our conversation was uninterrupted – until we realized that something was wrong with Lito Calzado at one side of the table. He was on the phone, but he wasn’t saying a word. He was just whimpering and we all panicked because we thought he was going to have a heart attack. Then, he stood up and ran outside. "What happened?" we all asked his daughter. Very calmly, she answered, "Namatay daw ’yung nanay." Then, with the poise and regal hearing of a sultana, she gathered her things, stood up and excused herself to follow her father outside.

Immediately, we made plans to go to the wake. Tessie Celestino knew that Lito Calzado had a funeral plan with Funeraria Paz. Surely, his mother’s remains would be brought there. I don’t know if they went to Funeraria Paz that evening. I was supposed to, but cancelled at the last minute because of another commitment. Good thing I did because the following day, I got a frantic call from Tessie Celestino telling me not to proceed to the funeral parlor. Lito Calzado’s mother wasn’t really dead yet. She was just rushed to the hospital and Lito was given the wrong information by the people in his home.

Oh, how we wanted to kick ourselves in the head for panicking unnecessarily. And yes some of us had already ordered wreaths.

Lito’s mother died eventually, but our condolences – to our great embarrassment – came a bit quite early.

Looking back, the only one in that table acting with dignity and utmost composure when the false announcement about the death of Lito Calzado’s mother came was his 11-year old daughter. She put us all adults to shame.

Eight years later it came to my attention that one of Lito Calzado’s kids had entered show business. That didn’t really come as a surprise since Lito is still active in show business. (His peak was in the early ‘70s when he was the most popular choreographer in the world of entertainment.)

What was a surprise was the fact that the kid turned out to be divinely beautiful. Now, Lito isn’t exactly bad looking. But the kid is extraordinarily pretty with high cheekbones and classic features. (The late mother, I found out, was of foreign stock – Irish-Spanish – and this must have blended perfectly with Lito’s very Pinoy genes.) Her name is Iza Calzado and one look at her, I gave Urian casting director Jojo Gabinete my go-signal for her to become a presenter in last year’s Manunuri awards night.

A few weeks ago, I read in this paper Mario Bautista’s story on Iza Calzado and how she was so chubby as a kid. Chubby? Was Iza Calzado that chubby kid in that unforgettable wedding? She confirmed this to me recently when she went to Startalk as part of the promo blitz of her new soap opera on GMA 7, Te Amo (with Argentine import Segundo Cernadas). In spite of her confirmation, I still can’t believe that a roly-poly kid like that could turn out into a goddess of beauty. But obviously she did. And now, she is the star of her own soap opera and she is doing so well in it.

I have been watching Te Amo since the first episode (the pilot duplicated the high ratings of Starstruck) and I’ve now found myself glued to it. The show has drama (but not very heavy – just the right mix) and comedy, too (Iza has excellent rapport with Wilma Doesnt, who has great comic flair).

But what makes Te Amo interesting viewing is its attempt to localize and fit into a rural setting some of our classic fairy tales – and how it succeeds beautifully. There is a shade of Cinderella, for instance, in her relationship with her stepmother, Elizabeth Oropesa, and stepsister, Jennifer Sevilla. And when Segundo Cernadas is washed ashore and is kissed by Iza, we remember The Little Mermaid. Of course, there are really no great moments on television. But the way these scenes are executed looks so refreshingly and so wonderfully unpretentious, it is not surprising anymore that this series is starting to develop a large following among local viewers.

And then, of course, there is the charisma of Iza Calzado, a living proof that fairy tales do come true.

After all, wasn’t she the ugly, er, chubby duckling who turned into a swan?