A grand Kapuso event at World Trade Center

GMA Network’s celebration of its 56th anniversary via a successful day-long event dubbed as Fantastic 56: The GMA Anniversary Special at the World Trade Center on July 9 proved to be a memorable affair not just for the thousands of fans who flocked to the venue to see their favorite Kapuso stars up close but also to the millions of viewers who were treated to a line-up of special presentations, musical extravaganza and fantastic prizes.

With the World Trade Center gates opening as early as 8 a.m., fans were greeted with several concept booths at the lobby. Costumes used in their favorite GMA telefantasyas were displayed and available for picture taking. Medical services were also offered in the booth of the Kapuso Foundation as well as other services in the other program booths, manned by no less than Kapuso stars themselves.

By noontime, the World Trade Center boomed with a musical intensity like no other as SOP aired live the culmination of SOP Pasiklaban: The Grand Battle of Pinoy Bands. S Files also held its live episode at the World Trade Center with its special episode entitled 8-Ternity: The S Files 8th Anniversary Special where a collection of eight unforgettable showbiz stories were featured.

In line with its eighth anniversary celebration, S Files also gave away special prizes to eight lucky winners among the World Trade Center audience and eight from TV viewers.

At night, excitement rose as the World Trade Center crowd grew thicker in anticipation of the three-hour musical extravaganza featuring the rare gathering of GMA’s biggest stars. TV viewers at home also witnessed the star-studded presentation as it aired on GMA’s SNBO timeslot on the same night.

The star-studded musical special opened with a song number of Regine Velasquez with the stars of GMA’s top-rating Telebabad primetime block. What followed was a fitting tribute to the Kili-TV block, tracing the birth of its long-running comedy show and how they initiated GMA Network’s claim to the No. 1 spot. This was topped by a hilarious spoof of a beauty pageant – Binibining Fantastic 2006 – featuring Joey de Leon as the "mistress of ceremonies" and gorgeous crosS dressing Gian Carlos, Rainier Castillo, Paolo Ballesteros, Keempee De Leon, Antonio Aquitania and Wendell Ramos as contestants. The lovable "ladies" were also serenaded by Bearwin Meily, Anjo Yllana, Raymart Santiago, Benjie Paras, Joey Marquez and Richard Gomez.

Viewers also witnessed the rare ballroom dance number of Mel Tiangco with Angel Locsin, Pia Guanio and Iza Calzado. Next, sexy bodies bared in the energized song number of Janno Gibbs and K Brosas alongside the steamy dance performances of Alfred Vargas, Polo Ravales, Jake Cuenca, Justin Cuyugan, Ara Mina, Francine Prieto, Katrina Halili and Maureen Larrazabal.

After the wacky VTR of Arnell Ignacio on his successful comeback as gameshow host of Now Na! on QTV 11, GMA 7’s sister station, Lani Mercado, Manilyn Reynes, Julia Clarete, Tanya Garcia and Wilma Doesnt represented QTV with their special dance number. Janno Gibbs and Ogie Alcasid also rendered a nostalgic medley of the most-loved theme songs of GMA’s popular Asianovelas. The StarStruck batches also performed with Sis hosts Janice and Gelli de Belen and Carmina Villarroel along with Kili-TV and Telebabad luminaries.

Personifying the growing coverage of GMA all over the world via its international channel GMA Pinoy TV, Jolina Magdangal performed a medley of signature Pinoy songs with the South Border and Jay-R. GMA Records, the recording arm of GMA Network, was also represented by its recording artists Jolina Magdangal, Jennylyn Mercado, Yasmien Kurdi, Jonalyn Viray, BMC (Brenan Espartinez, Michael Anthony Garcia, Charmaine Piamonte), with Pinoy Pop Superstar Year 2 grand champion Gerald Santos and co-finalists Aicelle Santos, Harry Santos and Irra Cenina.

A special tribute was also given to the pillars of GMA, with a medley of poignant songs performed by Lani Mercado, Jackie Lou Blanco and Jean Garcia to the Master Showman German Moreno; Dennis Trillo to Eddie Garcia; Keempee de Leon to his father, Joey de Leon and Wency Cornejo to his mother, Mel Tiangco.

GMA also gave away fantastic cash prizes amounting to almost half a million pesos during the special anniversary presentation, with seven lucky texters winning P56,000 each and one very lucky texter bagging the grand prize of P100,000.