GMA-7 IS HOSTING a presscon everyday to promote their new movie, “Overtime”, and new shows “Ismol Family”, “Marian”, “My BFF” and “Dading” that will be premiered one after the other. One of the new shows is “Yagit”, a revival of the hit 80s drama series about orphans that was filmed by Viva in 1984 as “Mga Batang Yagit” starring then top child actor Jaypee de Guzman, who’s now 36 and plays Janno Gibb’s best friend in “My BFF”. It was then created by former Sen. Eddie Ilarde and the late Jose Miranda Cruz (represented in the presscon by his son Lito Cruz). We’re not surprised that GMA is reviving this because they did a hit remake of “Mga Basang Sisiw” earlier. The new “Yagit” will be directed by Gina Alajar, who’ll conduct auditions to discover four new child stars to play the “mga batang yagit”: Josie (the group’s Ate), Elisa, Tomtom and Ding. They were able to track down the original child stars of the show and most of them now work in Japan.
So, if you have talented kids who want to audition, here’s the sked: June 20 (today) at SM Baliwag, June 21 at SM Novaliches, June 22 at KCC Mall at Gen. San, June 27 at SM Iloilo and SM Bacoor, June 28 at SM Cebu, June 29 at Magic Mall Urdaneta Pangasinan, June 29 at GMA Studio QC. Bring an NSO and photocopy of your kid’s birth certificate, photocopy of two valid IDS, one whole body picture and one close up.
“Yagit” will be the comeback vehicle of the recently widowed Wowie de Guzman. Also in the cast are LJ Reyes, Yasmien Kurdi, Rich Asuncion, Renz Fernandez, James Blanco, Kevin Santos, Joana Marie Tan, Maricris Garcia, Chariz Solomon, Buboy Villar and Ms. Raquel Villavicencio.
Former Sen. Eddie Ilarde, a pioneer of the original “Student Canteen” with Leila Benitez, was at the “Yagit” launch and he told us he’s now 80 years old. He certainly looks younger than his age. He still hosts his flagship radio show, “Kahapon Lamang”, on DZBB.