Maria Clara at Ibarra (transl. Maria Clara and Ibarra) is a Philippine television drama fantasy series broadcast by GMA Network. The series is based on the novels Noli Me Tángere and El Filibusterismo by José Rizal. Directed by Zig Dulay, it stars Barbie Forteza, Julie Anne San Jose and Dennis Trillo. It follows Klay Infantes, a Gen-Z nursing student who gets transported into the setting of Noli Me Tangere and El Filibusterismo. The series premiered on October 3, 2022, on the network's Telebabad line up. The series concluded on February 24, 2023, with a total of 105 episodes.
The series is streaming online on YouTube and Netflix.
Contents
Cast and characters
Lead cast
Supporting cast
Development
The show took three years in production and was pitched as early as September 2020, beginning around August to October 2019, based on the novels Noli Me Tángere and El filibusterismo. According to GMA Network's vice president for drama, Cheryl Ching-Sy, it was initially conceptualized by Annette Gozon - the network's senior vice president - as an adaptation of the novels around March 2019. Eventually, the creative team added a Gen Z character into the story to grab the attention of the young audiences. Head writer Suzette Doctolero was later brought in to develop the concept as "Noli Me Tángere with a modern twist". Although pre-production was delayed in 2020 when the COVID-19 pandemic struck the Philippines, it was nearly completed by early 2022.
It was slated to run for 20 weeks, from October 2022 to February 2023. Before its pilot week, supervising producer Helen Rose Sese mentioned that a second season was planned should the series become a hit.
With most of the story being set in 19th century Philippines during the Spanish colonial period, the show consulted historians Ramon Guillermo and Gonzalo Campoamor II for its set and costume design as well as the script. The 19th century scenes were filmed in multiple locations across Ilocos, Batangas, Laguna, Bulacan, Tanay, and Pampanga. Scenes including the exterior of the vintage houses were mostly shot in Ilocos Norte and Ilocos Sur, particularly in Sarrat, Santa Maria, Sitio Remedios, and Calle Crisólogo. The interior of Kapitan Tiago's house was shot in Taal, Batangas. The production design team built a bahay kubo to film scenes in Sisa's house, using vintage photos of old huts as references. While filming at Calle Crisólogo, the crew were caught up in the 2022 Luzon earthquake and production was temporarily halted.
Casting
On July 8, 2022, it was announced that Barbie Forteza, Dennis Trillo, and Julie Anne San Jose were cast in an upcoming historical portal fantasy drama based on José Rizal's novels. The rest of the supporting cast was announced on August 3, which was followed by the first teaser on September 13.
On January 16, 2023, the cast for the new characters in the El filibusterismo arc was announced, which included Khalil Ramos, Pauline Mendoza, Kim de Leon and Julia Pascual.
Production
Principal photography commenced in August 2022. Filming concluded on February 4, 2023.
Costumes
Over 200 costumes were created for the series, including the pañuelo and traje de mestiza. The costumes were designed by Janra Raroque, Roko Arceo and Mikaella Borinaga. According to Raroque, seventy percent of the series' preparation went into researching for the production design, which was supervised by Gino Gonzales, the author of the book Fashionable Filipinas. During the initial costume concept designing, they focused on historical accuracy, avoiding neon colors and traveling to Lumban and Bulacan to find piña fabric manufacturers and designers respectively. Due to the rarity of expert Filipino costume designers in pre-colonial and Spanish period costumes, the stylists faced difficulties in searching for those in menswear clothes and jewelries. The character Elias's kattukong or tabungaw was crafted by Ilocano hatter Teofilo Garcia; they also had to find craftsmen specializing in gold tamburin and repoussé.
Each cast member had to wear multiple layers of clothing for their costumes - Trillo had to wear at least three layers. San Jose wore hair extensions to keep her hair styled up. The folds on Forteza's costumes change depending on the year, from the late 1860s to the early 1870s. San Jose and Forteza also learned the art of Abaniko for the series.
Reception
Ratings
According to AGB Nielsen Philippines' Nationwide Urban Television Audience Measurement People in television homes, the pilot episode of Maria Clara & Ibarra earned a 15.1% rating. The final episode scored a 14.3% rating.
Critical response
The cast has also received good reviews for their acting, including Juancho Triviño. Triviño would later receive his first acting award nomination for his role at the 3rd Annual TAG Awards Chicago. Journalist Ricky Gallardo commended Barbie Forteza, who plays the main protagonist Klay, for evolving from "a dollish young star to a delightfully divine actress", regarding her as the brightest star of the season. Andrea Torres, who plays Sisa, received positive reception for her depiction of the character during a six-minute scene of her descent into insanity. Dennis Trillo, the actor for one of the show's main character and Noli Me Tangere's main protagonist Crisostomo Ibarra, was also applauded for his delivery of the character's speech on patriotism in the series' seventieth episode.
Historian Xiao Chua stated the series' adaptation of Rizal's works despite some departure from the original novels, commending the addition of Klay as a character that "gives excitement." In a column for The Manila Times, he also described Torres's portrayal of Sisa as a performance that "made [him] cry so much" and "[feel] her pain and her love, [which] is what the founders of the nation felt reading Rizal for the first time."
Since its release, there has been a growing interest in the Noli Me Tángere and El filibusterismo novels among Filipino teachers and students.
Due to its success, the series was extended for more episodes, airing its final episode from February 17 to February 24, 2023.