CELEBRITY REUNIONS THAT HAPPENED IN LOCKDOWN, PART 2
WITH ever busy lives, celebrities rarely get to touch base with longtime friends and colleagues. But with Covid-19 quarantines all around the world, these poPULAR GROUPS fiNALLY got to catch up.
Smokey Mountain
Members of ‘90s group Smokey Mountain and National Artist for Music Ryan Cayabyab held an online reunion for a cause on May 3 to raise funds for communities affected by the pandemic.
Dubbed “Bayanihan Musikahan,” Cayabyab initiated the musical event over ABS- CBN’s online portals, which brought together erstwhile teen singers Tony Lambino, Jeffrey Hidalgo, Geneva Cruz, James Coronel, Chedi Vergara, Shar Santos, Jayson Angangan and Anna Fegi.
Coinciding with Smokey Mountain’s 30th anniversary this year, the group eagerly performed three of their biggest hits, namely “Da Coconut Nut,” “Paraiso” and “Better World.”
Smokey Mountain’s last reunion happened almost a decade ago when they performed an original song “I Feel What You Feel” in 2011, dedicated to the victims of the catastrophic tsunami in Japan.
‘ That’s Entertainment’
Loveteams of ‘80s teen variety show on GMA Network, “That’s Entertainment,” became a hit on social media almost three decades later when they posted a feel-good video dubbed “That’s Quarantainment.”
Janno Gibbs asked co-stars Manilyn Reynes, Sheryl Cruz, Tina Paner, Romnick Sarmenta, Monching Gutierrez and Keempee de
Leon to sing Starship’s “Nothing’s Gonna Stop Us Now” for the four-minuter with clips gathered from each of their homes.
In his Instagram caption, Gibbs said, “This quarantine has given us all a chance to re-connect w/ old friends. So I invited some of mine for this and they all came through! Here’s to all of us who get by with a little help from our friends.”
That’s Entertainment was the brainchild of the late Master Showman German Moreno, which debuted in 1986. The long running program is credited for launching the career of many stars during the late ‘80s and ‘90s.
Back then, Reynes was paired with Gibbs and de Leon for TV and movie projects; . Cruz with Sarmienta; and Paner with Monching. The girls were the biggest young actresses of their time and also had a singing group dubbed The Triplets.
‘High School Musical’
Futher away, the original cast members of Disney’s hit show “High School Musical” finally reunited amid the pandemic 12 years since the show ended. Featured from their homes, they were featured on American channel ABC’s “The
Disney Family Singalong” special, hosted by Ryan Seacrest.
Main stars Vanessa Hudgens, Ashley Tisdale, Corbin Bleu, Lucas Grabeel, Monique Coleman and director Kenny Ortega sang the show’s famous song “We’re All In This Together” via Zoom. Zac Efron also joined the fun but was unable to sing along because of technical difficulty. Once his signal was back though, he shared a heartfelt message of hope to fans as he wished everyone to stay safe and healthy.
“We couldn’t reach Zac until late but when we did, he immediately jumped in, of course,” Ortega said in an interview with online website Deadline following the reunion.
“I wanted to find something I can do to participate and it was so great to be given the call and invited by ABC to join. It gave me a purpose to get up every morning. I feel really good that we have an opportunity to do something like this — it’s good medicine,” he then shared when asked what inspired the reunion.