This ‘Bagets’ is turning senior
As he turns 60, Raymond Lauchengco has no qualms about embracing the word “senior”—but he’s not letting go of “bagets” just yet either.
While he’s no longer that boy-next-door crooning “So It’s You” in the middle of a field oval in his breakthrough film, “Bagets,” the curiosity and sense of wonder that defined his youth have never really left him. Don’t let his head full of silver fool you—his zest for life and passion for his craft have only grown stronger with each passing year.
So for now, you can call him “senior bagets.” “It sums up the best of both worlds. I have these experiences, these lessons and insights I have learned and gained, yet I still feel like a teenager inside,” he tells Lifestyle Inquirer in an email interview.
No signs of slowing down
Indeed, life has been anything but dull for Lauchengco. His journey is marked by many creative turns—starting in theater before he rose to fame as a matinee idol and an iconic balladeer. Later in life, he evolved into an even more multifaceted artist, dabbling in painting, sculpting, and writing.
And there’s no way he’s slowing down. If anything, turning 60, he says, is an invitation to embrace more fun and more adventure in life. “I think that the most worthwhile challenge there is to try and become the best version of yourself,” he says. This might well be the bagets in him talking.
What better way to celebrate this milestone—of him “opening a new chapter” in life—than with a night filled with music? Happening at The Theatre at Solaire on Sept. 28—a day before his birthday—his upcoming show is called “Everybody Loves Raymond,” a nostalgic nod to his favorite ‘90s sitcom.
No, it’s not something that he would dare presume—that everyone loved him at any point in his career or even at the height of his fame. But maybe, just this once, he can claim it. After all, this concert is where his life comes full circle in more ways than one.
First, it reconnects him with his earliest professional roots: His new single, “My Favorite Story,” is co-written by Odette Quesada, the renowned OPM composer who gave him “I Need You Back,” the song that started it all for him.
“She wrote my very first hit,” Lauchengco says. “Last year, during our US tour for her 40th anniversary concert series, I asked her for a song I could record for my milestone year. She graciously said yes. It truly is a full-circle moment.”
As fate would have it, his 60th year also saw the announcement of the stage adaptation of “Bagets”—the landmark 1980s coming-of-age movie that helped make him a household name. He looks forward to seeing it, he says, because the “themes are universal, timeless, and still very relevant.”
Mentor and tormentor
Joining him onstage are three performers he admires: Mitch Valdes, Ice Seguerra, and Sharon Cuneta, who introduced him to Viva Entertainment and Vicor Records’ top executive Vic del Rosario. However, it’s his sister, theater legend Menchu Lauchengco-Yulo, whose role as concert director draws the most striking parallels to his beginnings.
“Growing up, Menchu was my best friend and protector, my mentor and tormentor, as well,” he says, laughing.
But in any case, it’s safe to say that the trajectory of Lauchengco’s career might have turned out a bit differently had his sister not forged his name and signature on the audition form for the 1977 staging of “The King and I.”
“Let me just say that it was because of Menchu that I ended up auditioning with Lea Salonga, Risa Hontiveros, and Monique Wilson,” he shares. “I didn’t even know I was auditioning at that time. I was there only to chaperone her, so I had no idea.”
“I will tell everything during the concert because it’s payback time for my sister!” he adds with a laugh.
From the stage to the page, the final circle closes with the launch of his first book, “Dance with the Wind”—a collection of his writings and visual works created across different seasons of his life, including the tumult and stillness of the pandemic.
“Every story, essay, and poem I wrote during the pandemic—and every piece of art I created—was born from my most vulnerable state,” Lauchengco shares. “Back then, the world had broken down. Life as we knew it had ceased, and the things that once defined us were suddenly out of reach.”
There was a lot of fear: His father, Ramon, died of a stroke, and his younger sister, Vicky, suffered a medical emergency that left the left side of her body temporarily paralyzed. There was uncertainty: All his scheduled shows and projects—and with them, the means to provide for his family—vanished in an instant with the lockdown.
A silver lining
But somewhere along the way, a silver lining appeared. “It forced us to look inward, to find not just ways to stay afloat, but the motivation to thrive—to keep going, and even grow amid the chaos,” he says.
In art and writing, Lauchengco found not just a pastime, but solace and passion. He built minimalist figures, sculptures, and stylized furniture pieces. And in the quiet, he discovered his voice and heard his innermost thoughts and feelings with crystal clarity. He wrote everything down, not knowing that his words would one day appear in a book.
“At the time, I wrote simply to encourage myself. That it resonated with others later was a bonus,” he says.
Together, all these experiences, Lauchengco says, shaped him into the person he believes he was always meant to be—an understanding that could come only with age. That’s why he neither fears nor dreads growing older, for it’s a gift not everyone is given.
Now this is the “senior” in him talking. “Life enriches you over time. I have a family that keeps me grounded, gives me identity, and inspires me to persist and dream,” he says. “They are also my greatest joy. And then there are six decades of experience—from both triumphs and failures—that shape everything I do and the voice I now have.”
