K-La's time to shine

When she first competed in Star Power (which was won by Angeline Quinto), people took immediate notice of K-La Rivera. Although she didn’t bag the grand prize, the exposure she got from the show was enough to jumpstart her showbiz career.

Soon after Star Power, K-La joined the MYX VJ search and made it. She was one of three VJs who were signed that year, but after her contract was up, she pursued other things, one of which turned out to be an undiscovered passion for musical theater. The first time K-La appeared onstage was in Atlantis Productions’ In The Heights. Now, she’s back onstage for Disney’s Aladdin where she’s playing Princess Jasmine opposite Tom Rodriguez. It’s a big challenge for her because she’ll be acting and singing three songs, two of which are duets (including the popular A Whole New World).

Getting into musical theater doesn’t mean, of course, that K-La is ready to push her pop singing career to the back burner. When she came to Manila from Canada, her goal was clear — to pursue whatever opportunities there were in showbiz and to hopefully build a singing and recording career. Joining Star Power was the first step toward that. Now, the path may have shifted a bit and led her down a different road but she’s still keeping her goal firmly in sight. She doesn’t think joining the contest was a waste of time. It got her started, after all. “The truth is, Star Power opened a lot of doors for me. So, I’m still really grateful,” says K-La. “But I’d love it more if I could have an opportunity like acting in a teleserye or a movie, or release a CD with original songs.”

She came to Manila without expecting anything, so regardless of how Star Power turned out and the MYX VJ search ended, she considers everything that’s happened to her a blessing. She’s not even worried about the inevitable comparisons to Angeline that will arise. After Star Power, Angeline has gone on to a successful musical career and even did a movie, Born To Love You, opposite Coco Martin.

So where does this leave K-La? She answers her own question by stating that right now, the only option is to keep moving forward and not to be held back by envy over the breaks that Angeline or anyone else may be getting. “No, I don’t feel inggit, or anything like that,” clarifies K-La. “I don’t because I know she also worked for what she has now. She put so much pagod and hard work into it, and she deserves it naman. She’s been singing for so long. I know, all of us (in Star Power), we have different careers, like I’m doing musical theater also. I’m happy for her.”

K-La is now busy working on being the best performer and artist she can possibly be. That includes working on improving her Tagalog, in the hopes of landing a role in a teleserye soon. Right now, she’s more focused on musical theater because that’s where the opportunities are but she’s not closing her doors on whatever else might be out there. “I guess Atlantis Productions sees potential in me and I also enjoy what I’m doing. I’m happy with that,” she says. 

She isn’t even thinking of packing up and going back to Canada where her family is still based. K-La’s mother is Filipina while her father is a full-blooded Romanian (K-La’s real last name is Iovan). She confesses that her family has asked her to go home. “It’s so hard because I’m the one telling them to just be patient,” explains K-La. “It’s something that I can’t leave yet because something came up. We just keep on trying, but for me, there will be a sign when it’s time to stop. I know that eventually, I will still go back to Canada and try my singing there if the time comes for me to move back, if wala na talagang opportunity dito.”

But now that the world of musical theater has beckoned, K-La is happily discovering just how rewarding it can be. Although she only appeared in one play before Aladdin, there is a lot she has learned about the process that she’s bringing to bear on her second try at theater. “I’ve learned that you have to be disciplined,” she says. “Your mind can’t be distracted at all especially when you’re playing a character. When I was doing In The Heights, I didn’t have to prepare that much. But this one, iba kasi it’s about being a princess. It’s unlike In The Heights, which was based on real life and had real people as characters. It wasn’t that hard because I just needed to be myself. In Aladdin, I’m playing a princess. You really have to get into the character. You really need to put on an act.”

Passion, she says. It’s all about passion. Theater is hard work but passion is the ingredient that spells the difference. “You can’t do musical theater if you are not passionate about it because you are going to act, sing and dance. I’m lucky because here, I get to work with people who are just as passionate.”