K-La shines in Carrie

If you don’t know her name, then you should. K-La Rivera is indisputably the princess of musical theater, with a range that will leave you every bit of a fan as I have become.

I first saw K-La in Atlantis Productions’ Aladdin as the beautiful doe-eyed Princess Jasmine. Her chemistry then with real-life beau Tom Rodriguez on stage was mesmerizing, especially when they were soaring on the magic carpet ride. Prior to Aladdin, she joined a singing contest and placed fourth on ABS-CBN’s Star Power in 2010 and has already launched a five-track debut album under Star Records. But nothing comes close to the break she has been recently given by director Bobby Garcia.

K-La has had quite a challenge presented to her by direk Bobby, having to step in and learn the title role of Carrie White for Atlantis Productions’ staging of Carrie the musical in a matter of five days!

Mikkie Bradshaw, the actress-singer originally slated to play the part, had to unfortunately give up the title role due to medical conditions after five long weeks of rehearsals.

Most certainly, the show must go on as the cliché in show business states, so shows were postponed for the week and K-La went to work. And work is an understatement.

In less than a week, K-La learned 14 songs, all very complicated and demanding musically. In Act 1, she sings six songs with one solo spot and three duets with theater veterans Menchu Lauchengco-Yulo and Shiela Valderrama-Martinez, whom she has one duet with titled Unsuspecting Hearts. In Act 2, she sings a total of eight songs with a spine-tingling finale rendition of The Destruction. This girl makes it look easy, effortless and controlled at all times.

On top of the musicality, she has had to memorize all the blocking and lines, which believe me when I say is hardly enough time to drop script.

However, what makes K-La phenomenal in Carrie is that fact that it doesn’t show one bit that the material is new to her. She lives and inhabits the character of a young, naive girl who blossoms through the course of the musical realistically. K-La is simply breathtaking and sensational in the role. I was crying so hard when she hit her “I want my mama” line with so much pain that there was no where else that could have resonated from but her gut.

Menchu is another astonishing act to reckon with as all her songs require stamina and technique. What a delight to see both Menchu and K-La go head to head in their musical numbers.

Special mention goes to the antagonists of Carrie — Jill Peña as Chris Hargensen and Mako Alonso as Billy Nolan — who add spice and conflict with a dash of raunchy sexiness to their parts. Yanah Laurel as Sue Snell is a good girl with a conscience who truly cares for Carrie. Markki Stroem as the leading man of Carrie makes the audience swoon. The ensemble cast is strong with distinguishable characters that are all vocally powerful. Jamie Wilson weaves in and out with different characters and is a delight to watch as the gospel leader Reverend Bliss.

Everything considered, this show has the best and most giving company I have seen this year. The entire cast and crew has had to work double time for two weeks with not much rest and all for the support of their new Carrie stepping in. K-La as the lead role shines bright because of the company that surrounds her, making her every bit the theater princess she deserves to be. Catch her in Carrie and be wowed!

(Carrie runs only until Sunday, Oct. 6, at the Carlos P. Romulo Auditorium, RCBC Plaza in Makati. For details, call Atlantis Productions at 892-7078 or Ticketworld at 891-9999.)