Musical theater performers give their heartfelt best

There’s nothing like musical theater to showcase performers at their heartfelt best, so we’re glad that we caught one of the last performances of the musical play, “In the Heights,” at the RCBC Theater. In a cast of uniformly standout singer-dancer-actors, our attention was especially drawn to Nyoy Volante, Tex Ordoñez, Jackielou Blanco and K-La Rivera.

Nyoy has “always” been around as a singer and songsmith, but he comes on really strong and focused in this musical, where he shows off new aspects and prisms to his performing persona, like his he retofore unshowcased ability to rap. True to his name, Volante is flying high!

Tex is one of the best-kept secrets of local musical theater, partly because she’s spent some years performing abroad. Now that she’s back home – where she really belongs – producers, writers and directors of musicals are advised to cast her in their productions, because she lights up a stage like a psychedelic, supercalifragelistic fireworks display.

Lead role

Fact is, she doesn’t play the female lead role in “In the Heights,” but she makes full use of the time she has onstage to fill it with her spectacular singing, orchidaceous appeal and sassy humor.

Contrastingly, Jackielou plays it low-key and even recondite for the most part, so the time comes during the show that we wonder if she’s ever going to break through, and out.

Well, she finally does, in “Enough,” a number that she performs with her heart –and hurts – all aflame, so powerfully that the song could end up as an anthem for all “overlooked” and “underestimated” wives and mothers everywhere.

Jackielou doesn’t have the “primal” vocal skills of an authentic musical theater singer, but her “limitations” are irrelevant to her performance, because it’s her heart that, oh, so movingly and powerfully sings.

We feel especially “invested” in these notes on Jackielou, because for a long time now, we’ve been urging her hubby, Ricky, to “convince” her to “do theater.” Well, now she has, and her quiet triumph is “as expected.”

The newest performer in the stellar cast is K-La Rivera, who plays the ingenue female lead. We also feel “invested” in K-La, because all throughout the TV singing search she competed in months ago, we saw her stellar potential – so, we were really ticked off when the tilt sniffed at her unusual combination of voice, beauty and charisma, and chose somebody else – and less gifted – instead.

Promise

Well, K-La is now taking the longer route to stardom (she is also doing VJ work now), but her performance in Atlantis Productions’ recent musical affirms her promise, and eventual success.

She’s still a bit raw and unfocused, but the heart, determination and conviction are there, so she’ll get there – if she plays her cards right, works her butt off and says her prayers – as early as next year!