Back in Manila for the Asian tour of The Kitchen Musical, singer-actress-host Karylle reveals to PEP.ph (Philippine Entertainment Portal) that initially, she had qualms about how Filipinos would receive the musical TV drama series.
"Kinakabahan ako in the sense na, 'Sana yung response dito kasing init dun sa ibang bansa.'
"Kasi siyempre, home court, kumbaga," says Karylle, who was cast as the lead actress in the multi-million dollar Singaporean production.
"Nakaka-proud lang there are so many Filipinos in the cast."
The Kitchen Musical features a multi-cultural cast of theater and screen actors, as well as dancers.
The Pan-Asian TV musical also boasts of four Filipinos in the cast that include Karylle, balladeer Christian Bautista, promising local talent Thou Reyes, and New York-based stage actor Arthur Acuña.
Karylle's doubts subsided when the cast and production team were warmly welcomed to the country. There were so many positive tweets and congratulatory messages.
"Nakakatuwa lang talaga yung papuri, yung encouragement ng mga kapwa Pilipino.
"[They say,] 'Gusto namin yung show, keep up the good work.' Little things like that really mean a lot to us."
INDONESIA. Asked to describe the reception in Malaysia and Indonesia, Karylle says: "Nakakagulat na kilala ka ng ibang tao!"
During the tour, fans called her Maddie, her character's name, instead of K or Karylle.
Meanwhile, her co-actor, Christian Bautista, is already quite famous in Indonesia.
Christian, who plays Daniel Ray in The Kitchen Musical, has just launched his international album, Outbound, featuring his various collaborations with artists and producers from Singapore, Japan, and Indonesia.
"Sa Indonesia, I've always been curious about how famous Christian is," Karylle says.
"Talaga namang pagtungtong namin sa airport... Naglalakad kami, may tumatakbo sa side!