Denise Laurel shows off her vocal prowess during her Your Face Sounds Familiar performance. The singer-actress sang Lea Salonga’s “Bakit Labis Kitang Mahal,” dressed up as the award-winning Broadway actress, Denise even “perfectly” mimicked Lea’s gestures and expressions.
Singer-songwriter Jed Madela complimented the 28-year-old performer, “You sounded like her, you looked like her, and you even projected like her: the jaw, the mouth, even the dimple. That was just spot on, Denise, one of my favorite performances so far.”
Megastar Sharon Cuneta only had a one word comment for the actress, “Perfect.” While Mr. Pure Energy Gary Valenciano elaborated, “Talagang pinatunayan mo sa performance mo today that your talent is truly underrated,” [Rough Translation: You really showed us in your performance today that your talent is truly underrated,] upon hearing the word “underrated,” Denise broke into tears.
Gary V. then further added, “Ang ginagawa niya dito sa [Rough Translation: What she’s doing now here in] Your Face Sounds Familiar is to impersonate, I’m excited to see more of you as Denise Laurel.”
Gary V. also confidently told her: “If I knew how to reach her [Lea Salonga,] even if she’s flying to wherever she’s going, sasabihan ko talaga [Rough Translation: I would really tell her,] ‘Lea, you need to see her. She convinced us dito sa [Rough Translation: here in] ‘Your Face Sounds Familiar’ that we were watching Lea Salonga.”
Of course, the news easily reached her. Lea Salonga sent her love to Denise Laurel via Twitter: “I couldn’t stop smiling watching this. @D_laurel, you made me so proud!!! Yes, @GaryValenciano1, I’m in NY.”
Afterwards, Denise posted a screenshot of Lea’s tweet on Instagram, her caption reads: “I never knew it could be possible for me to be speechless twice in a row. Lol I just wanna say Thank you @msleasalonga for tuning in! That was merely an impression of you and no one could ever come close to the real thing 🙂 . Giving it all I’ve got would just be equivalent to the talent you’ve got on your right pinky finger! Haha thanks for always being an inspiration! Xo to NYC!”
The performance also caught veteran Director Joey Javier Reyes attention, the filmmaker affirms that the Kapamilya star really does “deserves much much more.”
What do you guys think of Denise Laurel’s impersonation of Lea Salonga? Yay or Nay? (For us, it’s a huge YAY.)
