Atlantis Productions’ “Carrie” was able to open to immediate acclaim last Sept. 20 (ABS-CBNnews.com’s Vladimir Bunoan noted the “prolonged standing ovation” and “ecstatic audience response” at curtain call), but the show had to shut down for the rest of its first weekend when its young lead star, Mikkie Bradshaw, fell ill.

Bradshaw had been able to do the Thursday press preview and the Friday opening night, but reportedly woke up Saturday morning feeling weak and feverish. Brought to the hospital, she was cautioned against going onstage and aggravating her condition.

Atlantis announced the cancellation of all shows that weekend, but by midweek its Facebook page said that K-La Rivera would now be stepping into the role of Carrie. Rivera was last seen as Jasmine in Atlantis’ production of “Disney’s Aladdin” last year. She made her theater debut a year before that, as Nina in “In the Heights,” by the same theater company.

It’s unclear at this point whether Bradshaw would be able to resume playing Carrie, the titular character in the musical (book by Lawrence D. Cohen, lyrics by Dean Pitchford, music by Michael Gore) about a bullied, misunderstood teen awakening to her telekinetic powers, based on the Stephen King novel. This would have been her biggest break so far (“A star is born in Mikkie Bradshaw,” wrote theater aficionado Mickey Muñoz on his Facebook page after the “Carrie” preview); she had previously appeared as Liesl in Resorts World Manila’s “The Sound of Music,” and in Atlantis’ “Rock of Ages,” “Nine” and “Disney’s Aladdin.”

“Carrie,” directed by Bobby Garcia, also stars Menchu Lauchengco-Yulo as Carrie’s religious zealot of a mother (Bunoan: “The performances of Bradshaw and Lauchengco-Yulo proved to be a key winning element to this staging’s success. Bradshaw, in her first lead role, shows precision in her singing, making her duets with the vastly experienced Lauchengco-Yulo very powerful.”), as well as Markki Stroem, Yanah Laurel and Shiela Valderrama-Martinez.

Atlantis has added extra 8 p.m. Sunday shows for this weekend and next. Call 8927078 or 0917-8381534 to reconfirm or book tickets.