After making his stage debut in the PETA musical Walang Aray in 2023, singer and actor KD Estrada returns to theater again this year as one of the lead stars of the stage adaptation of the iconic 1984 coming-of-age film Bagets. When he first found out he would be playing role of Arnel (originally played by Raymond Lauchengco in the film), KD admitted he felt excited more than anything.
“I was ecstatic. It was a late night I was just scrolling as usual and I just checked my email out of curiosity. There I saw an email from PETA: ’Congratulations, KD! You will be playing Arnel in Bagets: The Musical.’ When I read that I excitedly said ’Yes!’ and showed it to my parents and to my close loved ones,” he told PUSH ABS-CBN in an exclusive interview.
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Unlike his previous production which was a modern sarsuela, KD explained why Bagets The Musical will be less of a challenge when it comes to the language era. “It’s not necessarily harder or easier. I was definitely challenged in Walang Aray due to some deep Tagalog dialogue but it also had some English lines because it was colloquialized and it had that juxtaposition with its setting being in the Spanish colonial era of the Philippines. It would be easier in a sense that it's a musical where I play someone who is closer to who I actually am as a person, just a lot more youthful and angsty because in this play we are teenagers,” he said.
Even though the Bagets film came out 18 years before he was born, KD said he looks forward to living through the 80s era in this production. “I watched the film multiple times for the auditions and I found it entertaining. It was like watching a time capsule of the youth in the 80's. The way they dressed, spoke, and lived during that era was always something that spoke to me in an artistic point-of-view. It gave a sense of nostalgia even if I wasn't even born yet at that time,” he added.
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In the storyline of Bagets, Arnel plays the role of the most conyo member of the group, a personality trait that KD says will not be a problem for him. “100% pure conyo. That's probably the most relatable thing I have with Arnel. It would make it easier in a way because I can already imagine and conceptualize how he would be saying certain lines, but I do have to keep in mind that a 2025 conyo boy is different from a 1984 conyo boy so that’s something I'm ’researching’ on,” he said.
The 23-year-old actor also shared that even though he has not yet had the chance to meet the original actor who played his role, former 80s heartthrob Raymond Lauchengco, he would love to get the chance to connect with him for the role. ”I plan on messaging him but I'm still figuring out what to say. I would probably ask him (as a joke): ’Sir, I'm playing you, pwede na ba?’ On a more serious note, I would most likely ask him about characterization, the 80's life, and his experience during the making of the original movie,” he shared.
Watch KD Estrada in the role of Arnel in Bagets The Musical which is scheduled to run from January 23 to March 2026 at the Newport Performing Arts Theater. The musical is a joint production of VIVA Communications Inc., The Philippine STAR and NEXT by Philstar Media Group, and Newport World Resorts, guided by the creative vision of the Philippine Educational Theater Association (PETA) Plus, with director Maribel Legarda, playwright J-mee Katanyag, and musical director Vince Lim.