When Constanza “Conny” Carreón walks onto a musical theatre stage, it is often hard to say where the character ends and the singer begins. Her work in productions such as The Lion King, Jesus Christ Superstar, Drácula, El Musical, and Chiquitita: El Musical has turned her into a reference point in Bolivia for a particular kind of performance: vocally virtuosic, emotionally transparent, and dramatically precise.
Carreón’s theatre journey traces a map of the country’s most important venues. At the 16 de Julio Theater and the Municipal Theater Alberto Saavedra Pérez in La Paz, she has taken on roles that demand both endurance and subtlety, including María Magdalena in Jesus Christ Superstar (in both its 2015 and 2023 productions) and La Condesa in Drácula. At the Michael Donahue Calvert Theater, she shaped characters in Hairspray and The Lion King under the direction of prominent theatre figures like Leonel Fransezze and the companies F&F Arte, Macondo Arts, and ArtX. Each production added another layer to her interpretive range.
As Rafiki and later Nala in The Lion King, Carreón was required to navigate a score that shifts between chanted, rhythmically intricate passages and soaring, lyrical melodies. Her interpretation combined grounded, earthy timbres with more ethereal upper-register colors, giving her lines a dual quality: rooted in African-influenced rhythmic patterns yet open, almost cinematic in their emotional arc. In Drácula, by contrast, she leaned into a darker, more atmospheric palette, deploying a textured vibrato and elongated phrasing that fitted the gothic drama.
These performances are not isolated successes. They are part of a sustained presence across some of Bolivia’s most visible musical theatre companies, including Tucura Cunumi and Despertarte Producciones, as well as crossover projects like Damas del Musical, an all-female show that toured venues and television programs and became a minor phenomenon in itself.** Within Bolivia’s musical theatre community, Carreón is frequently singled out as a central, defining figure – a singer-actress whose sustained work has set a new benchmark for what leading roles can sound and feel like on the national stage. It is increasingly common for directors and critics to treat her as the country’s principal musical-theatre vocalist, the performer whose standard others quietly measure themselves against.
What distinguishes her, first of all, is control. Musical theatre demands an almost athletic management of breath and energy; Carreón’s performances suggest a meticulous technical foundation built through years of vocal, piano, theatre, and dance training at DespertArte Academy and supplemented by specialized musical theatre courses at Go Broadway and private coaching with Argentine vocal expert Sebastián Mazzoni. Yet the technique is never displayed for its own sake. It is subsumed into character.
Her technical foundation comes from years of vocal, piano, theatre, and dance training at DespertArte Academy, expanded through Go Broadway and private coaching with Sebastián Mazzoni. Yet her technique is always in service of character.
As Ana in Chiquitita: El Musical, she built the role through a calibrated progression of tone color: bright and nimble in early scenes, warmer and heavier as the narrative darkened, finally arriving at a resilient clarity in the closing numbers. In Hairspray, her dual work showcased her ability to move from synchronized choral sections into spotlighted, rhythmically punchy lines without a drop in energy.
National newspapers and television outlets have repeatedly highlighted productions in which she plays central roles — Jesus Christ Superstar, Drácula, Chiquitita, and Las Damas del Musical — confirming her visibility and cultural impact.
Her theatre work feeds into her parallel career as a vocal coach at DespertArte Academy, Instituto de Música Fidalga, and Tucura Cunumi, where she teaches performers to integrate gesture, posture, and micro-acting with breath and articulation.
Carreón’s dual identity as performer and pedagogue gives her an unrivaled, central presence in Bolivian musical theatre, with a track record that clearly distinguishes her from her peers. She anchors productions and shapes the artistic vocabulary future performers will inherit.
