ROBIN Givens was so impressed with her 11-year-old co-star Canjelae Taylor at her Bermuda gospel show that she has asked the youngster to perform with her in London early next year.

Canjelae, a sixth grade student of Bermuda Institute, made a stunning major show debut in Joy in the Morning, which played to sellout audiences at the Ruth James Seaton Centre for the Performing Arts over three nights last weekend.

Hollywood and television actress Ms Givens described Canjelae as "a natural" and said she would invite the youngster to play the same part in the UK in February when the show will be part of Black History Month celebrations in London.

Other Bermudians among the cast will also be asked to travel and plans have been mooted to take the show to New York as well.

Canjelae stole the hearts of the audience on Sunday's final night with a dazzling performance and earned a rapturous standing ovation.

Ms Givens said she had been so impressed by Canjelae in auditions that she decided to adapt the play to give the youngster a major part.

"When we did this show at Carnegie Hall in New York, it was just me and James Avery, standing at a podium and reading out our lines," said Ms Givens.

"There was no little girl in it. So I rewrote the play for Canjelae. I sat there writing and I started to think, `This little girl's got a lot to do'.

"We'd sit there together and she'd start to learn the lines. Before I knew it she not only knew the lines, she she was really understanding them and putting her own twist on them."

She added that Canjelae had just three weeks to learn her major role as the young Ruth, the central character played as an adult by Ms Givens. "Three weeks was nothing for the show we did. The show I wanted to put on, people would normally have taken months preparing for it.

"Canjelae is a natural, I think she has what it takes. At one rehearsal I said that this little girl was the most professional person there.

"She had the most to do and pages and pages to learn. I would say, `Let me cut this and make it easier' and I would change things, but she never complained one bit."

Canjelae, who lives in Paget, began dancing at the age of four and by the time she had reached seven she was singing in the Southampton Seventh-Day Adventist Church choir.

Joy in the Morning was her debut on the big stage and despite an apparently nerveless performance of acting and singing, she admitted the tension had affected her.

She started the play alone on the stage on the opening night and she admitted that when the spotlight turned to her in front of the packed auditorium, it had been a nerve-tingling moment.

"My teeth were chattering," she confessed. "I was nervous but not as nervous as I thought I would be.

"I was excited about working with Robin Givens, but I knew I had to get to business and learn my lines."

Her acting debut came in a Christmas play for her school. But having tasted success on the stage Canjelae remained level-headed about her prospects of following in Ms Givens' footsteps to Hollywood.

"I'd like to do some more acting, but not for all of my life. I want to be a forensic scientist," she said.

Another local who performed well in a major role was Steve Easton, who played the doctor. And several local singers also excelled.