A LKY Musical Date Night
Date nights are most precious to me because we get very little of them. Even if we had, it's only for a quick dinner. Two Wednesdays ago, we went on the longest night out away from the kids to catch The LKY Musical at MasterCard Theatres at Marina Bay Sands. We calculated:
1815hrs Drop kids off and quick 15 min dinner at gramps
1845hrs Leave for Marina Bay Sands
1930hrs The LKY Musical
2130hrs Show ends
2200hrs Pick kids for home
2230hrs Put kids to sleep
A 2230hrs bedtime is considered very late for them. Not to mention we have to leave the house at 0730hrs the very next day to catch our flight to Perth. We felt a little uncomfortable with this arrangement because we want nothing but recharged children. Yet, we do not wish to miss this opportunity to catch the musical of the year! So, we decided to cut this really close and went ahead with it.
I dolled myself up with a dress that doesn't have easy access to my breasts. Oh sorry if this offends you but you have to know how boring a nursing mom's wardrobe can be. I haven't worn my Lark & Peony cheongsam for too long. It was dying to meet some daylight! With no Faye in tow, there wouldn't be a need for nursing access.
We arrived at Marina Bay Sands and as we walked into the theatre, I recall quite disappointedly the last few musicals we watched. One thing stood out like a sore thumb - the sound system. It never impressed me. Not once. Not even when we caught Phantom of the Opera. Pitiful because they clinch the best international shows to be staged in their premise but patrons are given second best experiences with first-class actors.
Well, they did it again. It was 1935hrs and my date questioned, "Has standard dropped? Has it become usual practice to commence late?" I brushed it off and chided him for being so long-winded after his forth complaint in 10 minutes. 1940hrs...1950hrs... Still no show! To make it worse, I was perspiring! The air-conditioning is working but not strong enough to cater to a full house on the 2nd night preview! I wasn't wearing a turtle neck long sleeved dress mind you? I was in a sleeveless. Yet, I had beads of sweat at my brows. Ridiculous to see myself and my neighbor fanning ourselves with the program.
A representative came up on stage and apologized for the technical fault that caused the delay. They couldn't start the show but rectified it after 45 minutes. We were delayed for almost an hour and only one thing going through my head was Ewan and Faye. That bothered me throughout the show. I watched Adrian Pang and Sharon Au half-heartedly as they took the night away.
"Should we leave at intermission?"
"Will the kids be too tired from a super late night and terribly early morning?"
I could not imagine how beat up we might be with cranky kids. Too many questions and worries swimming in my head.
However, the evening was still somewhat enjoyable. Not thoroughly because the ambience adds to the whole performance which failed terribly with me perspiring throughout the show. We had Sebastian Tan and the familiar troll of Three Billy Goats Gruff, Benjamin Chow acting as Lim Chin Siong. This is a show that belonged to us. It is Singapore and a musical without dialects or Singaporean lingo will not be realistic at all. Sebastian Tan brought that local flavor into the musical with his comical and very natural disposition. However, it will be hard to successfully bring this up for World Tours. In my opinion at least. Singlish, dialects and the history of this little red dot may not appeal to the World as well as Les Miserables or Cats. If we were to go to West End with The LKY Musical, 100% of the theatre-goers wouldn't be able to understand the Singaporean joke in Hokkien and that would be a large part of the essence lost in translation.
I am also skeptical about its success on an Asian Tour actually because the musical scores were not memorable. I held very high expectations going in and was prepared to sniffle away with some tissues despite those stage technical faults and air-conditioning issues. Alas, none of the songs pulled my heartstrings (except for the Majulah Singapura which I mentioned earlier). None of them "stick fast". Do you recall our other locally produced Chang & Eng in 1997? It made big and went on a Asian Tour. I was only 15 years old and the songs are still deeply etched in my mind. If you asked me to sing you "Mai Phen Rai" right now, I could! On the other hand, I could not even hum to a song in The LKY Musical today. It was Mr Ken Low who brought us riveting musical scores from Chang & Eng. His passing is Singapore's lost.
The set was smartly and tastefully done. I liked it. You know how the Cat A theatre-goers will get the most of the show because they've got the actors right at their faces? Here at The LKY Musical, the set is a three-level structure. Casts will sometimes be on level one, two or three - filling up the stage vertically rather than the usual. If you've got yourselves Circle seats, you will get the chance to see Adrian and Sharon singing right at your level too. Only thing is, it could be a bit too far from the stage to get fully engaged.
I was not an A* history student and I must admit I had no idea who Tunku Abdul Rahman or Lim Chin Siong were. From this musical, I learnt quite a bit about this island I call Home. The efforts Lee Kuan Yew and company had put into building this nation touched my heart and I held back my tears at the Majulah Singapura finale. I could have stood and sang in pride with the casts! Yet, too shy to do that.
I must agree that the lead actors, Adrian and Sharon, have an unspoken chemistry. I loved it that Adrian worked his best to mirror Mr Lee Kuan Yee's body languages when he did his speeches and Sharon remained that calm and witty wife like Kwa Geok Choo would. I am sure by now, they would have gotten even better with their performances as they work deeper into each show. I must commend Sharon for taking the stage even when she sprained her ankle the day before. While writing this, I also read that Adrian continued with his duet with Sharon while blood flowed down his forehead! Went straight into the hospital after for 20 stitches. Kudos to perfectionists and professionalism.
Pictures extracted from @negitateno13, Sharon Au's Instagram handle. She is down-to-earth and I was pleasantly surprised that she scrolled through my IG posts on LKY night and wished us a pleasant trip to Perth which she didn't had to.
The other perfect pairing from the show was Adrian and Benjamin. The Lee Kuan Yew vs Lim Chin Siong act that took up the majority of the musical. Benjamin performed so well in The Little Company's The Three Billy Goat's Gruff which we brought the kids to that we singled him right out when he came on stage. Meyer and I smiled at each other in agreement, "This is the troll alright!" I was proud of his act that night and thought the musically-inclined political exchanges he had with Lee Kuan Yew were flawless!
The LKY Musical. To miss or not to miss. I would say, it's one of those you've got to watch even though others reviewed it negatively. Just because you are a Singaporean.
Event Date: Tue, 21 Jul - Sun, 16 Aug 2015Well, they did it again. It was 1935hrs and my date questioned, "Has standard dropped? Has it become usual practice to commence late?" I brushed it off and chided him for being so long-winded after his forth complaint in 10 minutes. 1940hrs...1950hrs... Still no show! To make it worse, I was perspiring! The air-conditioning is working but not strong enough to cater to a full house on the 2nd night preview! I wasn't wearing a turtle neck long sleeved dress mind you? I was in a sleeveless. Yet, I had beads of sweat at my brows. Ridiculous to see myself and my neighbor fanning ourselves with the program.
A representative came up on stage and apologized for the technical fault that caused the delay. They couldn't start the show but rectified it after 45 minutes. We were delayed for almost an hour and only one thing going through my head was Ewan and Faye. That bothered me throughout the show. I watched Adrian Pang and Sharon Au half-heartedly as they took the night away.
"Should we leave at intermission?"
"Will the kids be too tired from a super late night and terribly early morning?"
I could not imagine how beat up we might be with cranky kids. Too many questions and worries swimming in my head.
However, the evening was still somewhat enjoyable. Not thoroughly because the ambience adds to the whole performance which failed terribly with me perspiring throughout the show. We had Sebastian Tan and the familiar troll of Three Billy Goats Gruff, Benjamin Chow acting as Lim Chin Siong. This is a show that belonged to us. It is Singapore and a musical without dialects or Singaporean lingo will not be realistic at all. Sebastian Tan brought that local flavor into the musical with his comical and very natural disposition. However, it will be hard to successfully bring this up for World Tours. In my opinion at least. Singlish, dialects and the history of this little red dot may not appeal to the World as well as Les Miserables or Cats. If we were to go to West End with The LKY Musical, 100% of the theatre-goers wouldn't be able to understand the Singaporean joke in Hokkien and that would be a large part of the essence lost in translation.
I am also skeptical about its success on an Asian Tour actually because the musical scores were not memorable. I held very high expectations going in and was prepared to sniffle away with some tissues despite those stage technical faults and air-conditioning issues. Alas, none of the songs pulled my heartstrings (except for the Majulah Singapura which I mentioned earlier). None of them "stick fast". Do you recall our other locally produced Chang & Eng in 1997? It made big and went on a Asian Tour. I was only 15 years old and the songs are still deeply etched in my mind. If you asked me to sing you "Mai Phen Rai" right now, I could! On the other hand, I could not even hum to a song in The LKY Musical today. It was Mr Ken Low who brought us riveting musical scores from Chang & Eng. His passing is Singapore's lost.
The set was smartly and tastefully done. I liked it. You know how the Cat A theatre-goers will get the most of the show because they've got the actors right at their faces? Here at The LKY Musical, the set is a three-level structure. Casts will sometimes be on level one, two or three - filling up the stage vertically rather than the usual. If you've got yourselves Circle seats, you will get the chance to see Adrian and Sharon singing right at your level too. Only thing is, it could be a bit too far from the stage to get fully engaged.
I was not an A* history student and I must admit I had no idea who Tunku Abdul Rahman or Lim Chin Siong were. From this musical, I learnt quite a bit about this island I call Home. The efforts Lee Kuan Yew and company had put into building this nation touched my heart and I held back my tears at the Majulah Singapura finale. I could have stood and sang in pride with the casts! Yet, too shy to do that.
I must agree that the lead actors, Adrian and Sharon, have an unspoken chemistry. I loved it that Adrian worked his best to mirror Mr Lee Kuan Yee's body languages when he did his speeches and Sharon remained that calm and witty wife like Kwa Geok Choo would. I am sure by now, they would have gotten even better with their performances as they work deeper into each show. I must commend Sharon for taking the stage even when she sprained her ankle the day before. While writing this, I also read that Adrian continued with his duet with Sharon while blood flowed down his forehead! Went straight into the hospital after for 20 stitches. Kudos to perfectionists and professionalism.
Pictures extracted from @negitateno13, Sharon Au's Instagram handle. She is down-to-earth and I was pleasantly surprised that she scrolled through my IG posts on LKY night and wished us a pleasant trip to Perth which she didn't had to.
The other perfect pairing from the show was Adrian and Benjamin. The Lee Kuan Yew vs Lim Chin Siong act that took up the majority of the musical. Benjamin performed so well in The Little Company's The Three Billy Goat's Gruff which we brought the kids to that we singled him right out when he came on stage. Meyer and I smiled at each other in agreement, "This is the troll alright!" I was proud of his act that night and thought the musically-inclined political exchanges he had with Lee Kuan Yew were flawless!
The LKY Musical. To miss or not to miss. I would say, it's one of those you've got to watch even though others reviewed it negatively. Just because you are a Singaporean.
Time: Tue - Fri: 7.30pm | Sat: 3pm and 7.30pm | Sun: 1.30pm and 6pm | Sun (9 Aug): 1.30pm
Venue: MasterCard Theatres® at Marina Bay Sands
Buy Tickets Here: Sistic
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A stay at home mum, blogging to widen her social life. We want to echo the sound of love through our lives to inspire other mothers alike.
I haven't watched this musical yet, but I do agree, the troll in the Billy Goats Gruff was really really good! I love TLC productions and think they are much better than some of the "imported" shows. So glad to see that there is much more talent these days (even if the songs are a little less memorable than those from before, I think I can remember the Chang and Eng tune too!).
ReplyDeleteThank you for dropping by Mummyed. I am always excited in all TLC's productions! Became an addict! hahah
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