Musicals: a Singapore Perspective
Musical theater is a relatively young art form in Singapore. This website attempts to reflect the views and ordeals of both the active participants as well as the critics of the shows. I have taken the opportunity to write about my personal experiences, philosophy, successes and failures in musical theater. I have had to learn things the hard way, starting from the basics of how to write and stage musicals in Singapore. Putting a show together is a great challenge. It is a collaboration of many creative people. If all the elements are right, you have a truly memorable performance. The exhilaration of success is intoxicating and addictive. This is why I keep coming back for more. Have fun exploring this site. The views expressed belong to the respective authors, and they retain copyright to their writings.
In June 2005 we staged five original made-in-Singapore musicals in a festival of new musicals, "Five Foot Broadway 2005". It was a resounding success. Since then we have launched a further 12 more musicals, 6 in March 2006 at the Arts House, and another 6 in June 2006 at the Esplanade Recital Studio. The latter was included in the Singapore Festival of Arts fringe 2006.
In 2007 we incubated 5 more musicals:"Five Foot Broadway 2007 ". Two of them were staged at the Esplanade Recital Studio: "Georgette" written by Ng Yi-Sheng with music by Clement Yang, and "Believe" written by Alex Wang. Musical Theatre Ltd also conducted performance workshops called "The Heart of Musicals" in 2007 and again in 2008.
In February 2008, a specially written-for-television musical called School House Rockz was broadcast on MediaCorp's Kids Central. Music and lyrics by Kenneth Lyen, Desmond Moey, and Jack Ho. It was nominated for an Asian TV 2008 Award. As part of the Singapore Festival of Arts 2008, Musical Theatre Ltd and the Esplanade Theatres by the Bay produced a festival of short musicals called Five Foot Broadway Mini Musicals. This comprised musicals lasting 15 minutes, and was staged in June 2008 during the Singapore Festival of Arts.
There was another festival of Five Foot Broadway Mini Musicals in July 2010, featuring three short musicals with music composed by Ken Lyen. In March 2011 there was a staged reading of the musical Casino, with book and lyrics by Richard Lord and music by Ken Lyen. Then in October 2011, the musical It's Academic, with book and lyrics by Walter Wong and music by Ken Lyen received a concert reading at The Arts House. So You Wanna Be a Nurse is a musical written by Ken Lyen and Justin Kan performed at Nanyang Polytechnic by Tan Tock Seng Hospital nurses (2012).
Ken Lyen
LIST OF SINGAPORE MUSICALS REVIEWED
Kampong Amber (1994) Music & lyrics: Dick Lee, Book: Catherine Lim
Big Bang! (1995) Music: Ken Lyen & Desmond Moey, Lyrics: Desmond Moey, Book: Stephen Yan
Mortal Sins (1995) Music & lyrics: Dick Lee, Book: Michael Chiang
Corporate Animals (1995) Music & lyrics: Ken Low, Book: Desmond Sim
Sing to the Dawn (1996) Music: Dick Lee, Lyrics: Stephen Clark, Book: Ho Minfong & Stephen Clark
Snow Wolf Lake (1996) Music: Dick Lee and others
Chang and Eng (1997) Music & lyrics: Ken Low, Book: Ming Wong
A Twist of Fate (1997) Music: Dick Lee, Lyrics: Anthony Drewe, Book: Stephen Dexter & Tony Petito
24 Hours (1999) Music: Babes Condes, Book: Haresh Sharma
Mr Beng (1999) Music: Iskandar Ismail, Book: Otto Fong
Haunted (1999) Music: Mark Chan, Book: Ovidia Yu
I Have a Date with Spring (1999)
Temptations (2000) Music: Ken Lyen, Desmond Moey & Iskandar Ismail, Lyrics: Desmond Moey, Book: Ken Lyen
The Magic Paintbrush (2000) Music: Ken Lyen, Book & lyrics: Brian Seward
Chameleon (2000) Music: Bang Wenfu, Book & lyrics: Denise Marsh
Women on Canvas (2000) Music: Bang Wenfu, Book & lyrics: Jonathan Lim
Sayang (2001) Music: Ken Lyen, Lyrics: Ivan Ho, Book: Vincent Wong
Re-Mix (2002) Music & lyrics: Dick Lee
Forbidden City (2002) Music: Dick Lee, Lyrics: Stephen Clark, Book: Stephen Clark & Dick Lee
Exodus (2003) Music: Ken Lyen & Chua Yao Zhang, Book & lyrics: Stella Kon
Making the Grade (2004) Music: Ken Lyen & Karen Lim, Book & lyrics: Ng Swee San
Lost in Transit (2005) Music: Desmond Moey, Book & Lyrics: Stella Kon
Phua Chu Kang (2005) Music: Edmund Ooi and Peter Casey, Book: uncredited, Lyrics: Edmund Ooi, Catherine Casey, Vivienne Lin, Adeline Tan
Admiral Odyssey (2005) Music: Ken Low, Book: Jean Tay, Lyrics: Ken Low and Jean Tay
Pagoda Street (2005) Music, Book & Lyrics: Declan Ee
A Good History (2005) Music: Justin Chew, Adrian Lee, Tham Howen, Book & Lyrics: Wong Chen Seong
Roses & Hello (2005) Music: Esther Yang, Book & Lyrics: Luke Kwek
Lao Jiu (2005) Music: Jonathan Price, Original Play: Kuo Pao Kun, Lyrics: Xiao Han, Wu Xi, Yang Qian
The Snow Queen (2005) Music: Darren Ng Tzer-Huei, Book & lyrics: Tracie Pang
Oi! Sleeping Beauty! (2005) Music: Bang Wenfu, Book & Lyrics: Jonathan Lim
A Kung Fu Tale (2006) Music: Li Yi
Georgette (2007) Book & Lyrics: Ng Yi-Sheng, Music: Clement Yang
School House Rockz (2008) Music & Lyrics: Kenneth Lyen, Desmond Moey, Jack Ho. Book: Lynette Chiu, Alina Heng, Raihan Halim
Shanghai Blues (2008) Playwright: Raymond To Kwok-Wai, Director: Goh Boon Teck, Music Director: Philip Tan
It's My Life (2008) Music: Bang Wenfu, Book: Chong Tze Chien, Lyrics & Director: Lim Yu-Beng
Sleepless Town (2009) Music: Don Richmond and Jason Tan, Book; Lyrics: Mark Richmond, Director: Beatrice Chia
