With the upcoming National Day holidays around the corner, are you thinking of how you should spend it? How about catching a musical? One of our contributors managed to catch LKY The Musical and these are his thoughts on it!
The LKY Musical – Theatre Review
If you were to envisage the LKY musical as an allegory, then it would surely take the form of an elaborate candy floss – full of grandeur and pomp on the outside but unfulfilling within.
Apart from the production’s saving grace and lead actor Adrian Pang, the LKY Musical was marred by a storyline lacking in depth and nuance.
If the purpose of a biopic is to accurately represent an individual and important culminations of their life, then a play about a nation’s leader and his illustrious past should embody the same ethos. That being said, the first signs of trouble reveal themselves early into show.
Sharon Au plays the character of Madam Kwa Geok Choo (Mrs Lee Kuan Yew) – possibly one of the most powerful characters in the script. However, her delivery and diction of the lines are lacking in punch – which is such a pity considering Madam Geok Choo’s eloquent and masterful comprehension of the English language in real life. Her efforts throughout the show are commendable but such is the gravity and expectations that naturally comes with a production titled as “The LKY Musical”.
The musical is also peppered with a slew of Hokkien-based jokes at the beginning, which leave the non-lingua franca speaking audiences scratching their heads in wonderment at the animated crowd which did understand the dialect humour.
Considering the fact that the play is about the founding father who is universally renowned for his efforts in breaking down racial barriers to unite a diverse nation of races, more thought must have been put into developing a conscientious script that would have prioritised a more inclusive language to appeal to all races and languages.
On the up side, the fresh-faced ensemble did a fantastic job and helped raise the tempo of the show at various intervals and did a good job of keeping the momentum going. Paired with an engaging and interactive multi media display, the ensemble help keep the audiences entertained.
The show’s standout performance is definitely delivered by doyen Adrian Pang who doesn’t disappoint with his feisty and well-delivered rhetoric of the late Lee Kuan Yew. His stage presence and strong delivery of language is one of the few positives to come out of this play.
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Due to overwhelming response for the musical, a few seats have been released for the matinee today (5 August) at 3pm. You can get your tickets via sistic.com.sg!
