Today while watching “天冷就回来” (“If There’re Seasons…”) at the Drama Centre Theatre, I was introduced to the songwriting genius of 梁文福 (Liang Wern Fook).
I’ve heard a lot about this legendary local xinyao composer, but have never really sat down to listen to his songs.
Apparently this musical was not drawn up from scratch…but rather, it is inspired by the many popular songs of 梁文福 (something like “Mamma Mia!” the musical I guess…they’re called “jukebox musicals”). However, I felt that it was an excellent production nonetheless.
This is the first time I have ever watched a Chinese musical, which felt a bit strange to me in some sense cos I’ve always been accustomed to musical theatre being a Western artform (an American artform to be exact), so it was kinda weird at first watching a musical where the cast speaks in Mandarin.
But don’t get me wrong…I found the experience highly enjoyable.
The plot and the way it was portrayed was understandably a bit more “Chinese” in nature, i.e. more focussed on the theme of “love” and more melodramatic in nature…which wasn’t such a bad thing to be honest. Some of the scenes were so touching.
But more importantly, the songs of 梁文福 were of the highest quality.
There were at least 30+ original 梁文福 songs used throughout the musical, which got a bit too much at times. (I believe that too much of a good thing isn’t always a good thing, if you get my drift.)
I think this is the problem with “jukebox musicals” such as these. Too much song material to pack into one story.
But anyhow, one cannot deny the genius of 梁文福 in crafting beautiful, delicate melodies coupled with highly ingenious and inventive lyrics. This guy can do it all.
The plot was pretty good, I felt.
It was a bit predictable at times, and most of the characters seemed one-dimensional…but I just liked the way everything was played out.
All in all, I thoroughly enjoyed watching “If There’re Seasons”, and came out of the theatre very satisfied.
I’m beginning to like J.D’s voice…reminds me of Tania Chua – the Western-ish way of singing Mandarin songs.
Btw, LF has 梁文福’s Greatest Hits! I’m so gonna borrow from her ;)
Heyhey, I was YouTube-ing around…found this:
Sebastien Tan was in the original cast! I bet he was A-Qiang ;)
Wow, nice! Sebastian Tan!
The A-Le is still the same actor right? That’s George Chan in the video right?
yup! I watched the one with Sebastian Tan!
What I have isn’t his greatest hits but all his songs to date (6 discs), I think. Of course, most of his songs were not sang by him as he wrote them for others, but he did sing some. His lyrics are very meaningful.
Haha…you’ve got to take a queue no. though. It’s now with HL. Jeremy, you want to borrow too?
watched it when it first came out…2 years ago i think. haha. Jo Dong was my senior at VJchoir.
btw, did u blog about “importance of being earnest?”
Lingfeng: Wow 6 discs!! Yeah, his lyrics are very meaningful. I’m very impressed by his ability to craft BOTH wonderful tunes and lyrics. Very impressive. Yeah sure, if possible I would love to borrow it. Thanks!
Estique: Jo Dong sings in a more “Western” style as compared to the rest of the cast. But she did really well nonetheless. Erm…nope, I don’t think I blogged about Earnest. Somehow I didn’t find the time or the energy to blog about it.
But I have to say it was very well done. Thoroughly enjoyable.
I’m after HL, k! I book first ;p
THANK U!!!