Random Musings

“…get up outta your seat,
why don’t you do somethin’?”
- Britney Spears (“Do Somethin’”)

I’ll have to admit, sometimes I do find myself getting quite envious.

Those who know me well would know that my interests lie mainly in musical theatre.

I mean, music is cool and I love the art of songwriting and all that…but ultimately I’ve always leaned towards Broadway ever since I caught “The Sound of Music” at the Esplanade in 2005.

That kinda triggered the whole musical passion for me.

I love the intelligence behind the lyrics.

I love the sheer beauty of the melodies and harmonies.

I love the way music blends with words which blends with story to make an entirely moving experience.

And I’ve always said that I would definitely want to compose (or even write-and-compose) for a musical someday.

In fact, it is one of my resolutions for 2010, for sure.

Envious

Why do I say I’m envious?

Well, I get envious when I see how some local talents have got quite a good headstart in dipping their feet in local musical theatre.

I attended the “Five Foot Broadway Mini Musicals” event (here) in 2008, and it was fantastic.

Six mini-musicals written by local writers of various ages and backgrounds.

There was a particular one which was written by two (then) law students, and it was just amazing.

There was another one on the topic of “national service” written and composed entirely by one writer, and it went on to be produced by W!ld Rice as one-half of “Own Time Own Target” (which was sold-out, by the way).

And of course, apart from “Mini Musicals” I understand there are many varsity students out there who are heavily involved in writing and staging their own school musicals too.

And I believe there are quite a number of teams working with Musical Theatre Limited to create and incubate exciting new musicals as well.

So much talent out there, some of them pretty young, and they’re getting their feet wet and getting involved in all this good stuff.

And here I am just sitting down here wishing I could catch a break someday.

What Are You Doing About It?

A few months ago, I attended a little talk about songwriting in musicals, organised by MTL, and Elaine Chan was the speaker.

And she made us all introduce ourselves, and when it was my turn I said I would aspire to compose for a musical someday.

And I remember she asked me “So have you gotten involved in anything yet?”

And of course, my sad answer was…“No.”

And that really made me think.

I believe there is this Chinese saying called “守株待兔” – which basically refers to someone who just sits around waiting for something good to happen.

I think in life, you really gotta make your own luck.

No one owes you anything…if you want something badly enough, you gotta go out and get it.

Look, the great Richard Rodgers took extension courses in Columbia University just so that he could get the opportunity to write the varsity musical production.

I believe that it’s up to a person to work his way into whatever role or opportunity he wants to get (within ethical means, of course).

I doubt the Broadway greats had success fall into their laps just like that.

I believe all of them had to work real hard and catch whatever little breaks they could in order to prove themselves to the world.

What’s Ahead?

As mentioned, I’m definitely working on at least one musical this year.

There is a chance that I may be working on a new musical with a writer whom I’ve just recently been introduced to, thanks to the good folks from MTL.

I am also hoping to be more involved in MTL so that I can learn from them, because they’ve simply got a wealth of knowledge to share.

Lastly, whatever it is, I think I’m going to start work on a musical of my own.

I’ve got the basic story idea for it already…I’m just spending these few weeks trying to firm up the storyline, then once the entire “story” part is done, I’ll start working on the songs.

The aim is to stage a simple reading by this year, hopefully, and invite some of my friends to come review it.

Do I have what it takes?

I seriously don’t know.

I guess that’s not for me to decide.

Will my musical work?

Who knows?

Most musicals don’t become successes anyway, or rather, the success rate for musicals usually isn’t very high.

But at least I’m trying.

At least I’m doing something now.