Event: Broadway 4 Suakus: You, Me, HDB
Venue: The Hall @ The Arts House
Run: 9th Feb – 20th Feb 2011
In an age where musicals are normally associated with the likes of Lloyd Webber, Boublil & Schönberg, Jonathan Larson and Stephen Schwartz, it is highly gratifying to see a group of local theatre practitioners so fervently spreading the gospel of the older (but no less inferior) Broadway material of the likes of Bock & Harnick, Stephen Sondheim, Rodgers & Hart, and especially Rodgers & Hammerstein.
While the works of contemporary musical writers are wonderful to say the least, one should not ignore the glorious works of the past masters, for whom we would not have Broadway musical theatre today as we know it if not for them.
Indeed, it was the duo of Rodgers & Hammerstein in particular who were instrumental in shaping the course of musical theatre, and one’s journey into the world of Broadway would never be complete without an exploration of their musicals.
Endless thanks, therefore, go to Jonathan Lim and the gang from Stages for presenting a delightful romp into the yesteryear of Broadway music, which somehow manages to score highly both in terms of entertainment value and educational value.
I would have to admit that as I am a huge fan of Rodgers & Hammerstein, most of the material in the show was right up my alley.
It didn’t hurt that “Fiddler on the Roof” is one of my favourite musicals too.
The programme for the show, though simply made via the stapling of some A4 sheets together, was extremely high on educational value as it faithfully chronicled every single song that was to be performed that evening, accompanied with detailed notes and background information on each song.
Apparently, we were told during the show that it was maestro Julian Wong, pianist and co-creator of the show, who was largely responsible for compiling all the juicy bits of information.
I thought it was wonderfully put together, and kudos to the team for taking so much effort into preparing the programme.
The show was mainly a revue, and featured the collective talents of Julian Wong (pianist), Jonathan Lim, Judee Tan, Dwayne Lau and Candice de Rozario…
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