'The Sound of Music in Four Minutes' by The SoDa Players

Not free to catch The Sound of Music production at MBS? Fret not, local group The SoDa Players provides everything you need to know about the classic musical in only four minutes; jsut click on the video below. How's that for a time saver?

MBS Sound of Music 2017 in Review - till 3 Dec 2017

by Jeremy Lee

Let’s start at the very beginning, a very good place to start...in 1959, Mary Martin trod onto a Broadway stage and sang “The Sound Of Music” for the first time…..wait, what? What happened to Julie Andrews?

For everybody who thinks that the legendary The Sound Of Music started with Julie Andrews twirling around the hills of Salzburg...nah, that was just the 1965 movie. The production currently running at the MasterCard Theatres at the Marina Bay Sands till 3 December is here to put you right.

Turns out The Sound Of Music began life as a Broadway stage musical with iconic Broadway star Mary Martin originating the lead role of Maria von Trapp. And that, NOT the Julie Andrews movie, is the production that’s now being revived at the Marina Bay Sands, after a successful run at the same venue in 2014.

Well, what’s the difference, you may ask? First, the good news: Don’t worry, all your favourite tunes are still here, including, well, “My Favourite Things”. Toe-tappers like “Do Re Mi”, “The Lonely Goatherd” and “Sixteen Going On Seventeen” are still intact, and stirring numbers like “Climb Ev’ry Mountain” and “Edelweiss” are present too.

Some of these much-loved songs are just repositioned, that’s all. For example, “My Favourite Things”, sung by Maria and the children in the movie during the thunderstorm scene in her bedroom, is now sung much earlier in the show... and by the Mother Abbess, just like how it was supposed to be in the stage musical. Maria and the children now sing “The Lonely Goatherd” during the thunderstorm scene.

However, unless you’re a die-hard fan of the movie who knows every sequence by heart, you won’t detect much different from this production, and will thoroughly enjoy it as much as you enjoyed the movie.

Now, the better news: There are indeed some obvious differences between this production and the movie. The most striking of all is we have two “new” songs that the original stage musical had, which were cut from the movie. And both of them involve Baroness Elsa Schräder singing!

Audiences might be bewildered to hear the Baroness and Max, who were both distinctly non-musical in the movie, breaking out in song not once, but twice, in the ditties “How Can Love Survive” and “No Way To Stop It”, which both explain their somewhat cynical attitudes towards life and how they are at odds with the simplicity of Maria and the von Trapps. Upon listening to the songs, it’s quite evident why they were cut from the movie: They have a distinctly different feel from the rest of the songs in the musical, and presumably composers Rodgers and Hammerstein did this to deliberately set them apart from the rest of the more innocent and heartfelt songs. For Singaporeans who love to get a bargain, though, we should just take it as a bonus -- two additional songs we didn’t even ask for, and they are capably sung by Haylea Heyns as the Baroness and Jonathan Taylor as Max.

And as a bonus, the two songs that were added in the movie but were not in the original stage production -- “I Have Confidence” and “Something Good” -- are also here, so audiences will get the best of both worlds.

As for the performance, a clear standout is Janelle Visagie as the Mother Abbess. Though the role doesn’t get much stage time, she has the necessary gravitas and charisma to steal the show whenever she’s on stage.for the role, and most importantly she has the singing chops for a rousing version of  “Climb Ev’ry Mountain”. Visagie’s operatic background is put to good use in the Act 1 closing number, and it makes her the performer that evokes the fondest memories for aficionados of the movie.

Another notable mention is Carmen Pretorius, who like all the Marias before her has a very tough job to even come close to the magnificence of Julie Andrews. Though her vocals are far from the stylings of the English Dame (who, indeed, can match up to them?), she makes the role her own with a spunk and winning chemistry with the children. As with most Marias, though, she seems to have more chemistry with the children than her eventual husband Captain von Trapp (Nicholas Maude).

Parents may come to marvel at the children, who are indeed adorable. The production has chosen 18 young actors and actress right here in Singapore to play the 6 youngest von Trapp children (with the eldest, Liesl, played by the delightful Zoe Beavon). Each child character will be alternated between 3 children. So if you like children and want to support young local talent, you can’t miss this chance to catch them in action.

If you’re still reading this review, you’re probably already interested in the show, so what are you waiting for? We can guarantee you’ll have a great night out.

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Intrigued? Here's your last chance to get tickets to The Sound of Music at MBS! Get your tickets at SISTIC!

Vocal Recital 'Sure on This Shining Night' - 16 Dec 2017

Come 17 December, a bunch of Singapore's young professional musicians will present a festive fare for two shows only. Teng Xiang-Ting (soprano), Leslie Tay (tenor), Alvin Tan (baritone) and Pauline Lee (piano) will give you a rejuvenating journey of Christmas music this December!

Sure on this Shining Night is an hour long recital which will feature works by the great composers such as Handel, Mozart, Debussy, Schubert and Bernstein. Be the first to hear Lee Jin-Jun and Aaron Lee’s newly composed Christmas Shopping, a satire on Singapore’s favourite pastime. Adam’s O Holy Night will fill you with awe, and let your soul be comforted by Andrea Bocelli’s The Prayer.

Event details:
16 December 2017, Saturday
6pm and 8pm (2 shows)
Esplanade Recital Studio

Ticket pricing:
Early bird discount for tickets bought before 1 December 2017 - 1 ticket for $20
After 1 December 2017 - Standard price 1 ticket for $30, or 2 tickets for $50

Recital Repertoire
Go tell it on the mountain (Traditional)
Sure on this shining night (Morten Lauridsen)
Comfort Ye / Every valley (Handel)
Laudate Dominum (Mozart)
Ave Maria (Schubert)
Noel des enfants (Debussy)
Noel des jouets (Ravel)
The Lord's Prayer (Albert H. Malotte)
I wonder as I wander (Britten)
Simple Song (Bernstein)
He's got the whole world in his hands (Traditional)
The Prayer (David Forster, Carol B. Sager et al)
Christmas Shopping (Composition by local composer Lee Jin Jun and libretto by Aaron Lee)
O Holy Night (Traditional)
Deck the Hall (Traditional)

Sounds like an entertaining programme for connoisseurs and newbies alike. Here are some performance videos of the singers on the bill:

Tickets for this concert are available at Peatix (http://shiningnight.peatix.com). See you there! 

SLO's 'Unrequited Love' in Review

Singapore Lyric Opera
Opera Gala – Unrequited Love
23rd Novemeber 2017

Esplanade Concert Hall, Singapore

Featuring:
Jessica Chen - Soprano
Kee Loi-Seng - Tenor
Samantha Chong - Mezzo-Soprano
Pham Kanh-Ngoc - Soprano
Alvin Tan - Baritone

SLO-Leow Siak Fah Artists Training Programme Trainees:

Zhang Jie - Soprano
Zerlina Tan - Mezzo-Soprano
Chieko Sato - Mezzo-Soprano
Cherie Tse - Soprano
Leslie Tay - Tenor

Singapore Lyric Opera Orchestra
Singapore Lyric Opera Chorus
Singapore Lyric Opera Children's Choir
Jason Lai - Conductor
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A Review by Hawk Liu
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I went home really happy from tonight's Gala Concert for a few simple reasons - I didn't hear Libiamo, Habanera, Flower Duet from Lakme and any other sung-to-death grand opera arias. It was truly refreshing to hear a bunch of coloratura stuff in a single local concert for once. I smiled when I heard the announcement for the first two arias - Handel ! (I didn't want to read the programme because the colour-contrast design was not suitable for 'old-flower-eyes' like mine). Except for the Hänsel and Gretel children's chorus, I don't believe any of the other soloists' items were presented in a major recital before in Singapore. I enjoyed the new programme very much and a few of my friends liked the varied programme too.

It was a treat to hear so many different singers in one evening - Bravi! The audience love Pham in both Alcina and Semiramide. Blessed with a generous amount of coloratura in her throat, she dazzled. Although running out of steam a little towards the end of Semiramide, she made up for it by changing tonality a couple of times in the unaccompanied cadenza and ending together with the orchestra spot on pitch.

Interview: Beverly Yuen, 'A Walk into the Mandala" - 8 and 9 Dec 2017

Alvin Koh interviews Beverly Yuen, a veteran of the physical theatre scene and director of the newly formed Grain Performance and Research Lab. Here, we discussed the upcoming production A Walk into the Mandala. A highlight of the production is the use of brown rice to create beautiful images onstage. Here, Beverly and Alvin discuss what inspired the piece and what we audiences can expect from it.

Beverly Yuen rocking a purple Coach bag

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The Mad Scene: Can you tell us about your present work, A Walk into the Mandala? What is it about?

Beverly Yuen: It is about mandala, and yet it is not about mandala. It is about who we are, living in a hectic world. It is about what we do and how we act in order to breathe, and in order to stay alive.

The Mad Scene: But why is “mandala” the focus of the play?

Beverly Yuen: Mandala, in the show, is a symbol for contemplation about the state of being we are in today, and how it feels like living in today’s society. Everything is almost fast forwarded. We can almost foresee the “future” and at the same time, we can’t. There is a huge dilemma of being here. We know, and yet we... don’t know.

As a symbol, the Mandala can be found in cultures across the world, from the swirling Dervish dances of Sufi monks to Hindu Rangoli floor paintings, and European stained glassworks. In Tibetan culture, the mandala aids concentration. The late psychoanalyst Carl G Jung believed that the mandala, as an art form, enables one to understand the inner psyche.

OperaViva's 'Opera Mixer' - Quotes from Cast - 25 and 26 Nov 2017

The stars of OperaViva's Opera Mixer: The Italian Edition (from left to right: Wendy Woon, Ben Lim, Alvin Tan, Leslie Tay and Melissa Chan) tell us their favourite part about being in the event.

"My favourite part of Opera Mixer is that I get to sing with awesome colleagues and I get to invite friends who are new to opera knowing that they will enjoy our carefully selected repertoire. It's like opera for all ages!” Alvin Tan, baritone

"I get to try out some exciting new repertoire that I probably wouldn't have tried singing a few years ago and get to indulge in the grand passions that we associate with Italian opera!” Leslie Tay, tenor

“I love being able to see the audience’s reactions and move around them in this casual and more intimate format.  It doesn’t get more real than that.” Melissa Chan, mezzo-soprano

“It would have to be all the laughs and shenanigans that’s part of the rehearsal process. Singing in a safe fun space with colleagues that one has chemistry with is hard to come by and is thoroughly relished.” Wendy Woon, soprano

Looks like a fun concert to be had! Besides hearing great live music, you will also get to mix with other opera lovers and share your drinks and snacks with us. Time to place new orders for packets of salted egg fish skin then! Check out the Events Page for tickets! 

The Addams Family at Mediacorp's MES Theatre - till 3 Dec 2017

Everyone's favourite kooky undead family is here in Singapore!!! The Addams Family Musical, with music by Grammy winner Andrew Lippa, will play at Mediacorp's MES Theatre till 3 December 2017. Hawk Liu goes to interview the cast of The Addams Family and discuss their taste for the macabre. Check out the interview below:

This interview can also be found on Hawk Liu's website http://hawkliuh.wixsite.com/singing/interviews-2017.

Plus, we have exclusive images of the production, courtesy of Jeremy Lee!

Get your tickets now by checking out the Events Page!!!