My love affair with musical theatre goes back, way
back to my childhood in a musical performance in Primary School at Johor Baru’s
Convent of the Holy Infant Jesus.
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| The poster for Lost/Found, a musical theatre show in Johor Baru |
In an all-girls school, girls will be dressed as boys
and I was in the role as one of the ‘pretty maids’ singing opposite a ‘boy’ to
present the song, Where Are You Going To My Pretty Maid?
While it was merely a school show, it was a
life-changing experience for me, and since then live musical theatre shows have
always been the ultimate joy!
Recently when Elizabeth Louis told me about Lost/Found,
an English musical theatre production scheduled to be staged in Johor Baru
during the first weekend of December 2019, I was absolutely thrilled!
Over the years, I was privileged to attend students’
annual performances organized by Elizabeth, Director of StageCraft, the largest
Drama & Speaking Skills training center in Southern Peninsular Malaysia.
Now StageCraft Theatre Productions, the theatre arm of
StageCraft, will be presenting Lost/Found, a work by acclaimed Malaysian
composer, Nick Choo, in collaboration with Christopher Ling, award-winning Founder-Director
of theatrethreesixty.
This is the first time for such a stylish musical
theatre production to be presented in Johor Baru and I was told that this show
was in fact, four mini musicals woven into one re-telling of life, love and
loss, in a rollercoaster of emotions.
It was exciting that Lost/Found was really coming
to JB and a quick online check turned out some interesting info about prolific
Malaysian composer, musician and playwright, Nick Choo, whose original musical
theatre works have been produced in Kuala Lumpur, Australia, South Korea and
Singapore.
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| A scene from the musical theatre Lost/Found |
For his work in the Short+Sweet Musical Fests over the
years, Nick was the recipient of the inaugural Mercedes-Benz Malaysia Creative
Excellence Awards in 2014.
Nick was also the composer, writer and lyricist of The
Edge, which won several Boh Cameronian Arts Awards in 2014 including Best
Original Script/Lyrics and Best Musical Direction.
The Edge
made its Western Australia premier in May 2018 with an all-Australia cast at
The Blue Room Theatre in Perth.
Nick’s work included the Boh Cemeronian Arts
Awards-nominated 2015 children’s musical Zak Zebra’s African Safari
which toured to South Korea for the launch of the Asian Cultural Complex that
year.
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| An intimate setting where the audience can enjoy an experience of the live theatre show |
This work was featured in the Perth Fringe World
Festival and was even nominated for a Theatre Award.
Nick was the composer and lyricist of Alice’s
Wonderland, produced and presented by Cempaka Performing Arts Company in
May 2017.
This led to the Cempaka Schools being recognised by
the Malaysian Book of Records as the first school to produce an original
professional quality musical.
Lost/Found premiered in Kuching with sold-out shows and the shows here will be presented at the Sunway
Iskandar Events Gallery, the building next to the Sunway Citrine Hub in
Iskandar Puteri.
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| A meet-up with [Left to Right] Elizabeth Louis, Christopher Ling and Nandang Abdul Rahman |
To put a stop to all this wondering, I asked Elizabeth
and she in turn, invited me to join her for a meeting with the show’s Artistic
Director, Chris Ling, so that I can quiz him myself.
Meanwhile an online search on Chris Ling uncovered yet
another impressive dossier.
Chris, the co-founder and Artistic Director of
Malaysian theatre collective, theatrethreesixty was trained in Drama and
Theatre Arts at Middlesex University, UK and with the National Youth Theatre of
Great Britain.
His theatre productions which made their debut in KL,
have also toured to Singapore and London.
 |
| Chris Ling, speaking with animation |
His directing credits included the Malaysian premiers
of Tony Kushner’s Angels in America, Duncan Macmillan’s Every
Brilliant Thing, the 10th anniversary staging of Nick Choo’s
musical, The Edge, and the recent 16th Boh Cameronian Arts
Awards ceremony.
When I met with Chris, Elizabeth and her sister Anne,
they were with co-founder and Executive Producer of theatrethreesixty, Nandang
Abdul Rahman, better known as Nan.
Our conversation topics in the next two hours ranged
from arts awareness in schools, how performing arts should be integrated into
the school syllabus, the parents’ role in exposing their children to the arts,
to changing the mindset because art is for everyone!
We also talked about the talents, skills and job
opportunities in the industry that not only needed actors but also a host of responsibilities
backstage and at the front of the house.
The affable Chris did not hesitate to share about his
own foray into the performing arts when he was at the tender age of 13. This
self-confessed Teacher’s Pet fondly remembers being given the opportunity to
direct a school play.
His father helped him write a 15 to 20-minute script
with a moral to the story entitled, Boh Chai See (Hokkien dialect)
loosely translated as, The Man Who Was Not Afraid To Die.
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| An interesting and informative time with two co-founders of theatrethreesixty and Elizabeth Louis |
Every year, he was involved in his school’s arts projects,
performances for competitions, right up to when he was in university.
Chris then shared with us, a behind-the-scenes chat with
the talented cast of Lost/Found, Tria Aziz, Alia Kearny, Gabriel Tham and Natalie
Makulin, to discover what the words, “Lost, Searching and Found” mean to them
and prepare them for their roles.
To start the ball rolling, he shared his own childhood
experience of being lost in Jaya Supermarket. He remembered being found by
kindly people who placed him on the counter (near the cigarettes display) to
wait for his parents to claim him.
Another traumatizing childhood experience was with his
parents in Metrojaya when it was late, almost closing time.
When young Chris heard the Thank You announcement to shoppers,
informing that the store would be closing soon, he was overcome by the feeling
of panic and abandonment and rushed his parents to leave immediately or risk
being locked in!
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| Live music performance by violin virtuoso, Andrea Sim |
The audience should easily identify with the human
stories shared in Lost/Found about the four young people who are trying to find
themselves. In the process, they are left wondering whether in order to find,
they must first lose themselves…
When Chris explained that Nick had given him the
freedom to deconstruct his script and reconceptualize it with a refreshed
staging, I’m more than eager to have my own experience of Lost/Found in its
first showing in JB.
In fact, the composer himself, Nick will be playing
the keyboards for this performance and will be accompanied by violin virtuoso,
Andrea Sim.
Elizabeth was pleased that some corporations have
exercised their Corporate Social Responsibility by buying tickets in bulk for
students to experience this show.
And yes, I did not forget to find out about the stage
setup; Nan scrolled through the visuals stored in his smartphone and showed the
stage layout to me.
It will be an intimate setting where the audience
cannot miss a thing in this live musical theatre show…
Daily shows are at 8pm on Friday, Saturday and
Sunday, Dec 6, 7 and 8, with a matinee at 3pm on Sunday, Dec 8.
Ticket price at RM75 only with Senior and Student rate
at RM60 only.
One Adult chaperone ticket comes Complimentary for
every 10 Student tickets purchased in a single school booking.
On Saturday, Dec 7, a Musical Theatre Workshop
will be conducted by Chris from 2pm to 6pm at RM100 per person. This workshop
will involve instruction and application in Acting, Singing and Dancing.
For tickets and enquiries, Tel: +6017 – 783 5700.
Tickets may
be purchased online at https://www.cognitoforms.com/StageCraftTheatreProductions/LostFoundAMusicalByTheatrethreesixtyPG13
For a peek into the live musical theatre performances,
check out these snippets:
https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1zZ1sMsdGLQTtWQ7gv6Bcg-53hy373XcW
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