The Legend of Mulan comes alive!

 

Having successfully staged several shows including classics like, Oliver Twist and Alladin, the Arts Department at Crescendo HELP International School embarked on an ambitious project to stage The Legend of Mulan in 2019.

 

The cast, crew and musicians for
The Legend of Mulan, staged by 
by Crescendo HELP International School

When the global pandemic reached our shores in early 2020, this exciting vision and all the plans for The Legend of Mulan was however, shelved indefinitely.

 

Then at the start of the first school term in August 2023, the school decided to adopt The Legend of Mulan as a Co-Curricular Activity (CCA) in a project that would involve students and teachers from the Primary and Secondary schools.

 

This marked the start of an extraordinary journey as everyone was encouraged to be part of this exciting project that needed dedicated teams of talents to turn the plans into reality.

 

The family of Mulan Fa discovers that she
had left to join the army; [L to R] Her brother,
father, mother and grandmother

The teachers were aware that such a project required countless hours of hard work, creativity and collaboration, and it was up to them to lead and inspire the youngsters to contribute their best to present a live performance on stage.

 

This presentation would be a collective effort of students, teachers and staff, working on its promotion, acting on stage, playing the music, preparing the props, managing the multi-media, sound, lighting and every detail behind the scenes, and in every area of the production.

 

Students were encouraged to attend auditions to discover their talents not only in character roles on stage but also as musicians to form an orchestra as well as for skills in prop-making, stage backdrop designs and costumes.

 

A dramatic fight scene in The Legend of Mulan

Head of the Arts Department, Abdul Wafi, said that this project, dubbed the Mulan CCA, kicked off in September 2023 with the various components working separately for one hour during CCA every Thursday.

 

While the directors worked with the actors and the music conductors worked with the musicians, the prop-makers and costume-design teams, each worked separately.

 

The directors included teachers as well as six-formers who recently completed their studies with the school but were passionate to work with the team in this project.

 

A vocal rendition of Reflection by Sam Tan Hann

Then a week before the presentation date, all these teams came together for rehearsals with a full-dress rehearsal held just ahead of June 29, where two shows were staged at 11am and 2pm.

 

I had the pleasure to accept the invitation from Wafi to the first show and arrived at the school, well ahead of time so that I could soak in the atmosphere and gear myself up to better appreciate this live performance.

 

It was good to be back at the school again and to meet with staff members who got to know My Johor Stories when I was at the school for their Book Week event in 2018.

 

A scene where Mulan Fa meets the Emperor

As I was warmly welcomed and ushered to my seat, it was good to see many familiar faces as well as a number of people including family members of the students who were in the audience to support and encourage them.

 

In the brief introduction by the Master of Ceremony, he advised the audience to keep to their seats and leave the central corridor free as the performers would be using this space during their performance.

 

He also hinted that the performance would include an invitation for audience participation and encouraged the audience to join in, to make the story come alive for everyone.

 

The audience was invited to participate...

Before the show started, the school’s effort in the Mulan CCA was shared in a video for a glimpse of behind-the-scenes activities by some 130 students and teachers as prop-makers, costume designers and wardrobe makers, practice sessions for musicians and the actors, as well as the work of the stage crew and the multi-media team.

 

Members of the Media Club, photographers and videographers, were in the audience, discreetly ready to capture the moments as the show opened with a brief synopsis of the story presented in three languages, English, Malay and Mandarin.

 

A section of the audience, participating with
the actors on the stage during the show

As the scenes unfolded in the familiar story on The Legend of Mulan, it was interesting that the directors exercised dramatic license to create characters to convey a more complete story with narration provided by a group of ‘ancestors.’

 

It was truly a commendable effort by the students who played their various parts as main characters along with the many supporting roles as well as the team of guards.

 

While I observed the coordination among the teams in changing the backdrop, moving the stage props and the music accompaniment to the various scenes, I was impressed with the professional touch even for a school production such as this.

 

The performance kept the audience engaged and entertained, especially during the vocal rendition of familiar tunes like Reflection performed by Sam Tan Hann and the closing song, True to Your Heart, by Brian Lo Jing Chen.

 

Everyone did an excellent job and should be congratulated for putting up a good show that enthralled and was enjoyed by both players and audience alike. Well done!

 

Crescendo HELP International School is located at PTD 204446, Jalan Lebuh Cemerlang, Taman Desa Cemerlang, 81800 Ulu Tiram, Johor. For more info about the school and its curriculum, visit website: chis.edu.my

Check out this link to CHIS Facebook page post: https://www.facebook.com/crescendohelpinternationalschool