Monday 10 August 2015

SAFA 2015: Nanyang the Musical


First show for me at the Singapore International Festival of Arts (SIFA) 2015 proper.  While the creator claimed it had its inspiration from the Singaporean artists who went to Bali and later inspired the "Nanyang" style of painting, not much "art", or even Singapore was featured in this performance.   What we saw on stage was relationships that stretched from Shanghai, Paris and Bali, without much plot development.

The stronger element was the music numbers by lyricist Xiao Han and composer Eric Ng, arranged by Goh Kheng Long. A few songs did have popular appeal.

Of the cast, Roy Huang (as Chen Kang) had a good singing voice and Trev Neo put up a competent job as the teacher Zhang Wen.   Most were handicapped by the weak script.  Overall not a good start to SIFA 2015.