The Global Launch of the International Tour of “The Sound of Music” by Broadway Asia International and Base Entertainment heralds the return of musical theatre and confirms the role Singapore has played over three decades in bringing international stage productions, like “Les Miserables” and “Cats”, to local and regional audiences since the early 1990s.
Music to my ears!
Musical theatre is back in business. Bigger and better than ever.
It’s not just the reassuring, joyful/soulful and timeless tunes from “The Sound of Music”, but the mesmerising magic of musicals that is enough to convince us it’s back. For good!
What we’ve been hearing and seeing from Broadway and West End for a few months now has spread to Asia Pacific. Singapore is back in “the relaunch of musical mode”.
We’ve all had to contend with the pandemic’s “plague effect” – like William Shakespeare experienced four centuries ago – delivering the worst of three years of dramatic silence from the stage and practically bringing musical theatre production to its knees. (Read what Stephen Greenblatt wrote in the New Yorker in May 2020 about Shakespeare’s plague experience).
Talking to one leading Broadway producer Simone Genatt - in Singapore for the global launch of “The Sound of Music” touring production - is enough to tell us that our anxious wait for “theatrical redemption” is over. And when you hear the soaring vocals from the nuns of Nonnberg Abbey, you can be mistaken in thinking its “heaven-sent”!
We’re sitting and talking in a rather plain back-stage “underground” room in Sands Theatre, below the soaring three towers of Marina Bay Sands.
Joining us and contributing to the interview about the show and much more, was Chantal Prudhomme, CEO of Base Entertainment, the company presenting “SOM” – as “The Sound of Music” is sometimes conveniently called – not only in Singapore, but also Kuala Lumpur and Hong Kong.
She encouraged a member of her team, Timothy Yau, to give us an exclusive behind-the-scenes’ tour, getting to see the sets, wardrobe department, technical equipment and lights - and even a walk over the stage to see for ourselves hundreds of empty seats before the show got underway – and it was then we realised that musical theatre has returned to where it belongs. In all its glory, gadgets and involving a lot of solid hard work.
That was before the curtain went up. Then we could enjoy one of the best nights of musical theatre we’ve experienced for a very long time.
So, here’s what we had to say in our Facebook post on our first November visit to the theatre:
“We attended the gala performance for the Singapore season of this Broadway production of The Sound of Music at Sands Theatre last night. Brilliant in every way. First class. Extremely talented performers enhancing one of the all-time great musicals. International professional cast on stage - along with imported crew and orchestra - supplemented by extremely talented young Singapore stars.”
That’s just a taste. More of the theatre review to come.
Now for some additional insight from executive producer Simone Genatt, who’s been managing massive touring productions like this for the last 20 years, responsible for shows in over 60 countries on five continents.
As co-founder and chairman of Broadway Asia International, she has made a commitment to present live theatrical entertainment to cultures throughout the world, focusing on expanding the boundaries of entertainment and communication throughout the global marketplace.
After the Singapore season ends on 18 December, she takes the entire company to Malaysia (Kuala Lumpur), playing at the Istana Budaya from 27 December to 15 January 2023. Then there’s Hong Kong, China, India, Philippines and the Middle East. Altogether 30 cities in two years.
When we ask what’s different about touring productions like “The Sound of Music”, compared to staging these shows on home ground, on Broadway or the West End, we get a knowing smile and a willingness to talk more about what she obviously enjoys working on.
Of course, there are challenges staging a show like this in a different Asian city every few weeks, but getting the logistics right is something Simone and her big production team of professionals have learnt to manage well.
From left: M Hickson, Chantal Prudhomme, Simone Genatt, Ken Hickson
Having the best local partners in place makes a world of difference too, pointing out that Base Entertainment has 12 years’ experience in managing shows at Sands Theatre.
You would think that with a touring team of 75 – cast, crew and musicians – coming from seven different countries, language and cultural differences would add to the challenges. But it’s clear that everyone is in the same boat.
Determined to give their best on stage and back-stage to make sure the audience gets the best of everything.
Meeting audience expectations and managing cultural differences in each of the 30 cities might be beyond some show producers and directors, but not Simone. Remember she’s been doing this for 20 years.
We’re reminded that Broadway Asia has presented shows before in 35 different cities in mainland China, creating new shows for Asian markets or picking up existing productions and touring them.
Simone also tells us that while China often gets international musical productions in its own language, this touring production will be performed in English where-ever it goes.
And we learn that the country with a population of 1.5 billion especially welcomes “The Sound of Music”, as Chinese school children learnt the music and words – particularly “Do-Re-Mi” - as one of the few “politically-correct” foreign cultural imports in the 1980s.
Maria with three young Singapore stars playing Gretl.
One of the most delightful locally appealing aspects of putting on this vintage Rodgers and Hammerstein’s musical (first staged in 1959), is the obvious requirement to include local acting/singing talent to play the von Trapp children. For Singapore, auditions opened in June, so the 18 selected young stars have been in on the act with rehearsals for the best part of five months.
Only six of them appear in each performance, playing the parts of Gretl, Marta, Brigitta, Kurt, Louisa and Friedrich. There are two other teams of six ready to perform on alternative nights or days.
Altogether, that’s eight performances in a week – once every weeknight, except Monday – plus two on Saturday (at 2.30pm and 7.30pm) and two on Sunday (at 1pm and 6pm).
Practice obviously makes perfect, as the six we saw for the Gala Performance on Friday (25 November) put on a flawless performance, delighting every member in the full house, which undoubtedly included parents, siblings and school friends.
Centre Stage of Singapore’s School of the Arts (SOTA) played an important part in all this – as its advertisement in the $10 programme shows - telling us that 600 children initially registered for the auditions.
Perhaps one thing missing from the programme – which gives names and images of all 18 young stars - is letting the audience know which team is performing in the show you’re seeing. Maybe a screen (or white board) at the theatre entrance, could show the names of those taking a starring role for the performance you’re about to see.
This would help, as we would really like to know for sure that we were seeing the delightful young star Maya Sharma playing Gretl on the night we were in the audience. The Primary 2 pupil at River Valley Primary School turns eight on 8 December – according to the Straits Times story - and is also the youngest member of the cast.
The role of the seventh member of the von Trapp family, Liesl, is played by a member of the touring cast – Lauren O’Brien – who has a much more demanding part to play, particularly when dealing with her fellow teenage boyfriend, Rolf, (played by Daniel Fullerton). Young love was expressed beautifully when they sang the duet “Sixteen Going on Seventeen”.
While we were struck by the tremendous talent of every cast member, there must have been the most professional pressure on Jill-Christine Wiley, as we all know that it was Julie Andrews who “owned” the part of Maria von Trapp, having starred in the film version way back in 1965.
Jill-Christine was certainly up to the demanding task of playing Maria. She thrilled the audience with her solos and when joining in with the Nuns, the children and Captain George von Trapp (played by Trevor Martin), the man she would eventually marry. We weren’t surprised at all to learn that she’s played Maria for two years before on the North American tour of “SOM”.
One highlight - in a performance which gives you so much to talk about and relive for so many hours (and days) after – was the brilliant rendition of “Climb every mountain”.
Besides singing one of the most memorable songs from film and stage performances over the years, Lauren Kidwell as Mother Abbess demonstrated to one and that she is an exceptionably gifted singer, hitting the high notes with gusto and perfect tone.
While we should concentrate on this show of “SOM” while it’s here, we couldn’t resist asking Simone, as the Chairperson/Producer of Broadway Asia International, what’s she got in store for us as an encore.
She told us what she has in mind, what she’s already connected with on Broadway, and other shows which are earmarked for touring elsewhere.
She did let slip that we could well see “An American in Paris” in the near future, or even “The Great Gatsby” – described as an immersive theatrical event – and “The Marilyn Monroe Experience”, being premiered on Broadway in 2023, is on the cards.
There are also others to look forward to, like “The Outsiders” - the S.E. Hinton's bestselling 1967 novel and Francis Ford Coppola's iconic 1983 motion picture - as it’s now a stage musical featuring an original score by the rock duo Jamestown Revival.
If that’s not enough nostalgia and variety for film and stage buffs, there’s a very good chance we’ll get to experience one day “Back to the Future”, the musical now on West End and Broadway, recalling the wonderful movie of the 1980s, starring Michael J Fox.
That’s much too long to wait for most of us, so meantime just catch the on-stage magic and tunes of “The Sound of Music” – at Sands Theatre until 18 December - and after that in KL from 27 December to 15 January.
Before “SOM”, we had our first Sands Theatre treat after a three year hiatus when we were invited by Shirinderjit Kaur (Base Entertainment) to experience a wonderful performance of “Swan Lake” by the United Ukrainian Ballet Company in mid-October.
Like us, if you are itching for more live theatre in Singapore, Chantal and her Singapore team at Base Entertainment have a few more treats lined up for early 2023.
Before “Frozen” comes to cool us all down in tropical Singapore in February, we’re keen to see the “Sweet Caroline Tour”, a tribute to Neil Diamond – 13 and 14 January at Sands Theatre – as we can capture again some of the memorable sounds of this song-writing/singing legend.
Before we go for a dose of “Red, red wine”, there’s a bar with ten or more other mouth-watering numbers, like “A few of my favourite things”.
Or even “So long, Farewell”.
Book tickets now for the Singapore season playing from 22 Nov - 18 Dec
Ken Hickson is the Managing Editor of The Art of Travel, one of his online magazine titles usually appearing together with ABC Carbon Express, which he started in 2008, and Ocean Outlook and Focus of Forests. He regularly contributes articles for print and online magazines, including: Asian Journeys, Expat Choice, Panels & Furniture and Wood in Architecture. As Chairman of Sustain Ability Showcase Asia (SASA) he advises and works with organisations in the public and private sector, producing content for media throughout Asia Pacific.
