Thank you Short+Sweet Musical 2015

"Boy..."

That was how Joe described the results before he began the prize giving ceremony for Short+Sweet Musical 2015. Yes, it was that close and our group was fortunate to win 4 awards last night, of which 3 were won by 1 vote.

a cast member asked why I had that look when I went up to collect my prize. It's a rather surreal moment to hear my name announced as the winner of the best director because it's only my 2nd time directing a S+S musical, and I was working with mainly young and inexperienced actors. Also, it was also the first time I win something without wifey.


Anyhow, here are a few people I would like to thank:

God for the people who have guided & helped me for the last 6 years. Thank you for the cast and creative team who have worked very hard to make the musical work.

Alex Chua & Nicole-Ann Thomas for your training. Appreciate the time you have invested in teaching me. I do hope I will get to work with you again.

Wifey & Mei Wei for your valued feedback. It is always good to have a third eye and, in this case, I got 2 great third eyes.

Calvin Terence, Lydia & Kelvin, for your hard work behind the scene. Thank you for trusting me with your work.

Joe & Faridah for providing a playground for me to explore and try new things.

Phoebe & the stage crew, for your support and making S+S Musical a success. Best backstage team ever!

Boy, Amirul, MJ & other tech guys, for the lights, sound & music. Every night, I could sit back and know that I need not worry about anything technical matters at all.

Parents of my under-aged performers. Thank you for letting your daughters take part in this small musical. Thank you for driving them to rehearsals and supporting us during the performances. Your daughters are very talented and I believe you are very proud to see what they have accomplished over the last 2 months.

Grace for offering to be the makeup artist. You have made my job so much easier backstage. Thank you for coming everyday so early and help them get into their characters.

Finally, my wonderful cast. No matter how great a script, how nice a song, it is you who brought everything to life. You have all been amazing. Each one of you played a vital part in making UP ALL NIGHT what it is. I hope you have learnt that the success of a production depends on teamwork and your inputs are very important to the development of a character. I couldn't have asked for a better company.

Short+Sweet Malaysia 2015

Surprise, surprise.

The missus and I did not submit anything for Short+Sweet Musical this year, though I submitted a political parody. More on that later.

One of the reasons we didn't submit a musical was because we didn't really have a good idea on what to write about. We sort of have the skeletons but we got stuck there for a bit. After consulting Nick Choo for his feedback, we decided that we should probably not continue writing unless we have a firm idea on what to do. In the meantime, I also had an idea on writing a song for Short+Sweet Song instead.

After watching last year's Short+Sweet Song and seeing how UiHua trolled the category with his Harry Doldrum persona, I began to think about how I could do something different to make it more fun and less about the competition.

Harry Doldrum in S+S Song 2014

Somehow the thought of a hungry ghost complaining about not being served his favourite food came to mind. I have heard a sermon from Pastor Oh Beng Kee many years ago and there was a point where he mentioned ancestral worship, and how we usually serve the food we liked to eat instead of our deceased ancestors' favourites.

Pastor Oh

So I pitched the idea to the missus and asked if she would be interested to take part. I also mentioned the idea to Freddy Tan and if everyone was okay, we could have a trio. Unfortunately Freddy couldn't commit and in the end it was just the two of us. I also spoke with Jee, a friend whom we got to know through S+S Musical 2014, to be our musician.

In May,I submitted my proposal to S+S organizing committee with just the title "Hungry" and a short description:

"A song dedicated to those who have passed on and yet are held dear in our hearts.  It is a duet lamenting the offerings during the Hungry Ghost Festival. Song genre is Oriental Pop, presentation with harmony and counter-points." We submitted our registration forms indicating that we would be performed as "Hu Ah Yew" and "Soo Fah Nee", since the fun is in singing in character instead of performing as ourselves.

After checking with UiHua what he submitted last year, I wrote a draft to the organizers, just to give them an idea of what we would be covering. It was decided that the missus would compose the song once our submission was accepted.

Early July, the organizers released the list of participants, and we started working again. After a few changes to the melody and lyrics, we finally gave it to Jee with the instruction that the music needed to sound chinese, with guzhen, erhu, etc. Jee was busy with his own gig and hence he would only record the music for us.

We only received the music 2 weeks before performance and practised as much as we could without music before that. In the end, this was what we did.

We managed to spook a lot of people. Even our fellow participants were scared of us when they first saw us on full dress rehearsal night. It goes without saying that we were the forerunners for the Glitz & Glamour award so no surprise when they announced the winners. However, we also took home the 1st runner up award, a first for a performance with minus one music. Before this,  all winners had live music. 

It was a fun experience and I find it easier to make new friends because unlike musical or theatre, there are less people in the dressing rooms. We are happy to win and we really appreciate the help from our arranger Jee who was amazing with the music. Many thanks to the people at klpac for giving us the platform to experiment with this song and providing the tech and stage support.

I am taking a breather this week but still in the midst of preparing my team for the musical category next week. I am directing a few teenagers from my church. I hope they will have an equally good experience next week.

Oops....

Didn't realize I have not updated anything since Oct 2014.

With Facebook, everything can updated immediately without the hassle of  typing out everything. But with Facebook, sometimes I feel the need to self censor. So today I shall put something here that I will not put on my Facebook.

I have started writing again for Short+Sweet Festival and again it will be a collaboration with the missus.

Initially we wanted to split and pursue our own project but I think we're not that motivated to do anything unless the other person applying some pressure. Anyhow, this year we're attempting something different....

No outrageous comedy.

What will it be? Wait for more updates when we have the story fleshed out :)

Performances from S+S Musical 2014

OK, for those who missed the show, here are the recordings of our performances at Short+Sweet Musical 2014. Enjoy!

Note: This was our 4th performance and I had to step in because my lead Boon Kit was admitted into the hospital for appendicitis 

Notes on Short+Sweet Musical 2014

 This years marks the 2nd time wifey &  I took part in Short+Sweet Musical as a team. Last year we decided to explore other areas of interest instead of collaborating. This year, instead of just writing together, I also pulled her in to help me direct a musical too.

 

 

I was given 5 scripts to choose and I am glad that I got my first choice "A WOMAN AT WAR" by Mark Sasse. As a first time director my immediate challenge was to get my cast. After finally sorted out the leads, I faced a bigger challenge of assembling a band to play the music. While Mark & Laura Danneker(co-composer) had provided me with a minus one, I didn't think the recorded music would fit into my vision for the musical. I am also a firm believer in live music for musicals. Thankfully, 2 weeks into my rehearsal with the actors I managed to get a pianist from church and slowly my band was formed - 2 teenagers from my current church and 2 guys from my Penang church. I also decided to cast an ensemble of 6 people to support the leads.

 

The idea of writing a sperm musical, believe it or not, came during Short+Sweet Musical 2013, in the green room. I wanted to see how many performers we can put on stage so I'd figured with a sperm musical, the possibilities would be endless. So I presented the idea to wifey and together we slowly developed the story. While we wanted to stretch the story as much as we could, we also wanted the story to be as scientifically accurate as possible. So after much research and discussion, we decided to settled for the contraceptives as antagonists.

 

We also approached our friends Ross & Shen to be the director and musical director respectively.

 

 

So we were slotted into S+S Musical Week 1 and thankfully, both musicals made it to Gala Night which just ended a few hours ago.

 

How did we fare?



 

Karynn & I won the Festival Director's Award while 300 Million: The Reconceptualization of a Conception won the Audience Choice & Best Overall Production Awards. As much as I am proud to win, I am even prouder of the team who performed on stage, both the cast of A Woman At War & 300 Million. I did not participate with the hope to win - I just want to showcase my work and explore what I can do in the arts.

 

Words cannot describe the joy I had when I first watch both musicals come to life during the full dress rehearsal last week. I was so satisfied with the work the teams have put in and I can still remember the pride I had after the rehearsal ended. For A Woman At War, the pride to see how the actors have grown over the last 2 months was enough for me. For 300 million, it was the pleasant surprise of how the puns and lines were delivered with great comedic timing.

 

As we leave S+S Musical with wonderful memories, here are a few people I want to thank:

 

1. First & foremost, God for sending me people along my path to help me learn and grow.

 

2. Wifey for always bringing the best out of me. Somehow whenever we collaborate, we've always managed to come up with some crazy fun stuff. Let's make more babies on stage!

 

3. Alex Chua & Nicole-Ann Thomas for the guidance you have given me as a performer. I try to apply what I have learned from you and I hope I have made you proud. Thank you for your feedback Alex, and Nicole, hope to get yours soon.

4. BB for your lighting suggestion. Looks good:) *correction: IT LOOKED GREAT!! 
 

5. Nick Choo, for being Nick Choo. I am not sure if people actually realize how generous you are. Thank you for taking your time to meet us & to offer your advice on 300 million. You are, in my opinion, the Godfather of S+S Musical. Wifey has learnt much from you at the 2011 S+S Musical workshop and I have learnt much through her as well. I do hope you will continue to take part in future S+S Musical and allow us the privilege of enjoying your wonderful work. Nick Choo doesn't need S+S Musical; S+S Musical needs Nick Choo.

 

6. Mark Sasse & Laura Danneker for trusting us with your work. I know it can be a scary thought to surrender your work to a complete stranger. You are braver than us because we approached our friend to direct. Thank you for your kind words of encouragement and it has been a pleasure directing A Woman At War.

 

7. Ross & Shen for the work you have put into 300 million. We love it the moment we saw it last week. You have made both wifey & me proud of our work.

 

8. Cast of A Woman At War & 300 Million. Every night you had me cheering for you and I couldn't be happier with your final performance.

 

9. Joe, Faridah, Soo, Lawrence, April, Boy, Ariff & other staff for your support and for giving us the platform to explore.

 

So what is next? 

 

I will be directing in S+S Theatre and I hope we'll do well. We have about 2 weeks to start blocking and get our act together. As for next year, wifey & I have decided that we will split again, before we reunite for Short+Sweet Musical 2016.

 

Why?

 

Because it's not about the competition. It's about the arts.

 

S+S Musical Tech Rehearsal

Just came back from our tech rehearsal in Pentas 2.  Had a few issues with sound and lights but nothing serious. At least the actors can be seen:)

mic check

Musicians pit

Johnny a little bit off centre

Walking to the centre

Totally love the corridor lights

The blue wash turns out nicely

Side lights help to lit up the ensemble's faces

The beautiful corridor lights again.

Well, not a perfect tech run but it's ok.  This is only the first time the actors are feeling the stage and the technical crew are running the cues with us. Tomorrow's full dress rehearsal should be good:)

1 week to Short+Sweet Musical

Last night I had my rehearsal and it was our best rehearsal yet. I am delighted that our ensemble who only started rehearsing with us on 2 Sept are coping very well. But I am even prouder of my 2 leads Boon Kit & Vivian for the hard work they have put into this.

The more we practice, the more I realised how emotional this musical is. I am thankful that wifey is around to support me in this and I couldn't have asked for a better partner to do this project with me. Together we have managed to assemble a very talented group of musicians who are contributing a lot to the musical arrangement. If I could, I would include their names as co-musical directors.

So are we ready for next week? Based on what I saw last night, I believe we are ready to put on a good show. I am not too concern about the singing as I believe in telling a truthful story. I want my actors to go through the emotions as they perform so that the audience will go on the journey with them. We still have 4 more rehearsals before full dress and we'll be doing full runs after full runs.

Below are the pictures I took last night. I must also thank my boss Louis for allowing me to use the gym studio for our rehearsals. It wouldn't be possible to rehearse at our home with the band and the actors together. And to rent a space for rehearsals is just too costly for us.

Besides this, 300 Million: The Reconceptualization of a Conception are also moving ahead with their rehearsals. We are on involved in the rehearsal process but I believe that we will have a pleasant surprise next week when we watch it for the first time at the full dress rehearsal.  

Anyone reading this, please come support us next week.

Please click on the links below for both musical's event page.

A Woman At War Event Page

300 Million: The Reconceptualization of a Conception Event Page

Short+Sweet Malaysia Festival 2014

My fourth year in the Short+Sweet Malaysia Festival. Does that make me a S+S veteran?

Like 2012, this year I will not be acting in S+S. I think it's about time I try something else, so I am directing for a change. I will be directing a musical "A Woman At War" by Mark Sasse & Laura Danneker and a play "The Surgeon's Creed" by Eoin Carney. This year also marks the first time S+S Musical will be running for 2 weeks with a Gala Night of it’s own. So now there's added bonus to do well.

For The Surgeon's Creed, I am pleased to have Tan Boon Kit & Tan Meng Kheng as my actors. Both of them have gone through some bit of work with Alex Chua and I believe we can understand where I would like to go with this play. It's a good opportunity for me to explore and try some of the stuff Alex Chua had been teaching us all this while. I am confident we can do well.

Click here for the event page

My concern is for A Woman At War, featuring Boon Kit also and Vivian Chan. Man, staging a musical can be so quite complicated, even though it's only 10 minutes. Mark & Laura have provided me with a minus one, but I prefer live music because it simply works better.  As my music director Mervyn L Peters would agree, using live music allows me more creative space to work with the actors. Thus one of the biggest headaches for me was to get my band together. Thankfully, I have wifey to share the headache as I asked her to be my musical director.

I only had a guitarist to begin with and after listening to the music provided, A Woman At War is not going to sound with just one guitar. For the first 2-3 weeks of rehearsal, I had to teach my actors the songs with me playing the keyboard badly. Fortunately, we managed to find a few musicians from church, both SIBKL & Penang church PCC. Last Monday was the first time we got all the band members together.

(L-R) Sean, Wilfred, Daniel & Yuen Thern

We have not quite figured out all the songs yet, but I am sure we should confirm everything by the end of the week. I will back in Penang for the weekend but I leave the music from Act 3(the last act) in wifey's trusted hands. We have more or less confirmed the blocking for the actors and with another 8-9 rehearsals, I think we should be ready by 24 Sept for the opening performance.

Wifey & I also submitted a musical this year as a team. After splitting to pursue our own interest last year(Me with "Goodbye" and she with "What If?") I suppose you can say we're back writing what we're most comfortable with - outrageous comedy. We have learned a lot from our first musical "The Geongxi Is a Vamp" and I believe we have shown improvement with this musical. "300 Million: The Reconceptualization of a Conception" is - what our director Ross Stephenson said - a musical about what happens after sex. I am delighted to have the amazing Shen as the musical director to assist Ross in his directorial debut. On top of that, they have assembled a good cast. It should be fun to watch this one.

Both "A Woman At War" & 300 Million: The Reconceptualization of a Conception" are featured in Week 1 of the S+S Musical, from 24 Sept to 27 Sept. There are 4 other musicals in Week 1. Come show some love if you are free that week. 

I do hope both musicals make it to the Gala Night on Sunday 5 Oct.

How Time Flies

Has it been that long? My last update was in November 2013!

So what has been happening since then?

Well, I did a play with EMP and now I am performing in Sinbad at klpac. We will end our run on 27 April and move to Penang where king.  will be performing from 2 - 11 May.

Check out my new look:)

So how has it been? OK, I suppose. It's been great making new friends- that was my main reason for joining this musical. The main issue I have actually is the plantar fasciitis on my left foot. It's not been easy walking & rehearsing barefooted. I am, however, looking forward to my performances in Penang- Will be home for almost 2 weeks! Yay!

If you have not seen the show, do check it out! Tickets are available at klpac box office or online at Ticketpro.

I Hate Nick Choo

Yes, I hate Nick Choo.

I hate him for the brilliant composer/lyricist/music director he is.

I first met him in 2010, when I attended an audition for "Follow The Light". Though I didn't end up in the production, he had left a deep impression. The songs were beautifully written & very catchy.

Anyhow, that's not the reason for this entry.

I just came back from The Edge, the musical written & composed by Nick. As the story centres around Josh who was about to jump off a building, I went expecting a depressing musical. But I couldn't be more wrong. Nick has written an excellent musical that will keep you on the edge of your seat right up till the end(no pun intended). Though it was around 2hr 30 min, I didn't feel it as it was that captivating. Sure it was emotional but it was mixed with some light hearted moments. Nick, the producers(Dominic Luk & Benjamin Lin) & director (Sabrina Hassan) did a fantastic work with the material & cast. (update: forgot to mention that the set was wonderfully built too)

It was compelling story telling by the cast, each sharing their history with Josh and at the same time paint us the picture of Josh's life and his aspirations. They performed very well together and shone in their own way. If I have to pick my favourite, it would be Tria Aziz who was perfect as Josh's mom. Her singing was crisp & her emotions were so genuine, I can't help but hear and feel every word that came out of her.

It is not to be missed. It is showing now at pentas 2 klpac til Sunday 10 Nov. You will not regret watching this.

And yes, I will continue to hate Nick Choo for a long time.

Short+Sweet Musical 2013 aftermath

Last week was Short+Sweet Malaysia Musical and  just like 2011, there were 10 musicals competing. Besides submitting a script "Goodbye", I also acted in another musical "Out of The Box".

So how was it overall for me? It was a good experience to be participating again in S+S Musical. Participating as both writer and actor have allowed me to see things how 2 different productions come together. The best part, of course, is to working with old friends and making new ones.

As mentioned before (I think), I wasn't planning to write this year. I am more of the man with the idea but not a writer. I need time for my ideas to grow inside me before I start anything. And even then, I would still need a co-writer. Somehow approximately 1 month before the deadline, I suddenly had the idea of writing a dramatic musical. So I had to force myself to write this.

After taking about 1-2 weeks to write the first draft, I felt tired to compose and so I asked a church friend, Daniel Sim, if he would be interested to compose the songs. At the same time, wifey suggested another friend Kerry-Ann since she has mentioned before that she would like to direct a S+S musical. 

After reading the script, both of them agreed to be part of this and that was how we started. Kerry-Ann managed to assemble her team of people and we eventually have Joshua Gui as musical director, with Safia Hanifah & Nick Davis as our actors. Both Safia & Nick won Special Awards for their performances:)

As for the one I acted in, it was by the same creative group that did last year's "Disorder in the Court".

Terence decided to try drama this year as well. We have been talking on FB chat about what we wanted to do this year and he shared his idea with me. I thought it could be something that suited me. After the audition, I was offered the role of the father. I found out that Lynn Goh, who played Ah Girl in "The Geongxi Is A Vamp" was offered to play the daughter. Eventually a newcomer, Arvin, got on board as the supporting cast, playing the assistant named Chong(don't ask why a chinese name).

The biggest winner of the festival was Nick Choo's "Dreaming Outside The Box". The moment he confirmed his participation, most of us were expecting to see something wonderful. True to form, His team deservingly won 8 awards, breaking Geongxi's 7-award record. While it was a bit painful to see them break Geongxi's record, at least it was Nick Choo and Freddy Tan who also directed Geongxi.

And with that, all the anxieties comes to an end and I look forward to Short + Sweet 2014. What will I be doing then? Most likely, wifey & I will be joining S+S Song (if they are going to keep it) and most probably we will work together again to write a musical. We should be returning to comedy, which I think is our stronger genre than drama. I already have something brewing in my head and this could turn out to be a very educational musical. More on that when the time comes :)

Also, if I am free, I will be applying to direct a musical. After doing numerous plays & musicals, I think it's my turn to shout at actors. Hahahaha!

S+S Malaysia here I come again!

Short+Sweet Festiva Malaysial is about to start again in September and this month is where writers will be presumably rushing to finish their scripts to meet the deadline which is 1 July. Last year at this point, I think we have already finalized "The Geongxi is a Vamp" and hand delivered it to klpac.

This year, wifey most probably will be sitting out, unless she can finish the script/music she wrote last year.  I will be trying out a new collaboration this year with  people I have not worked with before. In fact, I am also trying a genre of musical I am not familiar with. For a change, my script is not a  comedy and it doesn't have any stereotype. I believe that to write a 10 min musical is harder than a theatre piece because short musicals do not have time to establish & develop the characters. Hence, over the last 2 years, I noticed that musicals that did well in S+S have stereotypes, eg. boy bands, chinese prostitute, vampires, lawyers, cannibals, etc. Also, they were all comedies.

I have already completed the second draft of the musical, even though I will be submitting the first draft. The musical will now depend on my new composer & director. They will have the difficult job of bringing the story to life.

So what is the musical about? The title is "Goodbye" and the clue is in the picture below.

I will also be auditioning as an actor for musical and probably director too. Only problem I have with directing is I have a November play and directing in Oct may be a problem for me.

Exciting time ahead again!

We won big... Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha!

Short + Sweet Musical just ended last night and sadly I did not get to see any of the performances live. But I was delighted to hear the fantastic news from Pentas 2 that our musical was the biggest winner in the festival, sweeping 7 awards, including best overall production & best director!

Kudos to the cast & crew for their efforts. In all honesty, their creative input helped to make our script better and I am still smiling from the big win!

Below are the pictures taken by Dustyhawk during one of the performances. scroll to the bottom for the video:)

The cast, directors & the musicians!!!!

Thank you S+S Malaysia 2012... next: S+S Malaysia 2013!!!