Tuesday, November 24, 2015

Free: Voices - A Festival of Song by the Esplanade



Voices - A Festival of Song is a music festival that celebrates vocal ensembles in every form - from traditional choral to a capella groups, show choirs and solo singers. Workshops in vocal technique and choral conducting are also available.

Best of all? Its FREE! On the bill are the Singapore Men's Chorus, choir Evokx, crossover group Singerporean Cantate, Taiwanese a capella group Sirens and Singapore Idol alum Mathilda d'Silva.

Voices - A Festival of Song runs from 5 to 7 December. Click on this link for the full line-up of performers and events:



Thursday, November 19, 2015

Interview with Cast Member of Cirque du Soleil's 'Totem'


Cirque du Soleil introduces two new acts in the remaining shows of Totem in Singapore, with kind sponsorship from DHL Singapore. Hawk Liu speaks to acrobat Gael Ouisse (who also developed the new scenes) to find out his journey to becoming a performer with the illustrious circus.



Read our review of Totem here:

http://the-mad-scene.blogspot.sg/2015/11/cirque-du-soleils-totem-at-mbs-in-review.html

Tuesday, November 10, 2015

Interview with SLO Artistic Director Nancy Yuen


To say that Nancy Yuen is no stranger to Singapore's operatic stage is simply putting it mildly. She will be performing in the Singapore Lyric Opera's upcoming 25th Anniversary Gala Concert this coming Friday, 13 November with Lee Jae-Wook, Song Kee-Chang, Anna Koor and Martin Ng with our friends in the SLO Chorus, Children's Choir and Orchestra, led by Joshua Tan Kangming.

More importantly, she has been appointed the company's new Artistic Director this year. We speak to Nancy to find out her plans for the company:





Sunday, November 8, 2015

Exclusive Interviews with Cast and Crew of Ghost


I was actually quite skeptical at first, but I really enjoyed Ghost the Musical tremendously. A beautiful love story married nice songs and amazing stage craft. Its amazing how the various elements of acting, costuming, lighting, set design, sound effects and illusions come together with such exact precision to create a supernatural world of ghosts among humans.

Hawk Liu interviews the cast and dance captain of this American touring production so you can find out what to look forward to.

First up are the leads Lucie Jones and Liam Doyle, who play the iconic roles portrayed be Demi Moore and Patrick Swayze in the movie:



Next, Hawk  drools  talks to dance captain Robert Knight to find out how a film can be adapted for the stage:



Lastly, Wendy Mae Brown and David Roberts talk about their roles in the musical:



Ghost the Musical runs till 15 November 2015. Check out the Events Page for tickets!

Monday, November 2, 2015

Cirque du Soleil's 'Totem' at MBS in Review



Our correspondent Jeremy Lee attended Cirque du Soleil's Totem, now running at MBS till 6 December 2015. Here are his thoughts:



Spellbinding. Gravity-defying. Superhuman.

These are the adjectives that one might use to describe Totem, the latest show of Cirque du Soleil, now playing in Singapore again after so many years, next to the Marina Bay Sands.

But I’m sure they will be used in other reviews, so I shall choose another word: Gratuitous.

According to Cirque du Soleil, Totem is about “humankind’s incredible journey” from amphibian to flight. From the astonishingly intricate costumes, we can see how it’s supposed to show that: In one sequence, performers clad in quite realistic ape costumes monkey around on stage and mimic the Darwin’s evolution of man line up; performers dressed in skin-tight colourful “amphibian” togs swing around on high bars and a trampoline. And of course, trapeze artists soar high above our heads.

The real star of the show though, costume-wise, is a magnificent glittery-from-top-to-toe number, whose lucky wearer ascends on a trapeze to become a human disco ball. Though I couldn’t tell how this fit in into the theme of evolution, it was certainly stunning.