Hawk attended the opening night of LASALLE's musical theatre department's graduation production of The Wedding Singer. Here are his thoughts:
The LaSalle Show 2014
THE WEDDING SINGER
The Singapore Airlines Theatre, Singapore
11th April 2014
A Review by Hawk Liu
The delightful musical had Jordan Prainito and Kimberly Chan in the ‘nearly love-lost’ leads who did incredible jobs with the 2 leading characters. Notwithstanding, the rest of the cast was no less talented in taking the audience on a journey where we wanted the boy to get the girl in spite of all obstacles. For a show that featured the graduates of the Musical Theatre Department of the LaSalle School, one expected high energy and we got it. The energetic opening theme number gave us a taste of the commitment the cast would give to the rest of the show.
The direction was believable and made good use of the material, whether it be the dialogue or lyrics of the songs. The acting was of a good standard. Comic timing could have been tighter here and there but, hey, no one’s perfect. The choreography was well featured throughout the show. Yes, I knew the hours spent on the dance rehearsals must have been immense but they paid off really well. Great job by both directors. The band didn’t miss a beat and sounded as professional as can be. The problem I had was the singing-music balance that favoured the band so much that the diction, particularly the consonants, were masked by the percussive nature (drums and strumming of the guitars) of the music. The singing standard was generally good for the music genre. However, there were quite a few hit-and-misses where singing technique was in question.
Although someone did mention that the sets were rather sparse for the occasion, I didn’t feel it took away anything from the show. In fact, I thought the concept of moving platforms were well used, considering that space was needed for so much delicious choreography in the show. Another point made by a friend was how this show gave plenty of opportunities for the cast individuals to be featured when compared to a previous production, Gypsy, where the main players had much to do and the rest of the cast a lot less. So, yeah, good choice of work (though I much prefer the music of Jules Styne anytime, but who wouldn’t?).
The energy level was incredible from all members of the cast and that made the show! Neither the leads nor supporting cast let off any slack – a special mention for ‘Linda’ (the ex-finance of Robbie), when she packed in her dynamite for the dance number in the bedroom to seduce Robbie. Just a thought – I wished she had done most of the sexy dancing on the bed as that might have had been more kinky than being on the floor. Robbie had the most charming smile and we were behind him all the way to the end…along with Elvis, Marilyn Monroe, Tina Turner, etc.
If you are wondering what I am talking about, get to the show – it’s running only till April 16!!
I attended the opening night and I thought it was the best night at the theatre I've had in ages - funny, engaging and with great dancingm playing and singing (although I agree that the mix was a little off in a couple of the songs - I would hope that has been addressed by now). Overall - for me - highly recommended.
ReplyDelete-Byron