On a bright Monday afternoon at a rehearsal studio on Thomson Road, the international cast of Singapura: The Musical is telling us how they prepared for their roles as Singaporeans living in the 1950s. Most of the musical’s scenes are set inside a kopi tiam (Hokkien for coffee shop), so did they have to visit local cafés? “I was going to say that was our research,” laughs young actor Juliene Mendoza, who is rocking a newsboy cap like a true man of the theatre, as the rest of the group do the same and nod in agreement. “The best way to know a culture is through its food.”
“You know how the kopi tiam came about,” asks Ed Gatchalian, composer, arranger, musical director and leader of the pack, a commanding presence with his white hair and palpable passion. “I was asking in my interviews where you guys meet to talk about your everyday lives, because back home [in the Philippines] it’s the barber shop. They said, the kopi tiam. I asked, what is that? They explained to me the concept of the kopi tiam. So we had to learn the culture.”
When we ask what songs in the upcoming musical will likely catch the ear of listeners, the tunes they’ll be unconsciously humming hours after they leave the newly refurbished Capitol Theatre, librettist and actor Joel Trinidad immediately jumps in and answers — “all of them!” — and Gatchalian follows with a short lesson on the importance of hooks, which he learned from years spent writing 1,005 commercial jingles.
And then, unexpectedly, he drops his fingers on the keyboard and everyone starts singing an upbeat song, “At the kopi tiam, where everybody like to stay… have some kaya toast or talk about the most important issues of the day.” First a chorus, then two solos, and then back as a group. It was enthralling enough that we found ourselves bopping our heads to the music.
Inspired by real-life events, most ‘Singapura: The Musical’ scenes are set in a kopi tiam where people would gather ‘to have some kaya toast or talk about the most important issues of the day’. It stars actors David Bianco and Marian Santiago (topmost) who fall in love during Singapore’s turbulent 1950s.
Singapura: The Musical comes at an interesting point in Singapore’s life. The original concept of the businessmen who approached Gatchalian several years ago was a theatre production about Lee Kuan Yew, but after careful consideration, Gatchalian decided to change it to a story about a family who owns a kopi tiam, and how their lives are affected by events surrounding the Hock Lee bus riots of 1955, a dark time in Singapore triggered by poverty and racism.
From being a story about a political figure, he pivoted it to a universal theme of family, nationalism and love. Although it is a totally private effort and received zero government funding, the timing of its release, on the 50th year of Singapore’s founding as an independent nation, couldn’t have been better. Whether the producers intended it or not, it will be one of the highlights of the nation’s ubiquitous SG50 celebrations.
The musical is a testament to the resounding success of a small island with a compelling story: Unceremoniously kicked out of the Federation of Malaysia, forced to rebuild its economy from scratch, then proudly emerging as a first world country that would earn the respect of the world’s major powers and become the envy of its neighbours.
But a few months before opening date, 91-year-old Lee Kuan Yew died and so, even before the curtains are raised, the musical has takes on new significance as a touching tribute to the country’s founding father who dedicated so much of his life to improving the lives of his people.
There will be tears, we’re sure of that.
US theatre actor David Bianco plays the role Lt Flynn who falls in love with the stubborn daughter of the kopi tiam owners.
The two gala nights on May 22 and 23 are already sold out. The theatre creative team — comprised of Broadway veterans Greg Ganakas, director; Gregory Gale, set and costume design; Driscoll Otto, lighting and projection; and Emily Adams, sound design — and the outstanding and remarkably talented cast can hardly contain their excitement as they rehearse at the historic venue: an 85-year-old landmark that used to show movies.
The producer, 4th Wall Theatre Company, are in discussions with New York and London contacts to eventually stage the musical on Broadway and West End. And why not? Cosmpolitan Singapore is not alien to international productions with a foreign cast — the best of the theatre industry’s shows have been staged here, like critically acclaimed big-cast Rent, Avenue Q, and The Lion King.
The only difference is that this time Singapura: The Musical — an entirely original production hiring the best foreign talents, on- and off-stage — is the one that hopes to tour the globe.
“The western world is fascinated about the stories of Asia and its people and we are delighted to be the storytellers to bring them to the stage,” the show’s director, Helen Hayes Award winner Ganakas, and production designer Gale (Rock of Ages, The Wedding Singer and Cyrano de Bergerac in Broadway), had told Gatchalian, who concurs, “If you ask me, what made me pursue this is because the story of Singapore is very colourful and a very inspiring one that the whole world should know.”
A lot of research went into the musical, from Gale visiting Batam to get a feel of how kopi tiams looked like in the 1950s down to the tin mugs and coffee pots used, to Gatchalian personally interviewing elderlies — 16 Singaporeans, two British and another foreigner — who could still remember the events surrounding Singapore’s tumultuous decade from 1955 to 1965. One of them, an 80-year-old Singaporean, passed away on December 31, and is to him that Gatchalian is dedicating the musical.
Says Gatchalian: “What I discovered were that their stories were very interesting — in a way more interesting than the political leaders at that time.” Like former Royal Armed Forces pilot Douglas Inch, who talked told him about interracial relationships, considered taboo at that time. He was the basis for the character Lieutenant Flynn (played by David Bianco).
The kopi tiam owners are played by actors Juliene Mendoza, Maybelle Ti and Marian Santiago.
The main characters is a family who owns a kopi tiam: Tan Bee Ling (played by Maybelle Ti) is the wife of Tan Kok Yang (Mendoza), a full-time driver at the Hock Lee Amalgamated Bus Company. Their only child is Tan Lee May (Marian Santiago), a smart, stubborn and independent law student who vows to do everything to make Singapore a better place.
At the start of the musical, we find Kok Yang refusing to join a bus strike that later turns into a riot. A classmate of his daughter dies in the encounter. Disillusioned, he wants to flee the country, but Lee May refuses. The scene is based on the May 12, 1955, bus riot that resulted in the death of a 16-year-old Chinese student.
“It affects Tan so much he wants to get out of Singapore, it affects her so much because her classmate died, but she wants to stay,” explains Gatchalian. Amidst the turbulence, Lee May falls in love with Lt Flynn, whom she meets when he is invited to her class to give the British perspective on the conflict. Completing the main cast are Adam (Reb Atadero, with understudy Syaiful ‘Ariffin), the Malay childhood friend of Lee May who has a crush on her, and George Schultz, a young British servicemen who is the frowned-upon boyfriend of Farida.
Around 250 actors auditioned for the roles here and in Manila. “It was really important for us that our characters remain authentic, so in addition to the usual audition requirements of singing and dancing, we asked them to read their lines with various Singaporean accents such as Chinese, Malay and Indian,” says Gatchalian.
With Gale handling set and production design, it’s going to be very truthful. For the costumes alone, “he would have 70 studies for a character with seven costume changes. It’s just amazing how these guys from Broadway really do their homework,” says the composer.
Production designer Gregory Gale went to Batam to get an idea of how kopi tiams looked like in the 1950s.
Actor Bianco describes the set as “abstract and hyper-realistic” and “very stylized”. Everything was researched, down to the design of lamp posts in 1955. Librettist Trinidad wrote about 40 songs, though only 28 will be used in the production. The two other show-stopping ballads we heard — the love song “To Be With Me”, a duet between Tan Lee May and Lt Flynn, and Tan Kok Yang’s solo “Home I Knew” which he sings after the bus riot — are just the kind of tunes that would earn rapturous attention from audience. “No matter who’s writing this, or creating it, as long as Singaporeans watch it and feel a kinship with it, it doesn’t matter where it’s from. It’s part of the human experience,” says Trinidad. All photos from 4th Wall Theatre Company. Coconuts Singapore sat with Ziggy magazine for an exclusive behind-the-scenes session with the cast of Singapura: The Musical.
Singapura: The Musical runs from May 22 -Jun 7 at Capitol Theatre (17 Stamford Rd), Tickets at www.singapurathemusical.com/ticket-prices.html.
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