La Cage Aux Folles by W!LD RICE
Gala Night, 8pm @ Victoria Theatre Singapore
As readers of my blog will already know, I caught
the 2012 production and got a rave review by me. Until today, it is one of the
best locally produced musical I have watched in Singapore. The 2017 production? ... Excellent.
You can read more about La Cage here in my preview
of this show. Today, its all about the review.
Let me start by asking you this .. What makes a great musical? Superb acting, beautiful singing, a dash of humour and lots of heart. W!ld Rice’s La Cage Aux Folles had all this and more.
Victoria Theatre is the perfect venue for the
staging of La Cage. It is small and yet cosy. The close proximity of the audience
to the stage brings a level of ‘intimacy’ with the actors. I was seated in the
Circle seats on the second floor but yet I had full view of the stage and could
feel the warmth and emotion from the show.
Firstly, let me start with the Cagelles. I have no
idea how they can be so graceful IN HEELS. They were doing splits, can-can,
burlesque and even cartwheels. Their feet must be aching like crazy now!! They are
very good and I especially liked the ‘tap’ routine. Kudos to you guys .. your
hours of practicing have paid off with your spectacular routines.
The lead actors, Ivan Heng and Sean Ghazi were superb. I cannot think of anyone in
Singapore and even in Asia who can play the role of Albin / Zaza except Ivan Heng. The
flamboyance, the mood swings, the emotions, the singing ... all perfectly performed by Ivan. The role of George involved more singing and Sean Ghazi did not disappoint with his voice. His rendition of ‘Song on the Sand’ and ‘Look
over There’ was just breathtaking. I could see other members of the audience
dabbing their eyes moved with emotion at his singing. The on stage chemistry
between the two leads was good but I feel that this could be improved. This is
understandable as this is only the second night, as the show goes on the
chemistry should grow. However, please do not let this minor point take away
the due praise I have for the two lead actors for their excellent performance.
The supporting cast provided most of the comic
relief throughout the show. Hossan Leong was his usual impish self which we all
love. I feel that Aaron Khaled as Jonathan’s acting and singing could be
stronger with more emotion. From where I sat, his singing was often muffled and
drowned out by the music. (edit - at my second viewing of La Cage, Aaron Khaled was excellent and his singing was spot-on. His rendition of 'Look over there' brought tears to my eyes.) Jo Tan brought a lot of laughs from the audience and
Darius Tan did a good job as the ‘stiff’ Dr. C.K. Tan (pun intended). Congratulations
to Mae Elliessa on her Singapore stage debut. Her role as Ann was too short for
me to comment but I could see she definitely has the potential to be excellent
under the tutelage of the W!ld Rice team. I expected more stage time from Erwin
Shah Ismail. I have always maintained that he is one of the future stars of
Singapore theatre.
A special mention MUST go Frederick Lee the costume
designer of this show. The costumes are breathtaking. I normally have photos of
the show in my review, but for this review I decided not to so that the audience
(who read this blog) can be as awe-struck as me by Frederick’s super work.
I am sure that W!ld Rice’s re-telling of La Cage
will be nominated for many categories at the next ST Life! Theatre Awards and
they deserve it. Standing ovations tonight and last night .. they deserve it. I
foresee standing ovations at every show .. they deserve it.
I strongly urge / recommend / coerce / influence /
force you to go get tickets to La Cage if you haven’t. The show will run until
the 13th May 2017. As I understand there are not many tickets left
so quickly log on to SISTIC and get your tickets. This is one show you mustn’t
miss, in fact try to catch it several times !! I will be catching it again
tomorrow afternoon and if time permits I hope to watch it one more time before
it ends and I have to wait 5 more years.
Thanks again to W!ld Rice for this awesome production
of La Cage. You have showed me once again what Singapore theatre is capable
of.... La Da Da Da ... and I am young .. and in love....
