I am back.

I have to say it was an uneventful 3 days. Oh well, at least it was nice not to have been at work for so long (it felt long).

Today, my regular review column will focus on PCK the Musical instead. Yes, I know you love my food reviews and there are heaps of you out there who cannot wait for the next installment of Today's Menu, but I have to do what I have to do. And that is to write reviews. And because I haven't exactly been anywhere new lately, Today's Menu will just have to wait till tomorrow. Bad pun intended.

Ok, so on to PCK the Musical. I shall try to be completely objective here but it's gonna be tough cos dear Andrew is a member of the cast. Or as the program booklet says, "Crony 1" :) Actually, I have forgotten somewhat how to write a theatrical review. The last one I did was for an assignment in uni for my "Introduction to Drama" unit. But anyway, we'll muddle through somehow. Here we go:

PCK THE MUSICAL

Completely Singaporean in nature, this production feels like something you would expect from a National Day Parade performance. True to NDP style, the musical blatantly injects patriotic sentiments in various forms, to remind every single man, woman and child in the audience that Singapore is turning 40 this year. I must say, though, that it was very effective because prior to this, I had no idea how old Singapore was (shame on me).

The young PCK is played by an equally young girl. Yes, girl. With an opening solo done in a mesmerising angelic voice, the femininity of the voice was slightly disturbing, knowing full well that girl is supposed to be PCK. One wonders why a boy could not have been cast instead. Surely there are plenty of boys with sweet angelic voices too (think Vienna Boys Choir).

The first few songs felt a little out of control, with the balance between the orchestra and the voices being very uneven. Quite often, the orchestra drowned out the voices such that you could not make out what the actor was singing. Diction was also unclear most of the time, causing you to strain to make out the words of the song. That said, credit must go to Neo Swee Lin for her crisp enunciations. It was an absolute pleasure to hear her sing and know exactly what shewas singing.

A pleasant surprise came in the form of Gurmit Singh. His pronunciation was much better than usual and he can actually sing! Although he sounded breathless some times (who can blame the man? He was running around most of the time), his clear voice carried his emotions across well.

Lim Kay Siu delivered a fine performance as the scheming Frankie Foo. His amusing antics were genuinely funny, although it was a little difficult to make out what he was singing. Other than that, he executed his part fairly well.

On the whole, the performance was entertaining. The fact that it is not a production with a large budget has not prevented it from successfully trying hard. If this is the beginning of a line of local musicals (post-Dick Lee era), then I must say that the future of Singaporean-born-and-bred musicals looks very bright. However, I'm hoping the next local musical doesn't plaster us with nationalist sentiments. Let's leave that to NDP.

Alright, so there's my awkward 2 cents' worth on PCK the Musical. I really should concentrate on doing food reviews. It feels so weird reviewing a production. Anyway, I had a fun night. The performance was really quite entertaining and it was amusing to hear jibes in the script about Mr Lua's bald head :) So here's me doing my bit of publicity - GO WATCH THE MUSICAL. Ok, and now it's time for bed. Goodnight everyone.

*Exit stage left*