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Mr Harold Tan ( RI , 1976 )
Ms Gloria Lewis ( RI , 1976 )
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student-directed performance to a national crowd comprised of youths from various schools . Instead of the yearly Shakespearean play in RI , the Raffles Players , together with some choir members , staged a musical adapted from one of the greatest Victorian classics , Great Expectations .
To write the musical , the Players combined two centuries worth of entertainment — a 19th century bildungsroman novel focusing on the moral character of society with adaptations of 20th Century love pop songs ( most of the lyrics were changed to suit the scene ). The cast also borrowed the idea of a Greek chorus , with a 29-member strong choir singing the adapted pop songs that formed the narrative backbone of the musical .
They even introduced new characters not found in the novel — the Wanton Sisters — who provided much hilarity , glamour and an Asian context to a quintessentially English text . The resultant musical was uniquely Rafflesian , and held much appeal , particularly with Literature students .
As Harold had let on earlier , staging the musical was no
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mean feat . Gloria Lewis ( RI , 1976 ), who resides in Perth , Australia and who is also an amateur watercolour painter and a beauty therapist with her own business , recalls dividing her time between softball , Raffles Players and academics . In the period leading up to the national tournaments , her days would start at seven in the morning in the school field ( at the Grange Road campus ) to train for softball . After running laps and practising her throws , she would head for assembly and then diligently bury her head into her books before rushing off to Great Expectations rehearsal in the afternoon . In the evening , when the sun was not too hot , she would continue her softball practice . ‘ It was quite funny sometimes . I would be playing in the field at around 4 pm and I could hear the Players practising the songs at the music room next to the field . Often enough I had wished I could be at both places at the same time !’
Gloria , who was a recipient of the Colours award ( an award given to students who excelled in academics and sports ) for her dedication to softball , admits that her grades suffered
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Rafflesian Times
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