Izyan Nadzirah
Great Expectations
Rafflesian Times
20
‘ Mr Philip Liau, our principal then, was very supportive of our new direction. In fact, he challenged us further. Great Expectations wasn’ t our first choice; initially we wanted to borrow a musical directly from the operas but Mr Liau suggested writing an original musical. We took two weeks to crack our heads to come up with a musical and when Mr Liau gave the go ahead, the rest, as they say, is history,’ Dr Richard revealed.
In fact, the second page of the programme booklet archives for posterity how the musical came about. Titled‘ How It All Started’, the page provides a brief history of the Annual Play and how they arrived at the decision to stage Great Expectations. It also explains how the musical was one the Players could‘ truly call their own’.
When Performance Day came around, all the drama unfolded. One of the Players had a breakdown, crying uncontrollably throughout the last rehearsal, and many members suffered a case of last-minute nerves, suddenly doubting their ability to go through with the play. Fortunately, when the curtains were finally raised, they had calmed their nerves and the show proceeded apace.
I feel that, ultimately, the audience understood that we were a group of inspired youths who wanted to showcase our talents
Things however, did not proceed wholly in their favour. For starters, the hall was not air-conditioned and the month of August, as Singaporeans know, is notoriously humid. As the audience packed the small hall and waited for the play to start, complaints were voiced about the heat.
‘ We also had to deal with the acoustics in the hall, which were horrid,’ claimed Harold. The back audience could barely hear the actors who were attempting very hard to project their voices louder and louder.‘ It was an open hall, without any doors to contain the sound. Multiply that with the grousing of the audience and the whirring of the fans and you can only imagine the chaos.’
Additionally, the external audience who came for the play was unaware that the musical did not entirely parallel the literature text that they had come to know. The Players admit it was their own fault— whilst hawking musical tickets at other schools, they had portrayed the musical as a must-see to better comprehend the text! Instead, the audience was surprised by pop songs with refurbished lyrics, and a trio of goofy sex-bomb characters inserted into the adapted text of Great Expectations. In their defense, Harold and Richard admitted that they had been over-zealous in their efforts to get bums on seats.
Richard and Gloria agreed wholeheartedly that the musical was‘ uniquely Rafflesian’.‘ I feel that, ultimately, the audience understood that we were a group of inspired youths who wanted to showcase our talents,’ Gloria pointed out.‘ Furthermore, the audience was never privy to what went on behind the scenes— the pain that went with it, the homework piling up, the sore throats and the lethargy. In fact, all this was expressed in a nine-stanza poem in the programme booklet itself!’