Pinocchio: A Whale of a Tale
The Musical
Reviewed by Kenneth Lyen
Performances: From 8 to 28 July 2017
Place: The Pavilion, Far East Square
(Declaration of potential conflict of interest: I am the music composer for this musical.)
I was first approached by Frankie Yeo in December 2016 to compose the music for “Pinocchio”. The production was based on the 1883 story of Pinocchio created by the Italian writer Carlo Callodi. I had already collaborated with Frankie on six earlier musicals: “The Magic Paintbrush” (2000), “My Grandparents and I” (2002), “The Legend of Red Hill” (2008), “Monkey” (2009), “Witz” (2011), and “The Ants and the Grasshopper: Spring Strings” (2016). The last show won gold at the International Puppet Festival, and was restaged by Dawn Tam of IQKidz. Hence without hesitation, I jumped at the chance on another collaboration.
The story of Pinocchio is a puppet who becomes transformed into a real boy. The major messages we wanted to convey were, firstly, that one should not tell lies because our nose will elongate like Pinocchio’s. The second message was triggered off by the 2015 news of a dead sperm whale discovered in Singapore waters near Jurong Island. The cause of the whale’s demise was thought to be due in part to the vast quantities of plastic wrappers and cups it had ingested. Therefore we had an important environmental message to promulgate.
Unlike the Disney version of Pinocchio, our story starts inside the whale who has swallowed Pinocchio and his companion cricket while searching for his creator-father, Gepetto. By chance, Gepetto had also been swallowed earlier by the same whale, and so they were reunited inside its belly. The story continues as a flashback. The original Callodi version of Pinocchio involves puppets who become transformed into donkeys, and it also has a blue fairy who rescues Pinocchio and transforms him into a real boy. The Disney version added a companion cricket who served as Pinocchio’s conscience.
To underline the environmental message, the audience are seated inside a giant whale constructed out of 40,000 plastic bottles collected by school children. Animated back projection designed by Zenn Tan adds to the dynamic scenery. The singers are all excellent. They include two 9-year-olds: Kieran Khoo who sings Pinocchio’s songs and Ian Tan who does the voice-overs. Two visually impaired singers play the roles of Gepetto (Robert Tan) and Naggity Cricket (Wan Wai Yee). The roles of the blue fairy, the cat, the mouse, and Columbina are all sung by Ng Jing Yun. The role of the fox is played by Joel Tay, and the role of Asher is by Mandric Tan, while Stromboli is played by Nicholas Bloodworth who gives an incredible Italian accent!
The book and lyrics play a critical role in characterization and storytelling, and Des Sim does an excellent job, highlighting the amazement when Pinocchio realizes that he can move and talk, in the song “I’m Alive!”. There is the comic banter song between Pinocchio and the wise cricket “Naughty and Naggity”. Gepetto displays his fatherly love of his puppets in the song “My Little Children”. The wily deceiving fox and cat smooth-talk their way in “Your best friend”. Des brings life, wit and deep emotions to all the characters.
Music plays a central role to this musical, and the songs are greatly enhanced by the music arranged and directed by Bang Wenfu. The transformation of Pinocchio into a real boy, played by a real boy at the end of the show is really heartfelt, in large part due to Bang Wenfu’s powerful music arrangements.
Verdict: Pinocchio the musical has everything: it is imaginative, humorous, energetic, and has powerful emotions. It is probably one of the best original Singapore puppet musicals. Highly recommended!
Pinocchio Team:
Executive Producer: Dawn Tam
Deputy Producer and CFO: Kho Choon Joo
Musical Director and Arranger: Bang Wenfu
Music Composer: Kenneth Lyen
Director and Master Puppeteer: Frankie Malachi Yeo
Story Development: Lee Chee Tian
Scriptwriter and Lyricist: Desmond Sim
Video Creator: Zenn Tan
Cast :
Pinocchio: Voice-over by Ian Tan and Singing by Kieran Khoo
Naggity Cricket: Voice-over and Singing by Wan Wai Yee
Geppetto: Voice-over and Singing by Robert Tan
Blue Fairy/Cat/Mouse/Whale: Voice-over and Singing by Ng Jing Yun
Fox/Dog: Voice-over and Singing by Joel Tay
Stromboli: Voice-over and Singing by Nicholas Bloodworth
Asher: Voice-over and Singing by Mandric Tan
Puppeteers:
Frankie Malachi Yeo: Pinocchio
Jennifer Ho: Stromboli and Asher
Sirfan: Fox and Gepetto
Camyzuly: Cat and Blue Fairy
Charissa Tung: Naggity
Production and Marketing team: Ayla, Ethel, Eva, Pica, Aidil, Alethea and Kat
Co-organiser: Venue and Technical support by The Rice Company
Kenneth Lyen
10 July 2017