Q: What is musical theatre to you?

 

A: Personally, musical theatre is one of the best forms of entertainment because it involves singing, dancing, acting, and storytelling. It can be frivolous and comical, but it can also be serious and emotional, tugging at your deepest emotions. So it has a bit of everything for everybody. It is a very exciting form of entertainment.

 

Q: What constitutes a Singapore musical?

 

A: This is controversial. Let me answer this by asking a series of questions. Must a local musical be written by a Singaporean? Can a non-Singaporean write something about Singapore? To me, I would like to think that Singaporean musicals are written by Singaporeans. The 2015 musical Singapura was written by a Filipino, Ed Gatchalian, and premiered in Singapore. Although the characters are Singaporean and it is set in Singapore, it does not capture the Singapore identity, the Singapore spirit. I would not consider this to be a Singapore musical.

 

Must some of the story be set in Singapore? Well again, not necessary. For example, Schonberg and Boublil’s Miss Saigon is set in Vietnam, and Lloyd Webber’s Phantom of the opera is set in France, but we do not consider them to be Vietnamese or French musicals.

 

Should it have a Singapore theme, a Singapore story, or feature a Singaporean who is historically of great interest but he/she may not always be living in Singapore? Should it embrace local culture, like incorporating our local dialect Singlish? I do not think there is any consensus on any of these points. All these considerations add to the difficulties in defining what exactly is a Singapore musical. In the end I probably subscribe to a “rojak” (eclectic mix) approach in defining a Singapore musical. We embrace a little bit of everything: I hope that one member of the creative team would be Singaporean, but I am flexible. It probably should include a Singapore theme or story, and perhaps it should capture some of our ethos, our character, our culture. But in the final analysis, the story should resonate with Singaporeans, and should ideally be of universal appeal. To me, that is what constitutes a Singapore musical.

 

Q: From your personal experience, do you think that the types of music in musical theatre generally appeal to the people in Singapore?

 

A: It depends on the style(s) adopted by the creative team, and whether the music style matches the tastes of the audience. Younger people seem to be more interested in rap, hip-hop, K-pop and J-pop. My generation are more interested in the music of Les Miserables and Phantom of the Opera era, although I do know of some young people who are also very interested in this period. LaSalle College of the Arts Singapore runs a musical theatre course, which is very popular, and a lot of students are performing musicals to a very high standard. The musicals they produce are imported from the West, and explore a wide variety of genres. They are always packed to full house. So yes, there is an audience for the entire spectrum of musicals.

 

Q: Is there anything impeding the growth of the musical theatre scene? How do you think we can bridge these gaps and promote interest?

 

A: First problem is getting funding. Because there are so many elements comprising musical theatre, production costs tends to be rather expensive. The rental of a theatre in Singapore is extraordinarily high! And in fact, the cost of seeing a foreign musical in Singapore is much more expensive here in Singapore than in London or some other major city in the world. I do not know why we are so expensive. We have overpriced ourselves. Unless somehow we bring down production costs, we will have difficulty generating new original exciting musicals.

 

Secondly, it is the talent. We do not have that much local talent. Often, we have to import talent from overseas, including our neighbours: Malaysia, Indonesia, Philippines, etc. Actually we do have local talent, but many Singapore parents discourage their children entering musical theatre as a profession.

 

Third, is attracting an audience. This requires you to create a show that has strong and wide audience appeal. The story, the dance, the music, all these elements must come together. There needs to be a buzz, a pizazz that will lure an audience willing to pay for a musical.

 

Lastly, we need to set ticket prices low enough to attract a wide audience.

 

There are many problems we need to address and solve in order to get musical theatre growing again in Singapore.

 

Q: Moving on, what do you think is the difference between local musicals and overseas musicals?

 

A: The overseas musicals that we bring in are usually of a grand scale: the Les Misérables, The Phantom of The Opera, Evita, etc. They would have cost millions of pounds and dollars to mount. They are very extravagant flamboyant musicals. We hardly have any Singapore musicals to match the overseas imported ones. Well okay, we have a few, but even the few we have are not really as extravagant. Successful imported overseas musicals have compelling stories, wonderful staging, and first-rate performances. So far, our Singapore stories do not match them in any of these areas.

 

What is the solution? Perhaps we should concentrate on mounting less expensive more intimate musicals with strong stories that have universal appeal.

 

Q: Has anything changed significantly in the traits of a musical in Singapore over the past few years? If yes, how so and if no, why not?

 

A: The first Singapore musicals are Makan Place and Beauty World. That was in 1988. Since then, there have been a modest number of original local musicals. But I do not think there have been that much of a change. We have not evolved very much. We are still following the old style. So until we change radically, I think we will just remain more or less the same. Why have we not changed? Maybe because we are less creative, less adventurous? I do not know. Things have not changed much since our first musicals in 1988.

 

Q: Based on your experience, what do you predict the future of musicals in Singapore would be like?

 

A: Rather than try to predict the future, perhaps you might allow me to tell you what I hope for the future. My hope is that Singapore musicals will be more adventurous, that we would not be tied down by our past, that we will explore new fields, new ideas and new stories. I hope that one day we will be able to capture the spectrum of dramatic conflicts and tensions, and express our deepest feelings, our spirit, our soul, by telling our own stories. I sincerely hope that will be the future of the Singapore musical.

 

Q: How did you start in the field of musical theatre in general?

 

A: I have been involved in musical theatre ever since I was in school. I am more a composer than a writer. I wrote for school and university productions. When I became a paediatrician, I did not have much spare time. Then I started a family, which meant that I had even less time. But after having established myself in my paediatric profession, in 1995 I decided to venture back into musical theatre. So we went and produced our first musical called Big Bang: The Life of Stephen Hawking. I put a lot of effort into writing this, and having done so, I felt compelled to continue. Musical theatre has become my lifeblood. If I was not a doctor, I would be doing musical theatre. But you know, being a doctor puts bread on my table. As a fulltime musician, I will have to struggle to survive and I would probably starve. Music styles keep on changing, but if I have a separate source of income as a paediatrician, I can compose the music that I like and enjoy. I am not beholden to the whims and viscissitudes of music fashions.

 

So far I have written and produced over 30 musicals. They are not big scale – I do not pretend they are lavish or extravagant –  in fact they are small scale. Many of them are for children, and a few for the school for disabled and autistic children that I started, The Rainbow Centre. Many of my musicals are written to raise funds for charity.

 

Q: Have you ever written or produce a controversial musical in Singapore? It can also be about the issues, like censorship in Singapore. Because I know that there was a musical here about drag queens that didn’t get cut out, so it’s possible.

 

A: No, I have not written or produced any controversial musical. In part, it is because I want my musicals to sell, to be produced and performed in Singapore. My collaborators, like myself, are middle-of-the-road, uncontroversial people. We are neither too liberal nor too conservative, but stay right in the middle: that is where we stand. My target audience are children, so we try to be more conventional.

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I would like to make a final comment that we need to learn to be more tolerant of the themes and productions of plays and musicals, and that censorship should be kept to a minimum.

 

Q: That is the end of our interview, thank you so much for your time!

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Videos of some of Ken Lyen's songs:

https://www.youtube.com/user/fivefootbroadway/videos

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Revised 19 May 2019