I managed to catch Hansel & Gretel the other day. Not the movie, but the musical currently showing at the Drama Centre till 15th December. It took my breath away.
From the multi-talented cast, to the very-Singaporean costumes, to the awesome kids cast supporting in singing and top-notch dancing, this is a definite must-watch to end the year right! If you haven't been able to do one thing at least right - like buying Brand's Essence for your kids only to realize the next day that top PSLE kids won't be featured in papers - then this will undoubtedly place you in Santa's Good Kids List (if you still believe in Santa, that is).
Director Pam Oei has done a splendid job in localizing the children's tale. The stepmother is a pop superstar *hint crossover* who moves in to Queenstown, and charms the father of Hansel and Gretel. She 'happily' brings them out and leaves them in one of our few forests, where they find a very un-ordinary house. Made of cookies, kueh lapis, pineapple tarts, donuts, the evil witch keeps them captive. Kudos to Sebastian Tan and Siti Khalijah for their role as the evil witch and her helper respectively.
How the story goes, I shall not spoil the many local twists and references. What I particular enjoyed was the well-crafted blend of jokes which children will understand, and jokes which adults will get. I could tell Sebastian Tan probably had a very very hard time controlling his inner Broadway Beng, in order to satisfy the numerous young faces in the audience.
That said, I was very very very impressed with the youth supporting cast. Ranging from ages 4 to 12, I am confident that the next generation of theatre practitioners will continue to up the ante. And, a sample of what you will hear, (and enjoy) can be found here.
(Psst, highly recommend you listen to that before your lunch or dinner break)
Tickets can be found here.
