A review from Channelnewsasia.com on 12 August - December Rains

http://www.channelnewsasia.com/stories/reviews/view/1074789/1/.html

An entertaining wet season

By Han Wei Chou |Posted: 12 August 2010 1447 hrs

 

 

Photos

1 of 2 A scene from "December Rains". -photo courtesy of Toy Factory Productions.

 

 

 

Related News

•

Kit Chan: From showbiz to office and back again

SINGAPORE: Toy Factory recently restaged the 1996 theatre production "December Rains" as part of its 20th anniversary celebrations.

Now, it is no easy task to restage a 1996 production that portray events which happened in the 50s and 60s in 2010, but Toy Factory manages to pull it off.

Directed by Goh Boon Teck and written by acclaimed local writer Liang Wen Fook, "December Rains" tells the story of a pair of star-crossed lovers, rich girl Li Qing (Kit Chan) and revolutionary guy Ying Xiong (George Chan), who separate when their mutual friend Ming Li (Jeffrey Low) fails to deliver a crucial letter from Li Qing.

Their pain and suffering is passed on to their next generation when Li Qing's daughter Meng Yu (Judee Tan) falls in love with Ying Xiong's adopted son Yang Guang (Zachary Goh) but is forbidden to see him due to her mother's conflict with Ying Xiong.

The storyline reminds me a lot of the Taiwan Qiong Yao melodramas in the early 90s that feature tragic heroines and feels a little cliched, but the show was enjoyable on the whole.

It also wouldn't hurt to spend a tad more time exploring how Li Qing and Ying Xiong fell in love, instead of having Li Qing become instantly attracted to Ying Xiong at school purely based on what her classmates tell her about him.

The stage design is very inventive, with layers of nylon ropes that serve to simulate the rain as well as act as a translucent 'curtain' in other scenes of the show.

Used in that way, the device manages to draw the audience's attention to the characters in front of the rope 'curtain', while still allowing them to see the dancers who perform behind it and add visual interest to the scene.

While international thespian George Chan, who had done big productions like "Miss Saigon" and singer-actress Kit Chan, who had starred in hit musicals like "Snow Wolf Lake", headline this production, it is Low who steals the show.

He manages to convey the emotional conflicts that confront Ming Li very well through his body language and facial expressions, which also fleshed out his character and made it believable.

Still, it is undeniable that the biggest draw of the show is probably Kit Chan, whose appearance in "December Rains" marks her return to showbiz after a 19-month stint with a PR company.

Her beguiling voice brings each verse of the songs she performed in the musical to life and elicited thunderous applause every time she sang. The only problem is that she is perhaps a littlegood.

Whenever she sings with the rest of the cast, such as her character's duet with her daughter Meng Yu (Tan), her prowess as a singer shines through, 'spoiling the market' for the other cast members who are also no slouches in the singing department.

But all in all, the good outweighs the bad in "December Rains", with audiences treated to two and a half hours of good acting, great singing from Kit Chan and her fellow cast members as well as some hauntingly beautiful music from Liang Wern Fook and singer-songwriter Jimmy Ye.

When I met Toy Factory's head and "December Rains" director Goh Boon Teck just before the show, he told me that he felt lucky to have been able to keep working on theatre, his passion, and hoped that Toy Factory will see another 20 years.

If the genuinely entertaining "December Rains" is anything to go by, it should be a simple task for the theatre company to keep going till it turns 40.