1. Musical Theatre

Musical theatre is a form of theatre that combines song, dance and dialogue in a performance to tell a story. Musicals derive their power from words set to music, but equally important, the words of another group of people, the arts journalists and theatre critics, who also give musicals the wings to soar in the public imagination. Singapore's theatre scene became more vibrant in the 1980s, and buoyed by this popularity, original Singapore musicals took off at the same time.

Dive into the conversation between our literary arts librarian, Michelle Heng, and our guest, Clarissa Oon. Clarissa was a Straits Times journalist between the late-1990s and the mid-2010s, and as a theatre critic, reviewed many plays and musicals for the broadsheet. She is also the author of the book, "Theatre Life!: A History of English-language Theatre in Singapore Through The Straits Times (1958 to 2000)”. She now works as head of communications and content at Esplanade – Theatres on the Bay. In her role, she developed the National Performing Arts Centre's Esplanade Offstage digital platform, which streams performances and behind the scenes content on the arts in Singapore and Asia.

[05:40] Clarissa explains how musicals can impact people and which pieces are some of her favourites.

[18:51] Clarissa shares the growth of Singaporean musicals and development of musical theatre in the recent years.

[26:34] Clarissa talks about the challenges of developing new musicals and her thoughts on the future of the musical theatre scene in Singapore.

Listen to the podcast as we take you down memory lane and explore Singapore's musical history and the development of its music scene through the National Library's collections and digital archive, MusicSG.

Credits:

1. "Beauty World (Cha Cha Cha)” from the 2015 staging of "Beauty World” at Victoria Theatre, presented by Michael Chiang Playthings.

2. "Makanplace” by Act 3 Theatrics Pte Ltd.

Listen on MusicSG: https://eresources.nlb.gov.sg/music/music/track/fa414ff3-fa93-48b9-8f4b-45037e9bd5f0

3. "Mai Phen Rai” arranged by Iskandar Mirza Ismail.

Listen on MusicSG: https://eresources.nlb.gov.sg/music/music/track/63bbb3bd-c3af-4375-bee7-5322f9e9c288

4. "My Only Chance” composed by Dick Lee, Performed by Cheryl Tan in "Forbidden City: Portrait of an Empress” (2017), jointly presented by Singapore Repertory Theatre and Esplanade – Theatres on the Bay.

5. "Fried Rice Paradise” by Dick Lee, Performed by Benjamin Kheng in "National Broadway Company” (2012), Conceived, Written & Directed by Ong Keng Sen for Esplanade's 10th Anniversary weekend titled Dedicated to You.

What is Radio DDC?

Welcome to Radio DDC, the National Library's new podcast featuring stories from our collections. In this four-part series, we look into Singapore's musical history, with highlights from the library's digital music archive, MusicSG. Each episode features a conversation with special guests from the industry, and is helmed by our arts librarians who will share their personal experiences and anecdotes as we traverse through the topics on Musical Theatre, Film Songs, Indie Music and Campaign Jingles.

Why Radio DDC, you may ask? The DDC in our name refers to the Dewey Decimal Classification system that the library uses to classify books.

About National Library Board, Singapore:
The National Library Board (NLB) nurtures Readers for Life, Learning Communities and a Knowledgeable Nation by promoting reading, learning and history through its network of 27 public libraries, the National Library and the National Archives of Singapore. NLB also forges strategic partnerships that encourage awareness, appreciation and greater discovery of Singapore's history through its rich collections on Singapore and the region.

About MusicSG:
MusicSG is a non-profit digital archive run by the National Library, Singapore, set up to digitise, archive and provide access to all forms of published Singapore musical works. It assembles a collection of music composed or published by Singaporeans, music produced or published in Singapore, and music related to Singapore.

Subscribe to our podcast channel wherever you listen.

We would love to hear what you think about our podcast. Leave us a rating or review. You can also write to us with your feedback at [e-mail].